In article .com,
" writes:
Is dot and dab now the most popular method of covering a wall?

Yes, because it's thought to be less skilled.

Half of our 19th century town house is currently stripped down to the
brickwork which is very poor.

Brickwork which was intended to be plastered often is.
That's where the 'B' grade bricks got used, and the
appentice brickie did his practice work.

The plaster wants to dot and dab everywhere.

We have damp & contaminated walls(salts) in the kitchen. I've
installed a resin DPC, neatralized the salts and plan to use a
waterproof plaster membrane on the lower 1.5 metre of the walls to
make sure whatever finish is used the damp will not penetrate to the
surface.

I have no experience of dot and dab really, but the plasterer(very
experienced) seemed to recommend. Any other options with old tatty/
uneven brickwork?.....

Standard scratch coat (use sand and cement and waterproofer
if the wall is likely to stay damp), and standard finish coat.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]