Concrete Effect Plaster UK | Lime Alternative to Concrete Paint

Colour, without limits

Concrete Effect colours, 48 of ours and every NCS

Every tub of concrete effect is tinted to your exact colour before it leaves the studio.

48House tints

Colours developed in this studio and held on record, in any Venetian plaster finish we make.

1,950NCS references

Give us any NCS reference and we tint to it. It is the standard most specifiers already work in.

∞Colour matching

A cushion, a tile, a flake of the old paint off the wall. If you can hold it, we can usually match it.

See the colours & how matching works Plaster finishes dry lighter than the colour you picked, often by around 20%, as the lime cures. A screen will never match a wall exactly. We keep a record of your batch, so if you come back for more we can get as close to it as the material allows.

Installation

Concrete Effect, installed by our own team

You can lay this yourself. Whether you should depends on the wall. A small alcove or a chimney breast is a fair first job. A twelve foot open plan wall with a return is not, because the cloud has to carry across the whole thing without a join in it. If you want it done for you, our applicators work UK wide, see our installations, or ring 07592 929191.

Step One · Survey · Across the UK

The Survey

Tell us about the room and our own team comes to see the wall before anything is specified.

Surveyed ByOur own team

CoverageAcross the UK

ProjectsResidential and commercial

See how installation works

Survey / on site

Book a Survey

Step Two · Specification

The Specification

We specify the concrete effect, the preparation and the colour for the surface you actually have, so the finish suits the wall it goes on.

Specified ByOur own team

MaterialConcrete Effect

Speak To Us07592 929191

Email sales@zavore.co.uk

Specify / for your wall

Ask Us

Step Three · Installation

The Installation

The same team lays it, residential and commercial, anywhere in the UK.

Installed ByOur own team

CoverageAcross the UK

ShowroomBy appointment

See our installations

Install / by our team

More Info

✦ Surveyed, specified and installed by our own team ✦Residential and commercial projects, anywhere in the UK.

Rather Do It Yourself?

We supply, too.

Every concrete effect material on this page ships tracked across the UK and worldwide, and a working installer picks up the phone, Monday to Saturday.

Shop Concrete Effect

Concrete Effect · 01

Why paint cannot do this

Most of what sells as concrete effect paint is an acrylic with grit in it, rolled on and stippled. It reads as textured paint, because that is what it is. Beton Stucco is mineral plaster laid in thin coats with a trowel, so the tone sits inside the material rather than on top of it. The cloud is real depth, made by the blade and by the way each coat dries back. That costs more and it asks for a steadier hand. It is also the only way we know to get a wall that still looks like concrete when you are standing a foot away from it. If what you want is a tin and a brush, tell us. We will point you at lime paint and be straight that it will not read as concrete.

Concrete Effect · 02

The wall underneath decides it

A concrete finish is thin, so the wall shows through it. Hollows, roller stipple left from old emulsion, tape lines across plasterboard joints and soft or dusty patches all come up through the coats. Skimmed and flat is what we want, primed so the coat pulls off evenly instead of drying in patches. Corners matter more than faces: a wavy arris or a rounded external angle is obvious in low light, and no amount of trowel work hides it. Old walls usually need making good first, and we would rather do that properly than lay good material over a bad surface. If you are ordering to lay it yourself, budget time for preparation, not only for plaster.

Concrete Effect · 03

Getting the cloud right

Concrete reads as concrete because of scale. Big, slow, soft variation across a whole wall looks like a cast panel. Small busy mottling looks like a sponge effect from thirty years ago. We work a whole wall in one go, keeping a wet edge, changing the direction of the blade so no pattern repeats, and stopping only at a corner or a natural break. Two pairs of hands on a long wall is normal. The second coat is where the look is made, thin, pulled tight, then left alone before it is burnished. Overworking flattens the cloud and you cannot put it back without recoating.

Concrete Effect · 04

Kitchens, bathrooms and sealing

Unsealed, the finish is porous and will take a mark from oil or wine. In a kitchen or a downstairs loo we seal it, which makes it wipeable and slightly warms the tone, worth seeing on a board first, because sealing always deepens the colour a little. Behind a hob or a sink we put waterproofer on before the sealer. A shower enclosure is a different job: for water running down the wall day after day we would steer you to tadelakt, which is made for exactly that, or to pastellone if the floor is in scope too. Concrete effect is perfectly happy in a bathroom that gets steam and splash. It is not the answer inside the cubicle.

Concrete Effect · 05

Grey is not one colour

Concrete covers everything from a warm putty to a cold blue grey, and the one you pick behaves differently depending on which way the room faces. North light pulls grey towards blue and can make a fashionable mid grey feel like slate by four in the afternoon. South light warms it and flattens the cloud. We tint to the reference you give us, NCS, RAL, a fan deck chip, so the batch is repeatable if you come back for another tub. Our colours page explains what we need from you and how we handle references, and a sample board in your exact colour costs a great deal less than repainting a room you have gone off.

Where It Is The Wrong Answer

Where concrete effect is the wrong answer

Skip it in period rooms full of cornice, picture rail and panelled doors. Concrete fights them rather than sitting alongside. Skip it inside a shower, where tadelakt belongs. Skip it on walls that move, on damp walls that have not been fixed at the source, and in rented flats where someone will want to roll emulsion back over it in two years. If you want one flat even colour with no variation at all, this is the wrong finish.

Order a sample board in your colour at £8 and look at it on the actual wall at four in the afternoon before you decide anything. If you would rather we laid it, ring 07592 929191 and tell us about the room.

Order a Sample Board

The House Timeline

Five years, one standard

2021

The First Walls

The work starts in Birmingham under another name. Inside the first year it reaches London, Manchester, Kent and Surrey.

2022

The Team Grows

Three new members join the studio, giving us the hands to take on larger projects without dropping the standard of the finish.

2023

The Academy & The Supply Line

The Academy opens its doors, and a supply agreement is signed with our materials producer. Quality secured at the source.

2024

The Commercial Turn

The workshop makes its name in commercial decorative finishes across the UK, quietly supplying fellow applicators and proving every material on its own projects before it went on sale.

2025

The Range Goes Public

Tested on the job, refined and trusted by the trade first, our own materials go on open sale to the public.

2026

The Name Goes Up

Five years of work, one supply line and one school, finally under a single name. Zavoré: the full range, the Academy and the Colour Library in one place, and the next wall always ahead.

Before You Order

Your questions, answered honestly

No. Concrete effect paint is an acrylic with texture in it, rolled on and stippled. What we sell is a mineral plaster, trowelled in thin coats, where the tone sits in the material and the cloud comes from the blade. It costs more and takes longer, and it looks like concrete from a foot away rather than only from across the room.

On bathroom walls generally, yes. We seal them, we add waterproofer where water hits regularly, and they take steam and splash without trouble. Inside a shower enclosure we would not use it. That is what tadelakt is for, and we would rather sell you the right material than the one you came in asking for.

It is a thin decorative skin, not a slab, so it does not craze the way a poured floor can. What it will do is follow the wall behind it. If the substrate moves, opens at a board joint or holds damp, that will show through the finish. Sort those first and the wall stays as it was laid.

Beton Stucco is £145 for 16kg, tinted to your colour. Primer is £10 and sealer is £25. How many tubs a room takes depends on the wall and on how many coats it needs, so send us the sizes and we will work the quantity out with you. Installation is quoted per job on 07592 929191.

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30 Days, Damage On Us

If it arrives broken, send a photograph and we replace it. If anything is ever wrong with your order we will happily replace it.

Tracked 24hr Dispatch

Fully insured and tracked to your door or site, anywhere in the UK and worldwide. International orders, including Europe, are quoted by email before they ship. Write to sales@zavore.co.uk for a price.

Real Human Support

Ring us and a working installer picks up, Mon to Sat. Ask which finish suits your wall, how much you need, or what to do when you are mid job. No call centres, no scripts.

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Questions & Answers

Three ways into concrete effect

Materials & Tools

Installed by Our Team

A Sample Board

The concrete effect the trade buys most

Beton Stucco 16kg

Primer Normal

Sealer

Sample Board

Lime Paint 14lt

Concrete Effect delivered, UK and worldwide

Where concrete effect belongs

Concrete Effect colours, 48 of ours and every NCS

Samples, before you commit

Concrete Effect, on our walls

The house at work

The colour library

A sample board in your colour

Book a survey

Concrete Effect, written down

Concrete Effect, installed by our own team

The Survey

The Specification

The Installation

We supply, too.

What concrete effectactually is

Why paint cannot do this

The wall underneath decides it

Getting the cloud right

Kitchens, bathrooms and sealing

Grey is not one colour

Where concrete effect is the wrong answer

Five years, one standard

The First Walls

The Team Grows

The Academy & The Supply Line

The Commercial Turn

The Range Goes Public

The Name Goes Up

We also craft every other finish

Trade accounts for plasterers and decorators

Your questions, answered honestly

Concrete Effect, written down

Concrete Effect Paint vs Plaster, Which One Lasts?

Grey Venetian Plaster, Undertones, Greige and Concrete Looks

Your order, protected at every step

Secure Payment

30 Days, Damage On Us

Tracked 24hr Dispatch

Real Human Support

Techniques, releases & course dates

Concrete effect plaster near you

More questions, answered

Shop

Colour

Academy

Finishes

Decorative Work

The House

Visit & Contact

What concrete effect
actually is