Microcement in Edinburgh

Microcement in Edinburgh is a thin cement based coating trowelled over floors, walls and shower areas to leave one seamless surface with no grout lines. Zavoré supplies, installs and teaches authentic Italian lime based Venetian plaster and other decorative finishes, and our own applicators lay microcement. We are based in Birmingham, where our Academy is. Start with a sample board and tell us about the room.

Tenement bathrooms, Georgian floors and new flats

Microcement is only as good as what lies under it, and Edinburgh gives us very different floors. Tenement flats and Georgian townhouses are built on timber joists and floorboards, and they flex. A seamless rigid surface will crack over a springy floor, so the boards have to be stiffened and overboarded properly before anything is laid. We say so on survey, rather than after the first crack.

Newer buildings are kinder. The apartments at Leith, Fountainbridge and Quartermile, and the waterfront developments at Granton, usually have flat concrete or screeded floors, provided the screed is dry all the way through. Those suit a continuous floor that runs from kitchen to hall to living room with no thresholds.

Many tenement bathrooms are small and interior, with a bath or shower squeezed in. That is where seamless pays off, because there is no grout to go dark and a wall can turn into a floor and a shower tray as one surface.

Where microcement works in an Edinburgh home

Our microcement finishes suit these places.

• Bathrooms and wet rooms in tenement flats and villas.
• Open plan kitchens and living rooms in newer apartments.
• Stair treads, worktops and basin surrounds.
• Shop floors, bars and restaurant walls across the city centre.
• Walls that you want to read as calm and continuous.

Skip it over a floor that still moves, a green screed or drummy tiles. Take care with a wall you plan to hang heavy fixings from.

How a microcement job in Edinburgh runs

We survey first. That means substrate, flatness, cracks, damp, movement, how the room is used, access and protection. Small questions can often be answered from photos. We say plainly if a floor needs stiffening, a wall needs skimming or a damp problem needs fixing first. The sample board shows the colour and texture, and the material is tinted to the approved sample before it ships.

Edinburgh is some way from our centres, so the work is planned in blocks of days with the team staying on the job. Each layer goes on in order, with primer, mesh and sealer all done properly. Dates are agreed once the sample and price are signed off. Read more on the microcement installation page.

Buying lime built alternatives, or learning

We install microcement ourselves. For people with their own decorator, the shop sells our lime built pastellone and beton stucco, which give a similar seamless look on walls, with tracked UK delivery. Decorators can ask about a trade account. If you want to learn, our microcement course runs at our training centres in Birmingham, London and Manchester.

More finishes in Edinburgh

Microcement works beside concrete effect plaster in Edinburgh, which gives a similar cool mineral look on walls. For water, tadelakt in Edinburgh is the older lime answer. For softer rooms look at limewash in Edinburgh, clay plaster in Edinburgh or marmorino in Edinburgh. For shine see polished plaster in Edinburgh or liquid metal in Edinburgh. The wider picture is in decorative finishes specialist in Edinburgh, and our main craft page is Venetian plastering in Edinburgh.

Questions about microcement in Edinburgh

Can microcement go on the timber floor of my Edinburgh tenement?

Only once the floor is stiff. Old boards and joists flex, and a rigid surface cracks above them. We check on survey and may need to overboard first.

Is microcement waterproof in a shower?

The sealer makes it water resistant and washable, on a properly prepared and waterproofed wall. It depends on the primer, mesh and sealer all being right.

Can microcement go over tiles in a small flat bathroom?

Sometimes, if the tiles are sound, flat, keyed and not drummy. Loose or hollow tiles must come up. A photo helps us give a first view.

Do you sell microcement for my own decorator?

For materials we sell only the lime built pastellone and beton stucco. Microcement itself is something our own team installs.

Call 07592 929191 (Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm) or email sales@zavore.co.uk with photos, rough measurements and the postcode. You can also order a sample board and start there.