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Where Artistry Begins
Carved rockwork for gardens and pools, and stone effect lime plaster for flat walls. Zavoré is based in Birmingham and our artisans supply and install both in Exeter.
Devon is a county of red cliffs, tors and sandstone, so it is no surprise that artificial rock in Exeter is something people ask about for gardens, pools and feature walls. Zavoré supplies the materials and installs it, and the phrase covers two quite different trades, which we explain below. We are based in Birmingham, where our Academy is. Send photographs of the space and a picture of the stone you have in mind.
Settle this first, because it changes everything. If your drawing has relief in it, such as a rock face standing proud of the wall, an overhang, a grotto or a waterfall edge, you want carved rockwork. That is mortar built up over a steel and mesh armature, then carved while still green and coloured to look like stone.
If the brief is a wall, a chimney breast, a bath surround or a bar front that should look and feel like stone under the hand, plaster is the honest answer. Stone effect plaster is a coating a few millimetres thick that stays on the plane of the wall. It is lime and marble, needs no fixings and no allowance for weight, and does not eat into the room the way clad stone does.
We supply and install both. Our artificial rock page goes into more detail on each.
The city sits on red sandstone, and the warm brown and rust tones of local walls suggest a palette that works in rockwork too. Sandy limestone whites, greys and warm putty colours are also easy to live with, and stone colours should stay quiet because the texture carries the depth.
Larger gardens in Topsham, Pinhoe and the leafy edges of the city can take a grotto, a rock face behind a pond or carved edges for a swimming pool. Hotels and spas can use carved stone features, delivered alongside your designer and main contractor.
Indoors, think of chimney breasts and fireplace surrounds in Victorian terraces, entrance halls and stairwells, garden rooms and conservatory walls, media walls and bar fronts. In newer flats, a single stone effect wall brings natural texture without any weight.
Start with photos and rough measurements. We survey before pricing, and the background matters, because a stone effect plaster is a skin and inherits whatever lies beneath. It wants a sound, dry, flat wall, and it will not hide movement, damp or loose old paint. Outside work and any wall with damp in its history deserve a phone call before you order.
The texture is decided on a board before anyone touches the wall, and that board is kept as the reference for the job. On site, one applicator works each wall corner to corner, because a fresh section will not marry into one laid the day before. Our artificial rock installation page sets out the rest.
Exeter is some way from Birmingham, so we plan the work in blocks of days and the team stays on the job. Dates are agreed once the sample or design and price are signed off. The sample board is the place to start for the plaster colours and textures.
We teach what we install. Our artificial rock course runs at our training centres in Birmingham, London and Manchester, and our decorative work page shows other finishes that pair with stone.
Stone is a good partner for other finishes. A carved wall might be bas relief in Exeter or sculptural plaster in Exeter, and a painted garden room belongs to murals in Exeter. Pool surrounds and bathrooms may also use mosaics in Exeter. For metal detail see gilding in Exeter, for gloss lacquered walls in Exeter, and for ceilings cornice and coving in Exeter. The closest plaster to cut stone is travertino in Exeter. Visit our decorative finishes specialist in Exeter page for everything in one place, or Venetian plastering in Exeter for polished lime.
Up close, yes, because it is lime and marble worked with a trowel rather than a print of stone. What it cannot do is stand proud of the wall. Boulders and overhangs are carved rockwork.
We will not name a figure without seeing the job. Plaster is a coating rather than a build up, so there are no fixings, no weight to carry and no joints to line through.
Carved rockwork is made for gardens and pool surrounds. For any outside wall, or one with a history of damp, ring us before you order, since the right answer depends on what the wall is made of.
Sealer goes on where hands, splashes or steam reach, such as bath surrounds and kitchen walls. Elsewhere it can be left as lime.
Ring 07592 929191 (Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm) or email sales@zavore.co.uk with photos, rough measurements and the postcode. The sample board lets you compare stone effect textures against the room itself.
Order a sample board tinted to your colour, or send photos and rough measurements of the walls in Exeter and we will come back to you with the right finish and a clear quote.
For a quote, email photos and measurements of your walls to sales@zavore.co.uk or call 07592 929191, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm.
See every area we cover.
Our main services: Venetian plaster installation, limewash installation, every decorative installation, Venetian plastering courses, the limewash course and our decorative finishes.
We also supply the trade by post, wherever you are. The shop ships tracked across the UK, and the Academy teaches the finishes in Birmingham, London and Manchester.
Providing luxury finishes for the most prestigious addresses in the world
Venetian plaster, limewash, microcement, tadelakt, metallics, sculptural plaster and gold leaf, supplied and installed by our own team, with Venetian plaster taught at our Birmingham studio.
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