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Where Artistry Begins
The chalky, low sheen Roman clay look, made in fine lime that breathes. It suits the bedrooms, living rooms and stair halls of Reading's older brick houses.
Clay plaster in Reading is the soft, chalky, low sheen look often sold as Roman clay. What we supply is that look made in fine lime, not true clay, in two thin coats and left matt. It is mineral, tinted through, and it breathes, which matters in the solid walled houses this area has plenty of. Zavoré installs it with its own applicators, and our nearest showroom and training centre in London is open by appointment. Start with a sample board.
Reading is full of brick houses built before cavity walls, from the Georgian townhouses near Castle Hill to the Victorian terraces of Katesgrove and Newtown and the Edwardian villas of Redlands and Caversham. Solid walls handle moisture by letting it move through. A sealed modern paint stops that, and a mineral finish helps it.
The look is the other reason. Clay plaster has a slow tonal drift rather than a flat colour, and it gives bedrooms and living rooms a quiet, almost fabric like wall. It works against dark timber floors, painted joinery and period fireplaces, and it flatters low winter light.
We should be honest about what it is not. Roman clay is a shelf name that covers everything from true clay plasters to thickened paint. We supply a lime plaster that gives the same look. It is not for a shower or a bath splashback, where tadelakt is the answer. It is not for the wall behind a hob, where grease finds the texture. And it will not hide damp, which has to be fixed at the source.
Our clay plaster finishes suit these rooms.
It is not for a wall that gets scrubbed weekly with spray and cloth. Matt mineral finishes mark and repair more like old plaster than like vinyl.
We survey before we price. That covers the substrate, flatness, cracks, damp, movement, how the room is used, access and protection. Small questions can often be answered from photos first, and we say plainly if a wall needs skimming, stripping or damp fixing.
The sample board shows the grain and the drift, and the material is tinted to the approved sample before it ships. Venetian plaster comes in 48 house colours or any NCS reference.
Where the work needs the team to stay on the job, it is planned in blocks of days so the coats go on in order. Dates are agreed once the sample and price are signed off. The clay plaster installation page has the details.
This is the friendliest of our finishes to lay yourself. There is no burnish to get wrong, and the material is patient. What catches people out is scale and edges, such as keeping the mottle even across a big wall and cutting a clean line at the ceiling. The shop sells the materials with tracked UK delivery, and decorators can ask about a trade account.
To learn it properly, see the clay plaster course, which runs at our training centres in Birmingham, London and Manchester.
Clay plaster is gentler than marmorino in Reading and flatter than polished plaster in Reading. For old brick and a chalky wash there is limewash in Reading. Cooler looks come from concrete effect plaster in Reading, with liquid metal in Reading for accents. Wet rooms call for tadelakt in Reading or microcement in Reading. The page for a decorative finishes specialist in Reading lists the lot, and Venetian plastering in Reading covers the classic family.
What we supply is the Roman clay look made in fine lime, not clay. True clay plasters exist but stay water soluble. Lime sets by carbonating and breathes.
Very often, because solid brick walls like a breathable finish. The wall must be sound and dry, and any damp has to be fixed at the source first.
On dry walls away from the shower, yes. Inside a shower or as a bath splashback, tadelakt is the right finish.
Over sound, well keyed surfaces after the right primer, yes. Flaking or loose paint has to be stripped first. We check at the survey or from your photos.
To talk it through, call 07592 929191 (Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm) or email sales@zavore.co.uk with photos, rough measurements and the postcode. The sample board is the place to start.
Order a sample board tinted to your colour, or send photos and rough measurements of the walls in Reading 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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