Microcement in Reading

Microcement in Reading is a thin, seamless skin of cement, fine aggregate, polymer and pigment, trowelled over a primed and reinforced base and sealed. Zavoré installs it with its own applicators and teaches it too. Our nearest showroom and training centre in London is open by appointment. It suits the bathrooms, kitchens and rear extensions that Reading homeowners keep adding to older houses. The easy first step is to send us photos, and the second is a sample board.

Terraces, extensions and flats in Reading

Reading has an enormous number of Victorian terraces in Katesgrove, Newtown and around Oxford Road, and many have been extended at the back with a kitchen diner, or have had the old box room turned into a shower room. These are natural homes for microcement. A rear extension has a new slab and a long run of floor, and a small shower room has awkward angles where tiles mean a forest of grout lines.

The newer flats along the Thames and the Kennet bring a different case. Walls and floors are modern and generally true, but the owners want something warmer and more personal than the developer finish. Microcement runs from floor to skirting to wall and round a shower tray as one surface.

The honest limits matter more than the pitch. Microcement is only as good as its primer, its mesh and its sealer, and a floor that still moves will crack it. Springy joists in an older terrace, loose tiles or a green screed will all come through. We survey for exactly this, and we will tell you if the floor needs stiffening or levelling first.

Where microcement works in a Reading home

Our microcement finishes work well on these surfaces.

• Walk in showers and wet rooms, on a properly prepared and waterproofed base.
• Kitchen floors and walls in knocked through terraces.
• Rear extension floors that need to look like one with the old house.
• Feature walls and bathroom walls in new flats.
• Shop floors, salons and cafe interiors where joints would collect dirt.

It is not a cheap alternative to tiling, because the preparation is where the work goes. It is also not for a wall you plan to hang heavy fixings into.

How a microcement job in Reading runs

We survey before we price. That means the substrate, flatness, cracks, damp, movement, how the room is used, access and protection. Photos often answer the small questions first. If a floor needs levelling, a wall needs a different base or there is a damp problem, we say so plainly.

You see the finish on a sample board before you commit, and colour is agreed on the approved sample. Microcement is a layered system, with a primer, reinforcing mesh, the coats and then the sealer that makes it waterproof and washable.

Where the work needs the team to stay on the job, it is planned in blocks of days so that the layers go down in the right order. Dates are agreed once the sample and price are signed off. Read more on the microcement installation page.

Materials, trade and learning

We install microcement, and for materials we sell only the lime built pastellone and beton stucco, which suit walls and some seamless work. We do not sell microcement as a bagged product. You can order those through the shop with tracked UK delivery, and trade customers can ask about a trade account.

Our honest view is that a floor or a bathroom is one to leave to us, since a seamless surface has no grout line to hide a mistake. Walls are kinder. If you want to learn, the microcement course runs at our training centres in Birmingham, London and Manchester.

More finishes in Reading

If you like the seamless look but want lime, see concrete effect plaster in Reading, which gives a mineral concrete feel on walls. Warmer options include clay plaster in Reading and limewash in Reading. For water and steam, tadelakt in Reading is the traditional lime answer. Shinier choices are polished plaster in Reading, marmorino in Reading and liquid metal in Reading. The whole range sits on the page for a decorative finishes specialist in Reading, with the classic family under Venetian plastering in Reading.

Questions about microcement in Reading

Can microcement go over my existing tiles in Reading?

Sometimes. Tiles that are sound, flat and well bonded can be primed and covered, but loose or hollow tiles will telegraph through. We check this at the survey, or from photos first, and say plainly if the tiles should come off.

Is microcement waterproof in a shower?

The sealer is what makes it waterproof and washable, laid over a properly prepared and waterproofed base. The result is only as good as the preparation, which is why we survey first.

Will it crack in an older Reading house?

It can if the base moves. Springy floorboards, joists that flex and fresh screed are the usual causes. We tell you if the floor needs attention before microcement goes on.

Do you sell microcement materials?

We install microcement. For materials we sell the lime built pastellone and beton stucco only, which suit walls and some seamless work.

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.