Concrete effect plaster in Kent

Concrete effect plaster in Kent is a smooth, cloudy grey mineral wall, trowelled on in thin coats rather than rolled from a tin. Zavoré supplies Beton Stucco tinted to your colour, and installs it with our own team, who travel from Birmingham. It suits the barn conversions, new apartments and extensions of the county, and it does not suit its period rooms. A sample board in your grey is the way to start.

Barns, extensions and new apartments, and why not the period rooms

Concrete effect wants flat, square, plain walls, and Kent has a lot of them in new places. Redundant farm buildings have become houses, offices and event spaces. Rear and side extensions have added tall glazed kitchens with big unbroken walls. Newer apartments along the Thames and the Medway, and the new housing estates around the county's larger towns, have clean plasterboard and little character until someone gives it some.

There is a nice local echo too. North Kent along those two rivers was long a centre of cement making, so a wall that looks like cast concrete has an industrial family tree in the county. It is still only a look. Beton Stucco is not cement render and it is not structural. It is a thin decorative skin, a few passes thick, and the wall underneath shows through it.

Skip it in rooms full of cornice, picture rail and panelling, which describes most Kent Georgian and Victorian terraces and the farmhouses with their beams. Concrete fights them rather than sitting beside them. For those, limewash or Venetian plaster are better answers. Also skip it on walls that move, on damp walls that have not been fixed at source, and where a landlord will want to roll emulsion back over it.

Where concrete effect works in a Kent building

Our concrete effect finishes suit these places.

• Open plan kitchen and dining walls in rear extensions.
• Feature walls behind a hob or a bath, sealed and waterproofed first.
• Barn and converted farm building interiors, against old brick and timber.
• Loft conversions with flat, square walls.
• Galleries, shops, tasting rooms, restaurants and offices.

It is happy in a bathroom that gets steam and splash, but not inside the shower enclosure, where tadelakt is the answer.

Why it is not paint, and getting the grey right

Most concrete effect paint is an acrylic with grit in it, rolled on and stippled. Beton Stucco is mineral plaster laid with a steel trowel, so the tone sits inside the material and the cloud comes from the blade. Concrete reads as concrete because of scale. Big, slow, soft variation across a whole wall looks like a cast panel, while small busy mottling looks like a sponge effect from thirty years ago.

Grey is not one colour either. It runs from warm putty to cold blue, and a north facing room pulls grey towards blue, while a south facing one warms it. Kent's tall new glazing makes this matter. We tint to the reference you give us and the sample board shows it in your light.

How a concrete effect job in Kent runs

We survey first. Hollows, old roller texture, tape lines across board joints and dusty patches all show through, so the wall is skimmed flat and primed, and we say if it needs more. Corners matter more than faces. Material is tinted before it leaves Birmingham.

A whole wall is worked in one go, keeping a wet edge, and two pairs of hands on a long wall is normal. Kent is well beyond a daily trip from Birmingham, so the work is planned in blocks of days, with the team staying on to lay each coat. Dates follow the signed off sample and price. See the concrete effect installation page.

Buying Beton Stucco, or laying it yourself

You can lay this yourself, depending on the wall. A small alcove or chimney breast is a fair first job. A long open plan wall is not, because the cloud has to carry across it without a join. The shop sells Beton Stucco, primer and sealer with tracked UK delivery. Sealing makes it wipeable and warms the colour slightly, so see it on a board first. Builders and decorators can ask about a trade account.

More finishes in Kent

For a warmer, softer mineral wall see clay plaster in Kent or marmorino in Kent, and for older rooms limewash in Kent. Seamless floors come from microcement in Kent, and wet rooms from tadelakt in Kent. Add shine with polished plaster in Kent or shimmer with liquid metal in Kent. The whole range is in decorative specialists in Kent, with the classic in Venetian plastering in Kent.

Questions about concrete effect plaster in Kent

Can I have concrete effect walls in a Kent barn conversion?

Yes, they suit the flat new walls inside a converted barn and sit well against old brick and timber. The wall must be sound, dry and skimmed flat first, and we check on a survey.

Is concrete effect plaster right for a period house in Kent?

Usually not for rooms with cornice, picture rail and panelling, which concrete fights. Limewash or Venetian plaster suits those rooms better.

Is concrete effect plaster the same as concrete effect paint?

No. Paint is an acrylic with texture rolled and stippled on. Ours is mineral plaster trowelled in thin coats, so the tone sits inside the material and the cloud comes from the blade.

Can concrete effect go in a Kent kitchen or bathroom?

On walls, yes, sealed, with waterproofer added behind a hob or sink. Inside a shower enclosure we would use tadelakt instead.

Tell us about the room and the light and we will say which grey we would try. Call 07592 929191 (Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm) or email sales@zavore.co.uk with photos, rough measurements and your postcode. You can also order a sample board and start from there.