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Where Artistry Begins
Seamless microcement with no grout lines, surveyed and laid by our own applicators from our Birmingham base. The floor underneath decides everything, so we start there.
Microcement in Birmingham is a thin, seamless surface trowelled over floors, walls and worktops, with no grout lines and no joints. Zavoré is based in Birmingham, so our own applicators lay it starting from our Birmingham base, and a bathroom or floor job begins with a survey of what is underneath, not a colour chart. A sample board then lets you see the surface dry.
People here ask for it mostly in bathrooms, wet rooms and open plan ground floors. All three depend far more on the base than on the material, and that is what this page is about.
Birmingham has an unusual mix of floors. The Victorian and Edwardian terraces of Kings Heath, Moseley and Handsworth usually have suspended timber ground floors, and upstairs bathrooms sit on joists. A seamless rigid surface will crack over a springy floor however good the material is, so those floors are stiffened and boarded first or the idea is dropped.
Newer buildings are the easier case. Apartments in the city centre and in canalside developments often have concrete floors under a screed, and microcement suits them well once the screed is dry all the way through, not just on top. Converted warehouses in Digbeth and the Jewellery Quarter add old floors and old tiles into the mix, and every one of those needs looking at before we promise anything.
That is why we survey. Tiles must be firmly stuck and degreased, movement joints have to be carried through the finish, and any damp must be dealt with first.
The classic use is a bathroom or wet room where the floor runs up the wall and around the shower tray as one surface, which is easier to keep clean than tile and calmer to look at. The sealer is what makes it waterproof and washable, and the tanking behind it still has to be done properly, just as it would under tile.
Open plan ground floors are the second big use, especially in extended Birmingham semis where kitchen, dining and living space now join up with no thresholds. Other places that work are shower benches and niches, kitchen worktops and splashbacks, stair treads and landings, and calm commercial fit outs. Our page on microcement finishes explains the full range.
Be realistic about walls that will carry heavy fixings, and about anyone who wants one dead flat grey. Hand laid microcement always carries a gentle cloud.
First we survey the substrate, flatness, cracks, damp, movement, access and how the room is used. Photos can often answer the small questions. If a floor flexes or a screed is still drying, we say so plainly and agree what has to happen first.
The sample board follows, so colour and sheen are agreed before work starts. Material is tinted to the approved sample before it leaves Birmingham. Greys, greiges, warm stones and off blacks are the most common choices, and the sealer decides whether it ends up matt, satin or gloss.
Our team does not have to plan Birmingham jobs around staying away from home, which keeps the sequence simple. Everything about the process is on our microcement installation page.
This is a job where we would ask you to leave the laying to us, because a seamless floor has to be done wet in one go. What we sell for the same look is the lime built range. Pastellone is a seamless lime and marble finish for floors and walls, and beton stucco is our concrete look wall finish. Both come with primer, wax and sealer, tracked across the UK, from the shop.
Walls are kinder than floors, and a confident decorator can learn a concrete look wall on a board. Venetian plaster courses run in Birmingham, listed on the training page, and trade customers can ask about the trade account.
Microcement is not always the right answer. For a bathroom in an older house, tadelakt in Birmingham is the traditional lime alternative, and concrete effect plaster in Birmingham gives the concrete look on walls. For reflective walls see polished plaster in Birmingham and marmorino in Birmingham.
For soft, breathable walls try limewash in Birmingham or clay plaster in Birmingham, and for metallic effects liquid metal in Birmingham. The full list of crafts is on decorative specialists in Birmingham, with the classic finish at Venetian plastering in Birmingham.
Usually yes, if the tiles are firmly stuck, degreased and keyed, and any drummy ones are lifted and made good. Grout lines are filled and reinforced first. If tiles are loose or the floor moves, they come up instead.
It can, because a springy floor will crack any rigid surface. Victorian joists are stiffened and boarded first, and we say honestly if a floor is not suitable.
The sealer makes the surface waterproof and washable, but the structure behind still needs proper tanking, as it would under tile. A seamless surface is simply much easier to keep clean.
We sell the lime built equivalents, pastellone for seamless floors and walls and beton stucco for concrete look walls, with primer, wax and sealer, tinted to your colour and delivered tracked across the UK.
Tell us about your bathroom, floor or worktop on 07592 929191 (Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm), or email sales@zavore.co.uk with photos, rough measurements and your postcode. A sample board shows the surface before you commit.
Order a sample board tinted to your colour, or send photos and rough measurements of the walls in Birmingham 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.
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.
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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