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Where Artistry Begins
Burnished, soaped Moroccan lime that stands up to running water without a film on top, built on a base prepared for London bathrooms and London water.
Tadelakt in London is Moroccan lime plaster, burnished with a stone and then soaped, which leaves a water resistant skin with no film or sealer on top. Zavoré supplies it in 16kg tubs with the finishing soap and installs it with our own applicators, who travel from Birmingham. Order a sample board first, because the sheen can only be judged in the bathroom it will live in.
Most of our tadelakt questions in London are about bathrooms, and London bathrooms are rarely simple. A Victorian terrace often has a narrow bathroom at the back of the house. A loft conversion brings an en suite under the roof slope. A basement or garden flat may have a windowless wet room. A mansion block flat may have one bathroom doing the work of three.
Tadelakt copes with these shapes better than tile does. It runs into a niche, over a bench and around a curved reveal as one surface, with no grout to go black and no silicone to peel. Corners are formed rounded rather than sharp, because a stone cannot burnish into a right angle, and that soft detail suits a small room.
The base matters. Tadelakt wants a mineral, absorbent, stable surface such as a lime or sand and cement render. Plasterboard on its own is not enough in a wet area. It needs tanking and a suitable rendered base built up first, and a modern skim is a poor bed for it. That makes it as much a rendering job as a decorating one.
London tap water is hard, and hard water leaves limescale. The natural reaction is to reach for a limescale remover, but acid attacks lime, and so do bleach, bathroom sprays and scouring pads. Tadelakt is looked after with a mild soap and water. Wipe or squeegee the shower down after use, and re soap occasionally. If a patch dulls or gets marked, it is re soaped and re polished in place rather than cut out.
If you want a bathroom that you can spray and scrub, tadelakt is the wrong finish, and we would rather tell you so at the start.
Our tadelakt finishes are made for these places.
It is not for floors that take heavy traffic. Colour comes from lime fast pigments, so expect clay reds, ochres, olive greens, plaster pinks, off whites and charcoals rather than anything vivid. Panels burnished on different days will vary slightly, and the joins are part of the character.
The survey looks at what is behind the wall, the tanking, the plumbing positions, flatness and access. A bathroom upstairs in a terrace often means carrying material up narrow stairs, and we plan for that. We agree colour on a burnished sample board, and the plaster is tinted before it leaves Birmingham.
The burnish has a short window, so each wall is finished in one session. Because London is a distance from Birmingham, the work is planned in blocks of days, with our team staying to build the base, burnish and soap in order. Dates are agreed once sample and price are signed off. Read more on the tadelakt installation page.
The shop sells the plaster, light and dark finishing soap and Marseille soap for maintenance, with tracked delivery. We will sell it to you, but it is the hardest finish we stock, and a shower that has not been closed properly will wet through. For a bathroom you use daily, ring us first.
Tadelakt is one of two answers for wet rooms, the other being microcement in London. For dry walls in the same house consider polished plaster in London, marmorino in London, limewash in London or clay plaster in London. For modern rooms there is concrete effect plaster in London and liquid metal in London. See decorative specialists in London for the whole range, and Venetian plastering in London for dry rooms.
It means limescale, and the answer is not an acid cleaner. Wipe or squeegee the shower after use, wash with mild soap and re soap now and then. Limescale removers and bleach damage lime.
Not directly. A wet area on board needs tanking and a suitable rendered base before the lime goes on. In a dry room a rendered or lime base over board can work. We check the build up at the survey.
No. Tadelakt is lime, burnished with a stone and soaped, and it stays breathable. Microcement is a cement based coating that relies on a sealer. Both can suit a wet room, and we can help you choose.
Yes, basins, niches and bath surrounds are good places for it, on a properly prepared base. Tell us what the surround is built from and we will say what it needs.
Tell us what the bathroom walls are made of and where the shower sits. 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.
Order a sample board tinted to your colour, or send photos and rough measurements of the walls in London 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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