Seamless surfaces, no grout lines.

What it actually is

Microcement is a thin, hard-wearing cement-based coating applied by hand over an existing surface. Because it goes on as a continuous skin, there are no joints and no grout lines — nothing to discolour, nothing to scrub, nothing to catch dirt.

It’s thin enough that in most cases it goes over what’s already there rather than needing a rip-out. That matters more than people expect: it can be the difference between a bathroom being out of action for a fortnight and for a few days. Whether that’s possible on your job depends on what’s underneath, which is why I’d want to come and look before promising it.

Applied

By hand, over existing surfaces

Finish

Concrete or flat

Joints

None — fully seamless

Best for

Bathrooms, floors, kitchens

Two finishes, two very different rooms

A concrete finish keeps the movement and cloudiness of the trowel work, so it reads as a natural, textured surface. A flat finish is calmer and more even. I’ve done both recently — one bathroom in concrete, another in flat — and they are two completely different rooms.

Where it works

• Bathrooms and wet rooms — walls, floors and shower areas, sealed throughout
• Floors — running continuously through a space with no thresholds breaking it up
• Kitchens — splashbacks and surfaces that would otherwise be tiled
• Commercial — restaurants, retail and offices, where it takes traffic well

Microcement or Venetian plaster?

They get confused constantly. Microcement is the practical one — hard-wearing, waterproof once sealed, and it goes on floors and wet areas as well as walls. Venetian plaster is the decorative one — more depth, more sheen, and it lives on walls rather than underfoot. For a bathroom you almost always want microcement. For a feature wall in a lounge, usually Venetian.

Living with it

Sealed properly, microcement handles daily use and water well. It’s a hand-applied finish rather than a factory product, so it carries movement and character — that’s the point of it, not a defect.

What’s underneath matters

Microcement is thin, so it follows the surface it goes onto. Where a wall needs bringing back to flat first, I can do that preparation myself in the same visit — no need to book another trade in ahead of me.

How much

Priced on area and on how much preparation the existing surface needs. I come and look, measure up, and send a written price within one to two days. There’s a gallery of finished rooms if you want to see the standard, and the FAQ covers the questions I get asked most about curing times and going over tiles.