What to expect
A bathroom is where seamlessness earns its keep. Grout lines are where wet rooms fail visually first and hygienically second, and a microcement bathroom has none - the floor runs into the upstand, up the wall and around the niche as one surface.
The honest version of the waterproofing story is this: microcement is not waterproof on its own. In a wet area it is specified as a system, with the substrate waterproofed beneath it, the correct primer, the body coats and a sealer chosen for continuous water contact. Falls, drainage and tanking still have to be right underneath it.
The sealer is a maintenance item, not a permanent state. Re-sealing intervals depend on the product and the use, and they belong in the handover documentation rather than in a sales sentence.
In practice
- Floor, upstand, wall and niche in one continuous surface with no grout lines
- Applied over correctly waterproofed and tanked substrates, with falls set beneath
- Specified for showers, hammams and spa treatment areas as a complete system
- Can go over existing tile where the substrate is sound, avoiding a strip-out
- Re-sealing intervals confirmed at handover and recorded in the maintenance schedule
Specify it
| System | Waterproofing, primer, body coats and a sealer rated for continuous water contact |
|---|---|
| Waterproofing | Tanking and falls are a substrate responsibility, completed and tested first |
| Applied thickness | Approximately 2 to 3 mm depending on floor or wall |
| Sealer | A maintenance item - re-application interval set by product and use |
| Not suitable | Over substrates with unresolved movement, damp or failed tanking |
Microcement is a durable, low-VOC cement-based finish. It is not a natural or vapour-open material — for that, see clay plaster or lime plaster. Emission and content testing is published by the manufacturer.
View evidence — Cemher VOC emissions certificate (PDF, 0.8 MB)Bathrooms in place
Delivered work, photographed on site. Photography: Conmarble.
Featured project
Built with this material, by our own artisans. Open the project for the full set of photographs and the story of the installation.
Technical support for the design team
We supply the material and we apply it, so the specification and the workmanship sit with one party. Send a finishes schedule, an elevation or a mood board and we will come back with the system, the build-up, the sample programme and a completed clause.