Blog Microcement: walls and floors with no grout lines
Some rooms look best with no joints at all: a shower in one smooth surface, a floor with no grout lines, a wall with the soft look of hand-troweled plaster. That's microcement. Oracle Flooring & Design is an authorized Cimentart distributor in Sarasota, with installers trained and certified by Cimentart.
What is microcement?
Microcement is a thin coating of cement, polymers and fine minerals, troweled on by hand in layers and then sealed. The whole finish is only about an eighth of an inch thick, so it can often go right over what's already there and wrap a floor, the walls and even the steps in one continuous surface.
How it goes on, step by step, and the Cimentart systems are on our microcement page.
Microcement or porcelain tile?
All three can work in a shower. Where they differ is the joints, the look and the care:
| Compared | Microcement | Large-format porcelain | Smaller tile and mosaics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joints | None | A few, where the big pieces meet | A grout line around every piece |
| The look | Made by hand on site, so no two walls are alike | Marble, stone or concrete looks, fired into the tile | Any color, shape or pattern, from subway to hexagon |
| The care | A protective varnish, kept up as Cimentart's guide says | Next to none: porcelain barely takes in water | Glazed tile and glass need nothing; stone and grout can be sealed |
| Over old tile | Often, if the old tile is firmly stuck down | Sometimes, if the old tile is sound and flat | Sometimes, if the old tile is sound |
If you want no joints at all and love a finish made by hand, it's microcement. If you want the exact look of a marble or a stone with the least upkeep, large-format porcelain comes close to joint-free. Small tile and mosaics give the most grip on a shower floor and the most freedom of pattern.
Where does microcement work?
- Showers and bathrooms, with Cimentart's Aqua line made for wet areas, and no grout to scrub.
- Floors that run from room to room without a break.
- Walls and feature walls, where the soft movement of the trowel shows.
- A fresh look without tearing out the old tile, as long as that tile is firmly bonded.
- Outdoors, again with the Aqua line.
Choose something else for a pool or anywhere water sits: Cimentart doesn't recommend microcement there. And because it follows whatever is under it, a base that moves or cracks gets fixed first, which is why we look at your surfaces before anything is planned.
Is microcement hard to look after?
Not hard, just different from tile. Clean it with water and a neutral cleaner, never acids or strong alkaline products, and don't leave water standing on it. Cimentart's care guide suggests a coat of acrylic wax once a month.
You can walk on it after about three days and get it wet after a week, but a floor takes about four weeks to reach full hardness, so go easy at first.
Every pass of the trowel leaves a little movement in the finish. That's the handmade look people choose it for, so expect a wall that's soft and calm, not printed and even.
Where can you see microcement in Sarasota?
At Oracle Flooring & Design in Sarasota, where a full bath display is finished in microcement in several textures and finishes, right next to the tile and large-format porcelain it's usually compared with. Ask us about microcement for your project, and we'll look at your surfaces when we come out for the free estimate.
