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Lime plaster

Lime plaster and Microtadelakt

Name: Microtadelakt lime plaster
Brand: Cemher

A mineral, lime-based polished plaster applied at 1 to 3 mm. Seamless across walls, soffits and curved work, and specified through wet areas as a sealed system.

System Cemher Microtadelakt, lime-based polished plaster

Build-up Primer, thick base where required, two body coats, sealer

Applied thickness Approximately 1 to 3 mm over the substrate

Delivered on Calligraphy Museum, Madinah · Afraa Boutique, Lusail

The material

Lime plaster is one of the oldest wall finishes still in normal use, and it survives because of how it behaves rather than how it looks. It sets slowly, stays mineral, and takes colour into the body of the material instead of onto its surface.

Microtadelakt is Cemher’s lime-based interpretation of tadelakt. It carries the same polished, seamless character — no joints, no grout lines, movement and depth across a whole wall — but is applied thin, over a prepared substrate, and reaches its water resistance through a specified build-up rather than through prolonged burnishing and soap treatment.

That matters on a live programme. Traditional tadelakt is slow, and its performance depends heavily on the hand that applies it. Microtadelakt is specified as a system, with a technical data sheet behind each layer, which is what makes it viable across a museum atrium or a hotel spa rather than a single feature wall.

Seamless across large areas

Applied without joints or grout lines, so a wall, its returns and its soffit read as one surface. This is what makes it suited to arched and curved work, where a tiled or panelised finish would have to be cut.

Low VOC, with the test behind it

Cemher publishes VOC emission and content certificates for Microtadelakt, tested to the standards named in the report. We would rather hand you the certificate than offer an adjective about the product’s health credentials.

View evidence — VOC emissions certificate (PDF, 0.8 MB)

Water resistance as a system

Specified for bathrooms, showers and spa areas as a complete build-up — primer, base, body coats and sealer. The water resistance belongs to the system and its sealer, not to the plaster on its own, and the sealer is a maintenance item.

View evidence — Microtadelakt technical data sheet (PDF, 0.9 MB)

Contributes to rating submissions

Cemher provides documentation supporting LEED, WELL, BREEAM and Mostadam submissions. The products contribute to credits; they are not themselves certified, and the Cemher LEED file is a beta attestation of contribution.

View evidence — LEED v4.1 contribution attestation (PDF, 0.8 MB)

Colour through the body

Pigment is carried in the material rather than applied over it, so wear exposes more of the same colour instead of a different substrate beneath. Range and finish are selected against an approved sample panel.

View evidence — Microtadelakt colour and range sheet (PDF, 1.8 MB)

Repairable in place

Damage is made good by re-working the affected area and re-sealing, rather than by replacing a panel or a run of tile. Joins are easier to lose in a textured finish than in a polished one.

Microtadelakt in place

The Calligraphy Museum in Madinah is the clearest reference for this material at scale: arched halls, stair soffits and gallery walls in one continuous finish. Photography: Conmarble.

Tall pointed arches finished in warm sand Microtadelakt in an arched hall at the Calligraphy Museum, Madinah — Arched hall — the finish carried around the full curve of each arch.

Underside of a stair in sand Microtadelakt lime plaster with a lit handrail at the Calligraphy Museum, Madinah — Stair soffit — wall, edge and underside in one uninterrupted plane.

Gallery wall in pale Microtadelakt lime plaster with a horizontal banded texture, Calligraphy Museum, Madinah — Gallery wall — texture worked to read as horizontal strata.

Close detail of hand-applied Microtadelakt lime plaster showing trowel movement and fine aggregate in a sand tone — The surface up close — trowel movement held in the finish.

Where it is specified

Interior walls, soffits and curved or arched work, where a seamless surface is the point Bathrooms, showers and spa areas, as a sealed system with the specified primer and sealer Hospitality and retail interiors that need a hand-applied finish able to take traffic Museums and cultural buildings, where large continuous wall planes are unavoidable Reception and circulation areas, with the sealer selected for the expected cleaning regime

Specify it

Applied thickness Approximately 1 to 3 mm, over a sound, prepared substrate

Build-up Primer, thick base where levelling is required, two body coats, sealer

Wet areas Specified as a sealed system; sealer selection and re-application are maintenance items

Colour Selected from the Microtadelakt range against an approved sample panel

Substrate movement Structural and movement joints must be carried through the finish

Specification clause

Lime plaster: Cemher Microtadelakt lime-based polished plaster, applied at approximately 1 to 3 mm to the areas scheduled, over the manufacturer's primer and thick base where levelling is required. Two body coats finished to the approved sample panel, sealed with the specified sealer. In wet areas the complete system build-up is to be applied as the technical data sheet requires. Structural and movement joints to be carried through the finish. Supply and installation by Earth Layers by Conmarble.

Square brackets mark the choices that belong to the project. Send us the finishes schedule and we will return the clause completed, with the sample and mock-up programme against it.

Featured projects

Built with this material, by our own artisans. Open the project for the full set of photographs and the story of the installation.

Sand Microtadelakt arches in the grand atrium of the Calligraphy Museum, Madinah

Calligraphy Museum, Madinah Microtadelakt lime plaster across the atrium and halls View the project →

Microtadelakt polished lime plaster on the curved display walls at Afraa Boutique, Lusail

Afraa Boutique, Place Vendôme Microtadelakt on the curved display walls View the project →

Continue

Specification Microtadelakt data, coverage and the full system build-up. The lime plaster family Every lime product we hold, side by side. Calligraphy Museum Microtadelakt across the atrium, halls and stairs. Traditional tadelakt Where the traditional method still earns its place. Microcement The cement-based alternative, and when to use it instead. Request a sample Send a finishes schedule and we will reply within one working day.

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.

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