Microcement floors and walls, applied across the UAE

Microcement is priced per square metre, and the rate moves with substrate condition, total area, waterproofing requirements, edge and threshold details, and the finish selected. Small bathrooms cost more per square metre than large open floors because preparation and detailing dominate the labour. DecoPaint issues a written, itemised quote within 24 hours of the free site inspection.

In most projects, yes. Tiles are cleaned, keyed, and primed, grout lines are filled, and a reinforcing mesh is embedded before the microcement layers go on. This is the main reason clients choose it over re-tiling — no demolition, no skip, and only a few millimetres of added height. The site visit confirms that the tiles are sound, well bonded, and free of movement before we commit to it.

Yes, when it is specified as a full system. The substrate is tanked with a waterproof membrane first, the microcement layers are applied over it, and the surface is closed with a purpose-made sealer. The finished wet room has no grout lines, which removes the part of a tiled bathroom that stains and fails first. DecoPaint installs microcement bathrooms, wet rooms, and walk-in showers across the UAE.

A correctly specified system should not. Cracking traces back to the substrate rather than the finish — movement in the slab, an unrelieved structural joint, or moisture pushing up from below. That is what the site inspection is for: we check moisture, movement, and joint positions, add mesh reinforcement, and carry structural joints through the finish instead of covering them over.

A single bathroom or a compact room is usually three to five working days. A full villa floor or a commercial interior runs on a staged programme covering preparation, base coats, finish coats, sealing, and cure time. Sealed floors normally accept light foot traffic within 24 to 48 hours, with furniture and heavy use held back until the sealer has fully cured.

They overlap heavily and are often used interchangeably. All three describe thin, trowel-applied cement-based layers used to create seamless floors and walls. Microtopping generally refers to the thinnest variants, chosen for refurbishments where added floor height has to stay minimal. DecoPaint selects the build-up based on substrate, traffic, and the finish you want rather than on the label a supplier prints.

Epoxy and resin floors are plastic coatings; they cure to a uniform, often high-gloss film and are typically specified for garages, warehouses, and industrial areas. Microcement is a mineral finish with hand-trowelled tonal movement, so it suits residential and hospitality interiors where the surface is meant to read as a material rather than a coating. It also works on walls and vertical surfaces, which resin systems generally do not.

Microcement is pigmented, so the palette runs across warm oysters, greiges, sands, soft greys, and deeper charcoals, in matte, satin, or polished sheens with varying degrees of trowel texture. DecoPaint prepares physical samples in your own light before application, because microcement colour shifts noticeably between showroom lighting and the room it will live in.

Yes, with the correct specification. Outdoor terraces, courtyards, and pool surrounds use a UV-stable sealer and a slip-rated finish suited to UAE sun and surface temperatures. The build-up differs from an interior floor, so confirm the outdoor application during the site visit rather than assuming an interior spec will carry over.

A correctly installed and maintained microcement floor lasts comparably to a good tiled floor — well over a decade in a domestic setting. What ages is the sealer, not the microcement beneath it, and the sealer is refreshed rather than replaced. Commercial floors on heavy traffic are resealed more often.

Yes, and it suits it particularly well. At two to three millimetres the surface conducts heat efficiently and warms faster than thick tile or stone. The slab must be properly commissioned — heated and cycled before application — so the screed has finished its initial movement.

Stone arrives in slabs or tiles, so it always has joints, and it is heavy enough to need structural allowance. Microcement is continuous, adds a few millimetres and almost no load, and can be applied over what is already there. Stone offers natural veining; microcement offers uninterrupted surface and hand-trowelled tonal movement.

Yes. Once cured and sealed it is inert, and DecoPaint uses low-VOC systems. The surface is warm underfoot, has no joints for dirt to collect in, and can be specified with a slip-resistant finish in circulation areas.

Clear the room of furniture, and arrange access for the crew. Everything else is ours: we protect adjacent surfaces, check and repair the substrate, correct levels, tank wet areas, and prime before any microcement goes down. The site inspection tells you in advance which of these your room needs.

Day to day, a pH-neutral cleaner and a soft mop are enough — there is no grout to scrub. Avoid acidic or abrasive products, which attack the sealer rather than the microcement underneath. Depending on traffic, the sealer is usually refreshed every few years; DecoPaint supplies maintenance guidance and the matching products on handover.