FAQ’S

Micro cement is a generic term used as a name for any, thin laid (2 - 4mm in our case), cementitious finish or wear material applied by trowel. In our case we install 3 distinct types of micro cement in many styles and colours.

Rasico® and Rasico Touch (Rasico with an extra, finer coat) is a blend of cement, aggregates, special ingredients for strength and workability, and a binder. Rasico and Rasico Touch are applied mostly externally but Rasico Touch especially, is suitable internally too. Being textured it offers high slip resistance. It can be mixed in many colours including the colours our Classic style which gives the option to continue an interior surface, finished in the Classic style, externally with a similar but slip resistant surface.

Nuvolato Architop is the material system which is used to create our Urban Industrial style. Made in Italy by Ideal Work it is specially formulated to be finished using a power trowel. It cannot be finished in any other way. The power trowel gives it its style which is similar to its deep laid cousin, power floated concrete. A selection of 24 colours is available and virtually any colour can be specially created using pigments.

Yes. Being cementitious it will not be affected at all by being close to the electric elements or heating tubes.

Yes with the exception of our style Urban Industrial (this is finished with a power trowel so therefore it is only for floors).

Our Classic and most of our textured styles can be applied to virtually any substrate including those which may have some "bounce" in them. The material we use for these styles, Microtopping® by Ideal Work of Italy, has a large amount of flexibility which makes it perfect for wood boarded floors, worktops and furniture, plasterboard walls, etc. Our styles Urban Industrial, Rasico and Rasico Touch are formulated to be extremely hard which means they are brittle. So these systems can only be applied to rigid substrates. Included in these are concrete, sand and cement screed, anhydrite (pump) screed, leveling compound over a solid base cement board over a solid base, etc.

No.The micro cement materials are odourless and cause no irritation. There is a minimal amount of dust created during the sanding process so we will protect and seal off areas where no works are being undertaken. Water based sealers have a mild but pleasant odour. In some circumstances we recommend the use of our solvent based sealers do have an odour. We will mitigate against this by sealing off other areas and ventilating the work area with fans and open windows. Once the sealers is dry, which takes around 4 hours, the odour will no longer be present.

We have 3 different micro cement systems each having different technical specifications using different materials. The Urban Industrial system is achieved with Ideal Work's material called Nuvolato Architop. Finished with a power trowel, this system has the appearance and performance of power floated concrete which is extremely hard. Our Classic style along with almost all of our Texture styles are created using Ideal Work's Microtopping® material. This is a polymer modified cementitious material which benefits from being flexible and gives a great diversity of aesthetic possibilities. It draws much of its hardness from the substrate and its performance is akin to a hard wood floor. Our third system is Rasici and Rasico Touch, again manufactured in Italy by Ideal Work, with a performance like concrete, being exceptionally hard and durable.

All our micro cement finishes require a common sense approach to cleaning and maintenance. Whichever system you choose, keeping your floor clean and free from grit will help to safeguard your micro cement surfaces from wear and tear. For interior surfaces use any non aggressive cleaning product such as the Ideal Work floor cleaner, Perfetto, which we can supply. For more details please see the maintenance manual.

The sealers we use are among the best on the market. They have been tried and tested in high traffic commercial environments and have been specifically developed by the manufacturer to protect the full range of micro cement products against wear and tear, water penetration and chemicals attack. Some sealers, have been specially developed for specific purposes. For example the Petrotex S sealer is designed to protect against frequent oil spillages in garages. Outside the single pack acrylic sealer, Seal M, is designed to be breathable allowing any moisture penetration into the substrate to disperse.

After floors are complete and sealed it is possible to walk on them, for all our systems, the following day. They will not be fully cured by then though. So care should be taken for around a week while the floors reach their full strength and resistance.