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Specifying microcement for hotels, restaurants and bars

9 min read · Published 18 June 2026
Microcement bar interior with seamless walls and counter

Microcement in hospitality lives a much harder life than microcement at home. Bar fronts get kicked, restaurant floors are mopped twice a day with strong cleaners, hotel corridors take rolling luggage. The product is more than capable — but only if it's specified for the duty cycle.

This is a working spec note for designers, contract administrators and developers.

Pick the right system, not the right colour

There's a tendency to specify by colour and finish family and let the contractor pick the underlying system. That's the wrong order. Specify the system first — wall vs floor, commercial vs residential, sealer chemistry — then choose the colour from the shades that system supports.

Sealer matters more than anything

  • Two-pack polyurethane sealer is the only sealer worth specifying for commercial floors. Single-pack water-based sealers wear through in 12–18 months under restaurant traffic.
  • Matt and satin sealers age more gracefully than polished. Polished shows micro-scratches immediately under hospitality wear.
  • Anti-slip additive: ask for a Pendulum Test Value (PTV) on the sealed sample, not just a finish description.

Programme realism

A microcement floor in a 200 m² restaurant is a 10–12 day programme: 3 days basecoats, 2 days finishing, 2 days sealer build, 3 days for the floor to harden before furniture goes back. Compress this and you'll lose the floor in the first month of trading.

For listed-building and historic hospitality projects, microcement is often the only finish that delivers a seamless contemporary surface while remaining reversible — it sits on a primer over the substrate and can be removed without damaging stone or timber underneath.

Fire and slip compliance

  • Reaction to fire: most quality microcement systems achieve Bfl-s1 to BS EN 13501-1 — request the data sheet for the specific sealer.
  • Slip resistance: Pendulum Test Value of 36+ in the wet condition is the threshold for hospitality. Achievable with anti-slip additive in the topcoat.
  • Hygiene: PU-sealed microcement is non-porous, easy to clean, and HACCP-compatible for food prep adjacencies (subject to the local environmental health officer).

Repairability

The single most useful question to ask before commissioning: can a section be repaired and re-blended on a live site? With our system the answer is yes — we keep colour-batch records on every commercial install and can patch a damaged area in 48 hours without taking the room out of service overnight.

FAQs

People also ask

How do I write microcement into a tender document?+

Specify by system, not brand. Required layers, sealer chemistry, PTV, fire rating, manufacturer's installer accreditation. We'll send a sample spec clause on request.

Will the floor still look new after 5 years of trading?+

It will look five years old. Microcement ages — that's part of its appeal — but in hospitality it shows wear at the bar foot-rail, behind banquettes, around the till station. Plan a touch-up cycle at year three.

What's the cost premium over a hard-wearing vinyl or LVT?+

Roughly 2.5–3x. The trade-off is a finish that reads as the architecture rather than as a covering, and a 15-year service life vs 7 for high-end vinyl.

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