Microcement cost in Mallorca

"How much does a square metre of microcement cost?" is the question we are asked most, and the square metre on its own says little. A small bathroom with a built-in shower and walls up to the ceiling and an open-plan living room of sixty square metres are very different jobs, even if both are quoted per metre. The full system is on the page on microcement.

Why the price of microcement per m² misleads

Microcement is applied by hand, in thin coats with 4 to 24 hours of drying between them, and labour weighs more than the material. Labour, though, does not rise in a straight line with the square metres:

• The days do not shrink with the area. A small bathroom needs the same coats and the same drying times as a large one, and they are spread over few metres.
• Cuts cost more than open surface. Corners, window reveals, niches, steps or the base of the toilet are worked with a small trowel and take far longer per metre than an open floor.
• A price per metre does not always include the same things. Some offers count only the microcement and leave out the preparation, the waterproofing or the sealing.

What moves the price of microcement

• State of the substrate and preparation. This is the item that varies most. On firm tiles it is enough to tap them, fill the hollow ones, level the joints and prime. An uneven floor needs self-levelling compound first, because 2 to 3 mm levels nothing; a cracked screed needs the cracks opened and bridged with mesh; a new screed, four weeks of waiting.
• Floor or wall. Walls have more edges and junctions and are worked vertically; floors need flatness and a sealer that takes foot traffic. The proportion between the two changes the average price.
• Total area. Travel, protection and drying times are paid per job, not per metre.
• Shower tray, drains and waterproofing. Keeping a built-in tray does not cost the same as removing a ceramic or resin tray and forming a new one with a 2 percent fall, a drain with a flange made for membranes and two coats of waterproofing mortar.
• Colours and texture. Each colour is a separate mix and one more dividing line; a smooth finish needs more passes of the trowel and more sanding. The options are in microcement colours.
• Sealer and number of coats. The standard indoors is a sealing primer and two coats of water-based polyurethane. Anti-slip aggregate in the shower, aliphatic polyurethane with UV filter outdoors or an immersion sealer in pools change the material and the time.
• Indoors, outdoors and pools. Outside there is exterior microcement, correction of the fall and sealed joints; a pool shell is a different system.
• Access. A third floor with no lift in Palma's old quarter, or a finca with no water or power on site, adds logistics.
• Furniture and sanitaryware. The toilet, bidet, fixed shower screen and skirting boards are taken off and refitted.
• An occupied home and timing. With people living in the house there is more protection and sometimes work in phases; in a block of flats, the comunidad de propietarios (owners' association) sets hours that limit sanding; a fixed deadline before the rental season shapes the organisation.

How much a microcement bathroom costs: what the quote includes

The bathroom is where a price per metre misleads most: little floor, a lot of wall and every junction in one place. A quote for a complete bathroom has these items:

1. Removal and protection: toilet, bidet, fixed shower screen and accessories.
2. Tile preparation: tapping, filling hollow tiles, levelling joints, sanding and bonding primer.
3. Shower tray: keep the built-in tray or form a new one with a fall, with a flanged drain or a linear drain.
4. Waterproofing: flexible cementitious mortar in two coats with tape, on the shower floor and on the walls up to at least two metres.
5. Microcement: mesh, two base coats and two finish coats, with floor and wall measured separately.
6. Sealing: sealing primer and two coats of polyurethane, with aggregate in the shower tray.
7. Finishing and refitting: neutral cure silicone and refitting of sanitaryware and screen.

New sanitaryware or taps, plumbing or electrical changes and painting the ceiling are not usually included. A complete bathroom takes five to eight days. More in microcement bathrooms and microcement over tiles.

Living-room floor, worktop and terrace

A living-room floor

Here the price per metre makes more sense: an open surface, few junctions, horizontal work. It includes skirting boards removed and refitted, substrate preparation with a damp reading, self-levelling compound if needed, expansion joints respected, mesh, four coats and sealing. With underfloor heating, a switch-off protocol is followed. More in microcement floors.

A kitchen worktop

Few square metres and a lot of edges: the front, the sides and the cut-outs for the sink and the hob. It is quoted almost as a single piece. What counts is the substrate, which must be rigid, the splashback if there is one, and the sealer, which gets water, grease and lemon every day. More in kitchens and worktops.

A terrace

It takes exterior microcement, aliphatic polyurethane with UV filter and aggregate wherever it is walked on wet. If the fall does not reach 1 to 2 percent, correcting it is a separate item; if the terrace leaks, the waterproofing goes first and is quoted separately. When comparing, count resealing every 2 to 4 years in the sun. It is covered in outdoor microcement and pools.

Microcement or tiles: how the cost compares

In a renovation, microcement usually works out cheaper than retiling because of what it saves around the job: no demolition, no rubble and no skip, fewer trades and a shorter job, five to eight days for a complete bathroom. On the other hand, each square metre takes more skilled labour than a laid tile, because it is done by hand, in coats, with drying times. In new build, a mid range tile laid usually costs less. We go into it in microcement or tiles.

How to compare microcement quotes

1. The same square metres, with floor and wall listed separately.
2. The preparation: tapping the tiles, hollow tiles, levelled joints and uneven areas.
3. The primer: bonding primer on tiles, consolidating primer on screed and plaster.
4. The fibreglass mesh in the first base coat.
5. The coats: two base and two finish, for 2 to 3 mm.
6. The sealer: type, sealing primer, number of coats and anti-slip.
7. The waterproofing under the microcement in the shower.
8. What is left out: sanitaryware, shower tray, skirting, furniture and final cleaning.

A price far below the others usually leaves out one of these items, precisely the ones you cannot see on handover day: without levelled joints, the tile grid shows through again; without waterproofing, the shower stains.

What we need to quote

• General and close-up photos of the surface, the shower and the drain.
• Square metres of floor and of wall separately, or the measurements of each room.
• What is there now: tiles, terrazzo, screed, plaster or paint, and whether there is underfloor heating.
• Shower type: built-in tray, ceramic or resin tray, or a bath.
• Municipality, floor level, lift and whether the house will be lived in during the work.

With that we send you an itemised quote, or suggest a visit if the photos are not enough.