Shower

Renders for the shower: tadelakt, béton ciré and what holds water

Running water is the hardest test a wall faces. Two renders in this guide pass it, for opposite reasons: tadelakt because lime, compressed with a stone and saponified with black soap, becomes waterproof while staying mineral; béton ciré because it is sealed under a varnish. Neither forgives a bad application.

The test

Included: renders and stuccos whose water verdict is “shower”. Everything else — even those that take a bathroom’s steam — is left out.

Renders that qualify

Render

Béton ciré

Cement + resin · 2–3 mm

A mineral render as one continuous surface with no joint anywhere — the only finish here that runs from floor to wall in a single material.

Shower
Exposed
Periodic
Closes the wall

All about this finish

Photo Alex van Olst · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Stucco

Tadelakt

Hydraulic lime (NHL) · 3–6 mm

The one lime finish that takes running water — and it is the soap, not the lime, that makes it waterproof. The floor of hammams for centuries, walls and floors alike.

Shower
Sheltered
Regular care
Vapour-open

All about this finish

Photo Eigenheym · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

To make it last

1Under a shower béton ciré, a waterproofing system (membrane or resin) is essential: the varnish protects the surface, not the wall.
2Tadelakt goes on rigid masonry or a hydraulic-lime base render — never straight onto plasterboard, which moves.
3Take care over falls and corners: that is where water sits and cracks begin.
4Wait several weeks before the first shower, and plan the upkeep: black soap for tadelakt, varnish to renew for béton ciré.

Ones to avoid here

Other uses

Damp roomsRenders for damp rooms: bathroom, kitchen, utility room OutdoorsExterior renders: what holds on a facade, in rain and frost