Tadelakt is the Moroccan lime technique for wet rooms: lime plaster burnished with a stone and sealed with natural olive soap until the surface becomes water-resistant, seamless and softly glowing. It is the natural alternative to tile in showers, bathrooms and around basins — no grout lines, nothing for mold to colonise. PLASTER LAB applies authentic tadelakt with PRATTA Exclusive materials across Bali, Jakarta and Indonesia.
What tadelakt is
The technique is centuries old: lime plaster is compacted and polished while it cures, then treated with soap that reacts with the lime to form a water-repellent surface. The result feels like polished stone, with gentle waves of hand work in the light. Because it is lime through and through, tadelakt keeps the high pH and breathability that make lime finishes naturally mold-resistant — a decisive advantage in Indonesian bathrooms that never fully dry out.
Where it works: showers, basins, bathrooms
Tadelakt belongs wherever water meets the wall: walk-in showers, bathroom walls, built-in basins and bathtubs, hammam-style spa rooms. HQC Villa Premium's spa elements (350 m²) show the finish at work. For dry rooms, its siblings lime plaster and limewash carry the same material story through the rest of the villa; for seamless floors, microcement is usually the better tool.
Price per m²
Tadelakt is the most labour-intensive lime finish — it is burnished by hand — so it is priced per square metre by project. Send the dimensions of your wet areas on WhatsApp for a written quote: ask on WhatsApp.
Process and timeline
After the site survey and physical samples, application runs in stages: base coats, the tadelakt coat, burnishing while the lime cures, then soap sealing. The burnishing window is dictated by the material, not the calendar, so we schedule each bathroom as its own small project. Handover includes the technologist's inspection, care instructions — maintenance is an occasional re-soaping — and warranty documentation.
Mold-free guarantee
Like all our lime mineral coatings, tadelakt is covered by PLASTER LAB's official, documented mold-free guarantee — written proof that a bathroom without grout lines can also be a bathroom without mold.
FAQ
Is tadelakt really waterproof?
It is water-resistant: the soap-sealed, burnished surface sheds water and is used directly in showers and on basins. It should not be confused with a swimming-pool liner — for pools and permanently submerged surfaces we recommend a different system.
How do I maintain a tadelakt shower?
Clean with mild, non-acidic soap and re-soap the surface occasionally — we hand over care instructions at completion. Avoid aggressive descalers; the lime surface is naturally easy to live with.
Can you match a specific colour?
Yes, tadelakt is pigmented through the material. We bring physical samples in your chosen tones to the site survey before you commit.
Tadelakt or microcement for a bathroom?
Both are seamless and both work. Tadelakt is lime — warmer, softer, naturally anti-mold, best on walls and basins. Microcement is cement — harder underfoot and the usual choice for floors. Many bathrooms combine them.