Tadelakt in Sutton Place, Manhattan is specialist work for Chelsea Limewash Co., in a quiet enclave of townhouses and prewar co-ops. Tadelakt is a burnished, soap-sealed lime plaster that is water-resistant, which makes it a seamless, luxurious finish for baths and wet rooms. It is troweled on, polished with a stone, and treated with olive-oil soap that reacts with the lime to seal the surface. From a townhouse powder room to a co-op primary bath, our crews apply it entirely by hand.
Sutton Place is a quiet enclave of townhouses and prewar co-ops near the East River. The refined, private character of these homes suits a bespoke, seamless bath finish more than off-the-shelf tile. The neighborhood's high-end, understated taste makes hand-applied tadelakt a natural fit for its bathrooms and wet rooms.
Tadelakt is a lime plaster burnished with a smooth stone and then sealed with a natural olive-oil soap. The soap reacts with the lime to form a water-resistant, seamless surface, which is why tadelakt has traditionally been used in Moroccan baths and hammams. In a Sutton Place bathroom it gives a jointless, tactile finish with no grout lines to fail.
Because it is troweled by hand and has no seams or tile joints, tadelakt reads as one continuous surface that wraps a room. That makes it ideal for a powder room, a shower surround, or a full wet room where a monolithic look is wanted. We plan penetrations, edges, and slopes carefully so the finish performs as well as it looks.
Tadelakt is among the most demanding lime finishes, requiring the right substrate, careful burnishing, and proper soap treatment and cure time. We prepare a suitable base, apply and stone-polish the lime in stages, and treat it with soap so it seals fully before use. Rushing any stage is the main reason tadelakt fails, so we let each step take the time it needs.
We also finish walls in nearby Morningside Heights. Call Chelsea Limewash Co. at (646) 828-5798 for limewash & mineral paint finishes across Manhattan.