Venetian plaster
A family of trowelled lime plasters finished to a smooth or lightly textured mineral surface. In North American interiors the phrase usually means polished lime-and-marble finishes such as Marmorino or Grassello, not historic fresco plaster.
Marmorino
A lime plaster with marble powder. It can be left satin or taken to a higher polish. Common on Toronto fireplace and foyer walls when the client wants stone character without slabs.
Grassello
A finer, often higher-polish Venetian plaster. It shows more reflection. Poor choice next to a TV if night glare matters.
Stucco Veneziano
Italian name often used interchangeably with polished Venetian plaster. Specify the actual system and sheen rather than the label.
Limewash
A thin mineral wash of slaked lime and pigment. It colours a wall with soft variation instead of sitting as a plastic film. Different from lime plaster, which is a built-up body coat.
Lime plaster
A thicker lime-based body applied in coats. It can be the substrate or the visible finish. Older Toronto houses often have lime plaster over wood lath.
Slaked lime
Calcium hydroxide made by slaking quicklime in water. The binder in traditional limewashes and many mineral plasters.
Tadelakt
A Moroccan lime plaster burnished with soap to a water-resistant sheen. Related in spirit to wet-area mineral work, but it is its own system and skill set — not a synonym for microcement.
Microcement
A thin polymer-modified cementitious coating used for seamless walls and some wet-area fields. Looks calm and monolithic. Durability depends on prep, joints, and the sealer — not on the marketing name.
Microtopping
Trade language overlapping with microcement. Always ask what the build-up and sealer actually are.
Burnishing
Compressing a plaster coat with a trowel or stone so the surface densifies and takes sheen. This is how polished Venetian plaster gets its depth.
Trowel marks
Visible passes of the steel trowel. In decorative work they can be a designed movement, not a defect — unless the spec was a dead-flat field.
Marmorino spatolato
A tightly trowelled, often smoother presentation of marmorino. Language varies by supplier; judge a sample, not the Italian adjective.
Feature wall
The one plane meant to carry the finish budget: fireplace wall, dining wall, foyer, headboard wall. In GTA houses this is usually where plaster earns its keep.
Return
The side face of a wall, niche, or fireplace that turns the corner. Running finish onto returns is what makes a wall look architectural instead of like a painted panel.
Substrate
Whatever the finish sits on: drywall, plaster and lath, cement board, existing paint, tile. Most failures start here.
Skim coat
A thin leveling layer used to flatten orange-peel drywall or patched GTA reno walls before a decorative system.
Orange peel
The common sprayed drywall texture in Ontario houses and condos. Fine for paint. Poor under polished plaster or a mural until it is leveled.
Prime / bonding primer
The coat that lets limewash or plaster grip painted drywall. Skipping it is a frequent DIY failure.
Vapour-open
A finish that lets moisture move through the wall instead of trapping it under a plastic film. Lime systems can be vapour-open when sealers stay breathable. Important in older Toronto stock and humid summers.
Sealer / topcoat
The protective layer over plaster or microcement. It changes stain resistance, sheen, and how vapour-open the wall stays. Choose it for the room, not the magazine photo.
Saponification
In tadelakt and some lime work, the reaction of lime with soap that helps water resistance. Not something you add to ordinary paint.
Efflorescence
White salt deposits that migrate through masonry or damp plaster. A moisture problem first, a decorative problem second.
Hairline crack / telegraphing
A fine line that shows the joint or movement underneath. Common at drywall seams and new-build shrinkage in the GTA. The finish is reporting the house.
Control joint
A planned break that lets a rigid coating move. Needed on larger microcement fields.
Waterproofing stack
The layers behind a bathroom finish: membrane, board, detailing at corners and fixtures. Decorative microcement sits on top of this. It does not replace it.
3D plaster / relief
Sculpted plaster built out from the wall plane. Depth is designed with grazing light in mind. Not the same as a printed mural or foam panel.
Grazing light
Light that hits the wall at a shallow angle and makes texture visible. North windows, picture lights, and cove LEDs all change how plaster reads in a Toronto room.
Sample board
A physical finish sample, ideally viewed in the actual room. Phone photos lie about sheen and undertone, especially under north light.
Integral colour
Pigment mixed through the plaster or wash, not a paint film on top. Chips are less obvious; recoating is a different job than touching up latex.
Lime bloom
A light cloudy veil that can appear on fresh lime finishes as they carbonate. Often settles. Not the same as efflorescence from a leak.
Carbonation
Lime plaster hardening as it takes up carbon dioxide. This is why lime work needs air and time, not just “dry to the touch.”
Polished plaster
Trade umbrella for burnished mineral finishes. Ask whether the system is lime, acrylic, or a hybrid before comparing quotes.
Acrylic plaster
A polymer-bound decorative plaster. Can be faster and more water-tolerant than pure lime. Different ageing and repair behaviour. Not automatically “Venetian plaster.”
Mineral paint
Silicate or lime paints that bond chemically to masonry or plaster. Related family to limewash, not a synonym for Venetian plaster.
Kalkfarbe
German/European term for lime paint. You will see it on imported cans in Ontario trade shops.
Marmorino velvet / matte lime
A lower-sheen mineral plaster. Quieter than Grassello. Often better in bedrooms and next to screens.
Decorative mural
A one-wall painted or mixed-media composition sized to the architecture. Opposite of a repeating wallpaper roll.
Faux finish
Paint techniques that imitate stone, wood, or aged plaster. Different from actual mineral plaster. Yafalux work is material, not a printed imitation, unless a mural is specified as illustration.
Color wash
A thin translucent paint layer. Looks related to limewash in photos; chemically it is usually still a film.
Joint compound / drywall mud
Gypsum filler used on modern walls. Fine under paint. Must be sound and often primed or skimmed before lime or plaster.
Cement board
Stable wet-area board used behind tile or some microcement systems. Better than plain drywall in showers when the rest of the stack is correct.
New-build shrinkage
Framing and compound movement in the first year of a GTA house or condo. A reason to delay high-polish plaster on brand-new walls.
NAP
Name, address, phone — the consistent business identity search engines use. For Yafalux: Yafalux, Toronto / GTA, +1-416-838-2544.