External Wall Painting

External Wall Painting

Exterior paint is highly varied from interior painting and needs to provide adequate protection. The exterior of your building is continually exposed to extreme weather elements such as hot sunshine, heavy rains and harsh winds which can compromise the integrity. Due to the exposure of UV rays, the life cycle of the paint is often reduced. Therefore, it becomes pivotal to selecting and applying the correct external wall painting.

Discussed below are a few factors that should be considered for the selection of external wall painting:

Selection of colour

The first impression of your home is made even before people step foot inside. This makes choosing the right exterior wall colour as important as choosing the interior wall paint colours, or maybe even more.  You may choose your exterior wall paint colours as per your liking, however, consider that your neighborhood is a vital aspect of ensuring your home is accentuated in its natural setting. Stick to one or maximum of two exterior home painting colours, as more colours on the exteriors appear cluttered.

Darker colours make the house look smaller but are a great means for drawing attention to an architectural detail, architecture & style that one wishes to flaunt.

Selection of coating

Ripple texture

Medium texture

Low texture

High texture

Acrylic paints are resistant to fading and will be able to resist damaging UV rays longer. The acrylic paint is more durable as it resists flaking, chalking, and peeling. Styrene acrylics are promoted for gloss, chemical resistance and dirt pickup resistance.

Low VOC

Oil-based paints, which are more often used outdoors, contain more VOC than water-based paints. Even though the VOC evaporate into the outdoor air, they can still affect you, even if you’re living and working inside while the exterior is being painted. The VOC could also contribute to smog and outdoor air pollution.

Elongation properties

Other than poor aesthetic appeal, cracks in the paint leaves the building vulnerable to premature masonry failures, as the cracks allow the ingress of water, chloride ions (salts), and environmental gases such as SO₂ and CO₂ into the masonry substrate or expose the concrete and its reinforcement to their potentially destructive effects.

Elongation properties play a key role in the selection of external paint. The elongation defines the flexibility of a material and consequently it’s capability of undergoing deformation without breaking. The paint therefore should be elongation flexible, otherwise any crack on plaster would directly impact the external paint, which would lead to water ingress. The combination of high ultimate tensile strength and high elongation leads to materials of high toughness.

Unlike normal paint, elastomeric wall painting maintains their elasticity with time.  Substrate movement for whatever reason leads to cracks.  These cracks are easily bridged during initial application and remain bridged throughout the worst ravages of cold winters and hot humid summers.

Waterproofing Properties

Waterproofing is a must for exterior walls and water leakage or moisture ingress can result into damp, uncomfortable internal environments; deterioration of internal finishes, unsightly damp areas on wall and ceiling surfaces (including mold growth); and increased concentrations of harmful pollutants affecting occupant’s health.

Waterproof paint commonly called hydrophobic paints & coatings are 100% water repellent. This paint protects the outside of your home from the direct penetration by water. For effective waterproofing of external walls, the coating material used should function as more protective than decorative.

ARDEX ENDURA WPM 310 is an acrylic based waterproof, elastomeric, UV stable, flexible facade coating with high solar reflectance, providing excellent heat insulation and energy efficiency. It can be applied at a DFT of 0.3mm (300 microns) as an aesthetically attractive textured finish or semi-smooth finish and is available in a range of standard colours.

Next time you are selecting paint for your exterior walls keep these factors in mind and choose wisely OR contact us for more details www.ardexendura.com

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