WALL COATINGS ARE BENEFICIAL FOR HOMEOWNERS – It’s safe and fair to say that people now are busier than they have ever been. With many people working and juggling family, social or sporting commitments, the average amount of time which the British homeowner has to dedicate to home and garden improvements and maintenance has seriously depleted.
For this reason, many manufacturers and suppliers of home improvement products have spent valuable time and effort introducing products which allow for the lack of time which the home owners now have.
Wall coatings are one such product.
The Past
In the past, the main choice for external wall coatings was either in the form of stucco, EIFS or cement rendering. This involved a thick layer of cement or plaster being layered over the external surface of the property, allowed to dry and then painted for decorate and protective purposes.
Although this method was sufficient for many years, it was by no means an ideal solution. In addition to the fact that a poor application method could leave an uneven or messy finish, there was also the issue of fashion. It was the habit of many installers of this coating to add a finish such as bubbling, stone or pebble dashing or even a pattern etched into the top layer. Although this might have looked appealing at the time, fashions changed very quickly and a home could quickly appear dated or out of style.
A further problem was that the paint layer which would normally consist of standard masonry paint would have a tendency to look old and dated very quickly and could crack and chip when faced with constant contact with adverse weather conditions. This would mean that in order to maintain the appearance and the protective benefits of the wall coating, a homeowner would need to spend time and money constantly redoing the paint. Not only was this process time consuming and tedious; it could be exceptionally labour intensive.
New Technology
Thankfully, many of the new developments in wall coatings have rendered many of these problems obsolete.
Many installers of wall coatings now offer a solution which can be applied directly onto the surface of the building rather than on top of a concrete or rendered surface. This solution is sprayed on and takes the form of an extremely thick paint. Many of the companies offering this coating specify that it is up to 30 times thicker than normal paint and therefore it gives a much fuller and thicker appearance, needing only one application whereas a masonry paint would need several if not tens of applications to give the same finish.
These single applications have a variety of time guarantees, depending on the manufacturer in question with some being promised to last as long as twenty five years and the manufacturers suggest that rather than the previous labour-intensive process of reapplying the paint on a regular basis, there is no need for any further applications to be made during the lifetime of the product. Furthermore, many of the products used have a coating which allows them to be self cleaning, meaning that they repel dirt and therefore do not have to be cleaned or tidied.
