How Façade Paints have taken on a whole new look

Technical Director for Sto UK, Gary Bundy, takes a look at some of the latest advances for façade paints, and examines the potential they offer to create exciting new appearances for today’s buildings.

Although great consideration is given to the overall appearance of our buildings, the paint or surface finish that will be used is often the poor relative that is overlooked in the quest to find the right cladding and render system for a project. This really should not be the case though. Paint finishes deserve just as much consideration, as the results they achieve are often surprising. Given the major advances in paint and finish technologies made in recent years, there has never been a better time to take a fresh look at this important area.

The natural look Surprisingly perhaps, the world of nature has provided the inspiration for some of these advances. For example, a façade paint is now available which creates a surface modelled on the shell of the fog-basking beetle. The shell uses special micro textures which are highly efficient in simultaneously repelling water and channeling it away. By using a special composition of binding agents and filler material, this façade paint recreates this action on the surface of the building. The result is that the surface repels water rapidly and allows the building façade to dry out very quickly. This also prevents the growth of the micro-organisms which can lead to unsightly staining and marking.

This intelligent technology paint is also able to offer great creative freedom to the building designer, as it is available in a very wide range of colours. This opens up new possibilities for the creation of fresh and inspiring building façades, and by providing a high level of colour stability this type of paint also ensures that those façades will keep their good looks for many years.

Natural roots This is not the only type of façade paint that has its roots in the natural world though. The task of maintaining the appearance of building façades can seem to be relentless, but once again a naturally-inspired, dirt-removing façade paint is on hand to help out.

This paint uses the same ‘self-cleaning’ effect which is found on the lotus plant, and the resulting ‘lotus-effect’ forces rainwater to run off the building façade in droplets, washing any particles of dirt or debris from the surface in the process. This reliable dirt-removing process helps maintain the original appearance of the surface for far longer than a conventional alternative. This benefit is not restricted to new-build projects either. The paint can be used on both old and new external render substrates, allowing each type to effectively be washed clean every time it rains.

Dark dangers Alternative colour options are another area where today’s advanced façade paints can make major contributions to the building design process. To take just one example, the task of adding a very dark render finish to external wall insulation has traditionally been extremely difficult, almost to the point of being impossible. The problem lies when the render absorbs solar heat, and it can often reach temperatures of up to 80°C, which then causes the render to suffer from dimensional instability and cracking.

Fortunately, a façade paint is available today which provides the solution to this long-standing problem. It uses special black pigments which reflect much of the solar energy in the invisible near-infrared spectrum. So, although the render surface might be a very dark colour, it will remain relatively cool. This protects both the render itself and the insulation it covers from the damaging extremes of thermal stress. As a result, the thermal limits, which have previously inhibited the use of dark coloured render designs for buildings, are effectively eliminated, allowing architects and designers to give free reign to their creative talents.

New solutions such as these illustrate the fact that the options available for modern façade paints are now almost unlimited. If architects and designers work with a manufacturer who is a proven specialist in this area, the possibilities for creating eye-catching, attractive and practical building designs are virtually unlimited, and the resulting building façades are also protected from the effects of weather and deterioration.

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