Breathability v durability wall decorations

[Jon Maine]

I am near the final decorations with the Merchants House.

We have all the masonry putty plastered.

All of the studwalls are modern materials built well and finished in one coat gypsum plaster . This looks and behaves very similarly to putty topcoat to work, apart from the set of course.

As I understand it the limewash and distempers will not cover and colour the same way on the two types of background ans may cause adherance issues on the gypsum.

Then we have clay paints, washable and purporting to be breathable with no added nasty chemicals, but just how breathable?

Mineral paints, great colours and no organic content, able to form a crystaline bond to the substrate and potentially last many decades but again what level of breathability are they?

Natural emulsions, much the same comments on breathability.

Please throw in your comments and views for consideration.

 

[WelshDecorator]

As I understand it the limewash and distempers will not cover and colour the same way on the two types of background ans may cause adherance issues on the gypsum.

Then we have clay paints, washable and purporting to be breathable with no added nasty chemicals, but just how breathable?


I dont know why the limewash or disstemper, should not cover on the two different grounds? colour wise, perhaps in the inital first coat, but I would have thought that after the second or third there should be colour uinfirmity?

The clays, on gypsum, in short not very, as there should be nothing to breath out.

 

[biffvernon]

I don't think there is any significant lack of breathability with clay paints or mineral paints. If you get the techie documents from Beeck you'll find water absorbtion and vapour permeability data. It's orders of magnitude different from acrylic and alkyd resins.

Data available from http://www.beeck.de/index_en.html Click on Products and then the appropriate Technical Information Sheet pdf.

 

[Nemesis]

I'd also look carefully at casein distemper. Talk to people like Rose of Jericho and see what they recommend.

 

[skier-hughes]

If I had anything like a decent memory I'd be able to remember who posted the topic on the differences on their painting using limewash..........