Masonry paint

[Bogart]

Needing to paint the inside of a clay lump outbuilding sooner rather than later has anyone experience of Santex masonry paint? I note on their blurb it states it is breathable; do I believe them?

Regards

 

[88v8]

Not in a period sense.

Clay paint...
http://earthbornpaints.co.uk/product/claypaint/

The 'contemporary colours' may not be a priority.

Ivor

 

[Bogart]

"Not in a period sense" care to elaborate? As it is the inside of an outbuilding used purely as a shed white colour will be retained.
Am not sure if being breathable has any merit as it is on the inside of the building. The walls are around a foot thick. If moisture from outside arrives on the inner walls heaven
knows what state the outside walls would be in at that instant.

 

[TheRoost]

Santex, crap.

Buy a small tub and try, looks/smells like the stuff we painted with at nursery school. Dries thin then flakes off, then sticks its self to glass! Horrible stuff.

 

[Bogart]

Have used it before and found it okay but then was not bothered if supposedly breathable or not. Never found it flaking off.

 

[livias]

Use limewash. Much cheaper than Sandtex if you make your own (it is easy) and eminently breathable

"If moisture arrives ..." Ah but moisture can arrive in two ways. One is as drops of water and then you would indeed be panicking but the other way is as water vapour and that is the water you have to allow to breathe away and Sandtex will not do it. Trouble is there is no regulation about the use of the word breathable so every marketing department uses it cos it sounds healthy

 

[Feltwell]

Just as a footnote - on a cob building keeping it breathable and stopping the cob getting too wet is vital - I would have thought clay lump is similar. I would avoid any modern masonry paint like Sandtex personally.

Limewash is cheap and easy to make but does take a lot of coats and can dust if you brush against it. Clay paint will be closer to a modern emulsion in terms of how it is to apply and won't dust.

There are ways to stop limewash dusting if you fancy going down that route, but seeing as how you were talking about Sandtex I'm presuming you'd rather use something already prepared in a tin that is easy to apply.

 

[livias]

Fair enough ..
Limewash doesnt dust if it is put on right though. Its sets not dries and as it is setting it needs warmth moisture and airflow. Hm maybe warmth will be in short supply in a shed in january
Clay paint it is

 

[Bogart]

Agree that we are some way off seeing any warmth in the near future. Perhaps I will just leave the painting until later in the year. Only reason I wanted to do it now is I have to do some rewiring and would have preferred the painting doing first.