A Focus on Perfect Protection
Natural oils and fats, a diverse array of waxes and silicone derivatives: while this might sound like a recipe for a beauty mask, it actually describes the ingredients of construction coatings that WACKER has developed to perfection. Join us as we explore the secrets of beautiful, healthy walls. And discover the positive effects as regards the energy balance of buildings. And discover the positive effects as regards the energy balance of buildings.
Decorative coatings are to buildings what personal care products are to the skin: the job of both is to keep harmful elements – of which there are plenty – from compromising these protective barriers.
Even One Millimeter Is One Too Many
What’s just 1 millimeter across, but has a giant impact on facades? A drop of water. When water penetrates masonry, it transports salts from the inside out, producing unattractive salt efflorescence on the surface.
Unattractive Colonies
Damp buildings tend to attract unwelcome visitors. Microorganisms like algae are spread by the wind and deposit on facades. They are especially likely to proliferate rapidly on weathered exteriors, where they colonize large areas and turn them green, brown or red.
Heat and Dirt
High temperatures put exterior paints to the test. As soon as paints heat up, they become softer and that makes them stickier. The result? Dirt adheres more readily, leading to unsightly surfaces.
Explosive Cold
Temperatures that drop below freezing are always a threat to damp masonry, because any water inside the wall freezes and expands. These all but explosive forces enlarge existing cracks and cause new damage. Many of the substances in the water exacerbate this effect: when salt crystallizes and then dries, for example, it expands still further.
Wrong Film
External coatings that form a film are less permeable to water vapor, leaving them susceptible to blistering. It follows that they do not adhere as well and, in some cases, they peel away from the substrate, leaving behind weak points that are at the mercy of the elements.
Uncomfortable Prospects
Water has a huge influence on thermal conductivity. As the moisture content increases, the insulating properties of a facade begin to wane – as does the comfort level of the interior. The surface temperatures of the interior walls become less pleasant, which raises the demand for heat, increasing energy costs and potentially CO 2 emissions.
Outside: SILRES® BS
Inside: HAPPINESS
SILRES ® BS is a powerful product developed by WACKER that effectively protects facades from harmful environmental influences, making exterior paints both extremely hydrophobic and permeable to water vapor and allowing outside walls to dry quickly. Thanks to these properties, SILRES ® BS makes facades more energy efficient and lowers heating costs. Plus, it also makes facades last longer, reducing renovation costs.
But this silicone-based jack-of-all-trades can do more than that: because they lack hygroplasticity and thermoplasticity, coatings based on SILRES ® BS repel dirt, and their UV resistance makes them last longer.
The important role played by WACKER silicones extends to indoor applications, where they make interior paints more resistant to staining and pleasantly soft to the touch. These high-quality additives also lengthen the paint’s open time, making the painter’s job easier.
A Single Source for Every Job
For anything from decorative coatings to insulating materials to concrete, wood and plaster, SILRES ® BS from WACKER offers a comprehensive, proven, innovative portfolio with customized solutions for a wide range of applications, climate zones and substrates.
SREP ® technology was patented on October 16, 1963, as “paints containing aqueous dispersions of organopolysiloxanes and organic resins.” One game-changing finding from that time laid the foundation for the current success of SILRES ® BS: the discovery that silicones have a positive impact on construction materials. When used on mineral-based substrates, silicones form an exceptionally long-lasting, three-dimensional network that is remarkably hydrophobic while guaranteeing considerable permeability to water vapor.
Expertise Plus Experience Equals Excellence
WACKER has invested more than a half century of research and hundreds of millions of euros in developing a product portfolio unlike any other. Over 50 years ago, WACKER specialists discovered the advantages of silicones for building protection.
Since that time, WACKER has established silicones as the industry standard for hydrophobizing facades. Today’s SILRES ® BS product range offers some of the most advanced and effective binders, additives and primers in the world.
Well-insulated exteriors with low moisture content reduce energy consumption by up to 30% – and keep cash in homeowners’ pockets. Coatings based on SILRES ® BS deliver long-lasting water repellency, making them ideal for use in external thermal insulation composite systems (ETICS/EIFS).
Traditional paint systems often need to be renewed after just 10 years. Exterior paints based on SILRES BS ® can offer protection for up to 30 years and markedly extend the renovation cycle.
A moisture content of just 5 percent reduces a wall’s insulating properties by 60 percent – hydrophobization with SILRES ® BS effectively combats that.
Roughly 3,000 algal cells and up to 10,000 fungal spores float in one cubic meter of air, and damp masonry is their favorite place to take up residence. SILRES ® BS keeps moisture at bay, and with it undesirable microorganisms – for exteriors that stay clean longer.
A discovery that will last forever: by 1963, specialists had already discovered the unique network structure responsible for the lasting protection that WACKER silicones offer.
