1. structural integrity
2. efficiency and cost
3. an environment in which to live.
Structural integrity
Buildings are surrounded by water. In the soil and in the air. Water dissolves the constituents of building materials and alters their protective and structural integrity...undermines their ability to serve the purpose for which they are intended. It creates damp and rots building elements. A key aspect of all buildings, particuarly older, stone built ones, is that they have to breathe. What we mean by this is that they have to allow the passage of air and moisture through walls and roofs so that the moisture doesn't build up and create problems. But they have to do in such a way that the function of the building - as a warm and protective dwelling - is not undermined.
On this site, we sell paint, insulation and plasters. All three are crucial elements that effect the way in which walls work.
The use of modern acrylic and petro chemical based paints has been likened to lining a room with a plastic bag. These paints don't allow the passage of moisture. Or anything else. This also applies to the outside of walls, where moisture should be allowed to evaporate to the atmosphere.
Gypsum plasters do breathe. But this advantage is undermined by the application of non breathable paints. The plaster / paint combination then blocks the progress of moist air from the inside of a building, to the outside. And most conventional exterior paints, and any cement rendering which isn't breathable, similarly block the passage of moisture.
Furthermore, Gypsum is formed geologically by stranded seas (like the Dead sea) evaporating and leaving behind all the minerals contained in sea water. This means there are a lot of salts! Gypsum itself is Calcium Sulphate therefore if gypsum becomes damp then the sulphates can start to become mobilised and can cause serious problems in a building, such as blistering off paint and attacking the building fabric. That is why it is important to use a primer on gypsum plasters as it controls the suction when you paint, and it acts a bit like a sealer for the plasterboard. These problems don't apply to the natural plasters that we sell here. They breathe naturally and are made from such things as cellulose from Beech trees.
The fundamental component of any building is its walls. They comprise bricks, stones or units of concrete piled on top of each other. On the one side, they face rain and the elements. On the other, they provide a warm, dry and pleasant environment in which to live. Or they're supposed to. They also have to last a very long time.
They're lined, both inside and out, with paint and plaster, blocking or allowing the passage of moisture. If these components block that passage, the wall is damaged, if the moisture can pass through and dissipate to the atmophere, the wall will retain its integrity.
Living in a building generates moisture. Cooking and breathing are enough. Walls are assaulted from inside and out by water. They also have to contend with rising moisture from the earth in which they are laid. All this water has to be allowed to escape, otherwise it builds up and damages the building and the living environment inside.
Furthermore, buildings move. Gypsum plaster, the most common form in use, is granular in structure, rather than fibrous, and so will easily crack. The plasters sold on this site are all fibrous and so are more reslient to stress and will also flex better with the building.
Paints, plasters and insulation work together, as a system, to help buildings to survive the elements. And to ensure a dry and healthy place for us to live. How many stone cottages have been rendered externally with concrete, which cannot breathe and which consequently fall prey to damp and rot? This damp works back through the wall, resulting in lifted plaster and damp patches. How many bathrooms and kitchens, particularly in older properties, suffer from condensation and mould, lined as they are with their 'plastic bags'?
All of the products sold on this site allow your building to breathe. All the paints are porous to the passage of airborne moisture, but not water. There is a difference. The same with the plasters. An external wall covering that lets water in is no use. But if it allows damp air out, it lets the building breathe. An internal wall that acts like a plastic bag allows the build up of moisture inside with its resulting condensation and fungal problems.
If the bricks in your house are subject to rising damp, natural paints and plasters help that moisture to dissipate away into the atmosphere rather than causing damage.
Our insulation will absorb moisture from the air in cooler times and release it back to the air in warmer times. Fibreglass won't do that! Think what that means for the timbers in your roof, quite apart from the quality of the air in your house and the implications for ambient temperatures...cooling effect in summer, warming effect in winter.
Our exterior paints and hydrophobing agents actively repel water ingress whilst still allowing water vapour to leave. They are also extremely tough and resilient to abrasion. Because they combine with the substrate, they can't lift off, peel or flake. They are stronger and more durable, yet work with your building to help preserve it.
Natural Products provide a regulating mechanism that helps your building to adapt to the natural stresses that are placed upon it.
Efficiency and running costs
Paints that allow a bulild up of moisture in the substrate that they are supposed to protect eventually flake and peel off. And so you have to redecorate. This costs money. Our wood paints for example, are made from constituents that are already present in the wood...so they 'combine' naturally with their substrate and work with it. Water can't get behind them because they don't form a layer over the wood, they work with the wood.
Our exterior silicate paints bond chemically with the mineral elements of the wall. They too, don't form a plastic layer that can be lifted or peeled away. So the effect is far longer lasting. They're far more resistant to abrasion than conventional paints and can even resist the application of solvent cleaners...very useful in public buildings, for example where graffitti needs to be removed.
Our plasters, because they aren't subject to the vagaries of damp because they don't form a barrier that fails to 'live' with the building and its environment, are more resilient.
The sheeps wool or the cellulose insulation products that we sell are less subject to mechanical collapse than fibreglass or mineral wool insulation and therefore retain their insulating properties for much longer. For the estimated lifetime of the building itself in fact.
Our paints are price competitive with leading brands on the market. Our plasters and insulation are more expensive than conventional versions, it's true, but they pay back the additional investment over time and in additional benefits.
Because of the temperature regulating effects of natural insulation, as it absorbs and gives off moisture according to ambient conditions, heating bills are further reduced. Meanwhile, the stuffiness often associated with living in a 'plastic bag' is reduced by the breathability of walls covered in natural materials, making for a more comfortable and equitable environment in which to live.
A comfortable and healthy environment
All of the above adds up to a more comfortable and pleasant place in which to live. Temperatures and humidity levels are more constant. There's an absence of unpleasant smells...in fact our paints lead to positively pleasant smells, even during application.
The whole living context feels better. Its a difficult, qualitative thing to describe. But it just does. The easy passage of moisture helps to combat and reduce potential bacteria build up. The natural ability of sheeps wool insulation to absorb toxins and noxious gases, not least from the chemicals that building timbers are impregnated with, helps to keep the air more pure. Rooms feel drier because moisture in the air fails to build up.
In the summer or the winter, natural products work as a system that helps to combat those aspects of so many buildings that cause health problems.
Sick Building Syndrome is a well known phenomonon. It refers to a phenomenon where people develop symptoms such as nausea and headaches in ceetin buildings. Its causes are complex - see here [BUPA] or here [US EPA] or here for more information.
By helping to regulate humidity, absorb pollutants such as formaldehyde, reduce the levels of VOCs in the air and contributing to a 'beathing' building structure, the natural products sold on this site can make a significant contribution to eliminating Sick Building Syndrome.
