Restoration
Where natural wall paint has fallen out of favor due to industrialization and increasing cost, synthetic paint types have made their way. From a historical point of view, mineral surfaces of monuments were often provided with paint that is protective and self-sacrificing, such as a natural lime paint. This allows a building, statues and ornaments to breathe, so that no moisture entrapment occurs, which causes damage to the monumental underground.
Much modern paint is based on a sealing latex, alkyd, acrylic or chlorine rubber paint. All these paints are virtually vapour-tight, which means that the vapor diffusion from the monumental construction stagnates. On mineral substrates and especially with wall paint, there is an increased moisture load in the masonry, plaster and natural stone. This makes many modern paints technically incompatible with historical substrates.
Moisture damage to monuments
Prolonged moisture stress is the main source of damage and problems to historical and monumental surfaces because the raw materials used are technically not resistant to it. The salts present in the historical building materials will come to the surface during evaporation. Crystallization of the building-damaging salts occurs at the transition between the substrate and the final paint layer. This crystallization is accompanied by an increase in volume, causing the historical material to crumble, crumble and paint peeling. Moreover, during a period of frost, natural stone, masonry and plasterwork that is loaded with moisture will freeze to pieces.
Breathable walls are healthy
All mineral building materials in monumental buildings, statues, sculptures and objects are in principle breathable and therefore allow moisture to pass through. Closing off a construction can have serious consequences for the entire building or object. If we make a building vapour-tight, moisture in the construction will not be able to evaporate quickly and wooden elements (such as beams or window frames) will rot.
Iron parts in the wall are affected by moisture. For example, iron wall anchors or blind anchors in the wall will rust, causing cracks in the masonry. Wrought iron dowels and anchors in natural stone will expand when rust forms, which leads to fracture damage to the natural stone and can disrupt the construction.
It is therefore pointless to paint over a vapour-tight paint with a vapour-permeable wall paint. Suffocating paint must be removed so that the monument with a vapor open system can breathe again. This keeps the construction healthy and safeguards the historic value of the monument for future generations.
Your monument back in the future
Esthetics-solutions offers a suitable method for any surface to remove suffocating paint layers without damage. Thanks to our knowledge and experience in the use of historical materials, we also offer the solution for compatible breathable self-sacrificing wall paints and/or long-lasting protective natural finishes and paints.
Do you own a painted monumental building or do you manage a monument, historic building or art object? Please contact us. Together we would like to look at the possibilities and your specific needs.
