The final day of winter is now behind us and it is time to start planning projects for the new seasons ahead. One of the easiest ways to decorate and improve the visual appearance of masonry is to apply a vapor-permeable breathable mineral-based finish to it. Mineral paints and stains chemically bond to all porous masonry substrates, such as brick, stone, mortar, stucco, lime render, and cement. Unlike latex paints, they are non-film-forming. Mineral coatings work by creating a bond into the pores of the masonry substrates so they become part of the masonry being stone-like themselves. LimeWorks.us offers a few options regarding mineral coatings: Ecologic™ LimeWash Platinum, Saint-Astier® Lime Paint, and Ecologic™ Potassium Silicate Paint and Colorwash Stain when the Potassium Silicate needs to be applied for more translucent staining of the masonry.
Ecologic™ LimeWash Platinum
Ecologic™ LimeWash Platinum untinted is a 100% made in the U.S.A., breathable whitewash based on a traditional mid-19th-century recipe with no modern additives. Our whitewash perfectly complements external lime render or internal lime parging. It is suitable for most porous masonry backgrounds and rough, seasoned timbers. It is simply mixed with water on the job site and applied to the surface in two thin coats over a 24-hour period to create the traditional stain-like coating for masonry. Ecologic™ LimeWash Platinum is a durable material. In extreme weathering, it may require some reapplication in 2 years, but it can have a 5-6 year service life out in the elements and longer if used inside or in a protected area.
Ecologic™ LimeWash Platinum can be applied to adequately primed gypsum plasters or wallboard, cement and lime backgrounds, bricks, blocks, and stones. Smooth stones, wood, and fence posts need to add 15% Ecologic™ Acrylic Latex Additive into the LimeWash platinum mixing water to create a proper bond to these materials.
Ecologic™ LimeWash Platinum is available in 25 stock colors or in most custom colors. Consider ordering a LimeWash/Lime Paint Stock Color Deck to be able to hold a swatch up to the area you want to apply it to and see the stock product colors.
Saint-Astier® Lime Paint
Saint-Astier® offers a vibrant and beautiful traditional lime paint that is made in France and uses a small amount of acrylic glue to aid in bonding to porous masonry backgrounds and rough, seasoned timbers. St. Astier® Lime Paint is more like a stain than a paint. Lime Paint is also absorbed into the porous substrate and penetrates the masonry surface. Once cured, this mineral paint allows the surface to breathe to let water vapor escape. Saint-Astier® Lime Paint is a durable material. In extreme weathering, it may require some reapplication in 2 years, but it can have a 5-6 year service life out in the elements and longer if used inside or in a protected area.
Saint-Astier® Lime Paint can be applied to properly primed gypsum plasters or wallboard, cement and lime backgrounds, bricks, blocks, and stones. Smooth stones, wood, and fence posts need to add 15% Ecologic™ Acrylic Latex Additive into the LimeWash platinum mixing water to create a proper bond to these materials.
Saint-Astier® Lime Paint is available in 25 stock colors or almost any custom color. Consider ordering a LimeWash/Lime Paint Stock Color Deck to be able to hold a swatch up to the area you want to apply it to and see the stock product colors.
Ecologic™ Potassium Silicate Paint (PSP)
Ecologic™ Potassium Silicate Paint is a highly durable interior & exterior silicate dispersion paint. Potassium Silicate Paint achieves its durability by chemically bonding to the substrate and maintains a high vapor permeability. The paint bonds to the material by penetrating the porous substrate and curing through the petrification of the quartz binder. Along with its durability and longevity, the paint is non-combustible, fire retardant, washable, mildew resistant, and water repellent.
Ecologic™ Potassium Silicate Paint is 96% mineral-sourced in a water base, a property which makes it odorless within hours (zero VOCs) and gives it microcrystalline properties of natural stone. It doesn’t blister or peel, has a natural water-repelling quality, and dries to a matte finish with a life expectancy of 20 years when properly applied.
Surfaces must be rigid & absorbent, dry, clean, and free of dust, oily residues, and chemically neutral or alkaline. Old coats of latex or alkyd paints must be removed since they inhibit penetration of the silicate binder into the substrate and vapor-permeability. Flaking or peeling paints must be removed completely.
Potassium Silicate Paint comes in 13 stock colors (marked by 100% full-tone colors) and hundreds of designer colors. An engineered custom simulation can be produced by LimeWorks.us to simulate the color of your sample. You can download the color pdf here or view the samples below Ecologic Potassium Silicate and Colorwash Stain 2021 Colors.
Saint-Astier® Lime Paint is available in 25 stock colors or almost any custom color. Consider ordering a LimeWash/Lime Paint Stock Color Deck to be able to hold a swatch up to the area you want to apply it to and see the stock product colors.
Ecologic™ Colorwash Stain
Ecologic™ Colorwash Stain is a highly durable interior & exterior potassium silicate-based staining material for changing the color of masonry without looking like a paint coating is applied. Colored brick that is the wrong color can be stained with Ecologic™ Colorwash Stain. This “liquid stone” material is durable by chemically bonding to the substrate and maintaining a high vapor permeability. Ecologic™ Colorwash Stain bonds by penetrating the porous substrate and curing through the petrification of the quartz binder. Along with its durability and longevity, Ecologic™ Colorwash Stain is non-combustible, fire retardant, washable, mildew resistant, and water repellent.
Ecologic™ Colorwash Stain is 96% mineral-sourced in a water base, a property which makes it odorless within hours (zero VOCs) and gives it microcrystalline properties of natural stone. It doesn’t blister or peel, has a natural water-repelling quality, and dries to a matte finish with a life expectancy of 20 years when properly applied.
Surfaces must be rigid & absorbent, dry, clean, free of dust and oily residues, and chemically neutral or alkaline. Old coats of latex or alkyd paints must be removed since they inhibit penetration of the silicate binder into the substrate and vapor-permeability. Flaking or peeling paints must be eradicated.
Ecologic™ Colorwash Stain comes in 13 stock colors (marked by 100% full-tone colors) and hundreds of designer colors. An engineered custom simulation can be produced by LimeWorks.us to simulate the color of your sample. You can download the color pdf here or view the samples below Ecologic Potassium Silicate and Colorwash Stain 2021 Colors.
LimeWorks.us offers beautiful, durable, and traditional LimeWash, Lime Paint, and Potassium Silicate Paints that are the perfect products for whatever projects you or your company are trying to accomplish. All paints and stains are offered in quart, gallon, or five-gallon sizes, with Ecologic™ LimeWash Platinum also being offered in a 50-pound unit in the T.Sawyer Bulk Bag!
Hi – I thought your blog might have other customers discussing issues they may encounter but I will ask you all the questions here.
1. Do you have any articles about using your products in extreme weather climates. I would like to work year round in Mesa Arizona (Phoenix) but the temperatures you recommend only happen in the winter. Primarily I am interested in Lime Mortar projects and Lime painting projects.
2. I have been wetting down the brick surfaces I am lime painting. It is so dry here that the paint ‘dries’ before I can really work it into the brick. I have also been misting the brick after application to cool it down. Should I not do that?
Brick walls can get up to 140 degrees in the summer so I understand for those three months I probably won’t be able to work with lime binder products. What is the highest temperature you THINK I can work?
Hello Greg,
Thanks for checking out our blog and asking your questions!
Working in hot weather can be a challenge, but thankfully in our experience managing hot weather is generally easier than managing cold weather. You are correct that you should continue to mist the material, ideally for 3-4 days. You can also help keep the material cool by providing shade via hanging a tarp, or even better, paired with a piece of soaked wet burlap spring clamped to the wall. Try to leave a few inches from the surface of the wall so that air can get in there. The limewashes, both our Ecologic LimeWash Platinum and Saint-Astier’s Lime Paint, are air setting, so they shouldn’t be inundated with water, just enough to provide some cooling and keep the wall slightly damp.
You’ll know its working (or not working) because improperly flash cured lime mortar or coatings that have been over-baked by the heat will get very pale and brittle. Native cultures and Western settlers have used lime-based products in the Desert Southwest for hundreds of years, so there is absolutely a place for them there if you are willing to take the time to patiently provide a good environment for them to cure.
As for a maximum temperature, that’s very hard to say as it depends on a lot of factors. In general though, if its dangerous for a human to be outside working, its probably going to be difficult to keep the material cool enough to properly cure if for no other reason than you won’t be able to dedicate long lengths of time to its care. Up here in the colder north, we tell people during Winter that sometimes its better to wait til Spring. In your case, sometimes in the heat of the high summer it might be better to wait until Fall.