These files are provided by the manufacturer. While Building Products Index takes every care to ensure the information is correct and up to date, we cannot be held liable for any out of date or incorrect information in them. You should check with before specifying or purchasing products.

Keim Concretal - Protection and Colour for Concrete

Published [13/09/11]File size [1765 KB]

Keim Concretal Lasur - Colour Wash for Concrete

Published [13/09/11]File size [1653 KB]

Keim Ecosil ME - Interior High Performance Mineral Paint

Published [13/09/11]File size [656 KB]

Keim Granital - Traditional Exterior Mineral Paint

Published [13/09/11]File size [701 KB]

Keim Mineral Paints - Ecological, Economical, Sustainable

Published [13/09/11]File size [1111 KB]

Keim Optil - Interior Sol/silicate Paint

Published [13/09/11]File size [993 KB]

Keim Restauro Brochure

Published [27/10/10]File size [471 KB]

Keim Royalan - Mineral Paint for Extreme Climatic Conditions

Published [13/09/11]File size [757 KB]

Keim Soldalit - Exterior Sol/silicate Mineral Paint

Published [13/09/11]File size [1230 KB]

Keim Soldalit ME - Exterior Photocatalytic Mineral Paint

Published [13/09/11]File size [1658 KB]

Keim Universal Render Brochure

Published [27/10/10]File size [235 KB]

Enriching Our Lives With Colour
June 2011

Spring is the time when we start to think about refreshing the look of our homes, the sun is radiating its warmth again and the exteriors of our properties are dry and ready for decoration, renovation or restoration; maybe it’s time to rethink and get ready for a new look.

More recently there has been a trend to ensure that exteriors and interiors complement each other, so that we have a seamless transition. Sustainability is fast becoming a prerequisite rather than just being a fashionable and admirable choice for us all.

Colour is important in all of our lives. It is often taken for granted; but interest in colour has never been as great as it is now. The world would be a sad and boring place if it were only grey and monotone, without colour. Paints over centuries have been the traditional providers of the colour we desire and need in our lives, decorating buildings and properties from the earliest of days.

The choice and number of colours used in an exterior colour scheme is dependent upon the property, its locality and the details that need to be highlighted too. Today’s architects and designers have of course, paid a great deal of attention to creating an interesting and attractive environment, designing buildings that complement their location in shape, style and colour treatments. If you wish to test the boundaries, it is possible to explore a wider palette of different colours that leave behind the bland and monotone and perhaps consider a minimum of three colours.

This is how it is possible to add interest to your property and make it visually more appealing by highlighting its most beautiful features. Perhaps take into account your property’s history and its immediate environs, are you in a rural or built up area, or even by the sea? All of these factors may affect your choice of colour, as well as the style and colour of homes in your neighbourhood, so that you blend in with your surroundings, creating harmony.

It is often possible, without going to extremes, to produce a colour scheme with startling and exciting results; furthermore it is possible to choose colours that set your house apart, without clashing with those of your neighbours’ property; that is if you have any.

If you’re in the country maybe consider earthy colour combinations, a sea view might suggest terracotta, blues, turquoises and coral colours, and even your garden can inspire exciting colour combinations. Don’t forget to harmonise!

If there is a need to break up the appearance of the exterior of a building then it can be possible to use multi-colour, highlight and feature panels to add interest and generally enhance the visual appeal and overall tone of the building.

It is possible to achieve all of this with mineral paints and even have the benefit of real long term colour stability.

You may need to repair stone façades, reinstate original colours, replace incongruous materials, remediate inappropriate repairs and recreate the original substrate or simply just want to repaint. Whichever treatment you are considering there are a number of versatile solutions for you to choose from.

Let us consider rendered surfaces, when existing rendered surfaces are being redecorated there is usually a need to carry out repairs. These can range from small localised patches to complete reinstatement of façade elevations. To repair the surface and create a sound smooth consistent base, often the best value in the longer term would be to apply a proven thin section mineral render with a long life mineral coating system.

You could feature a colourful treatment using Keim Universal Render combined with a longlife external mineral paint system such as Keim Granital or Keim Soldalit.

Keim Universal Render provides a lightweight, lime and silicate based render solution, which is breathable and will not shrink and the chosen mineral paint finish will provide a consistent and lightfast strong colour treatment.

Supplied pre-bagged and ready to use, Universal Render is easy to apply and can accommodate a high degree of thermal expansion and contraction whilst preventing surface crazing or cracking. Keim mineral paint systems offer extremely long life performance due to their microcrystalline structure which forms a chemical bond with the underlying surface, rather than simply coating it, providing exceptional long life protection. This gives rise to long term whole life cost benefits as the frequency of repainting cycles is significantly reduced.

Mineral paints are fully breathable, able to withstand exposure to severe weather conditions, durable and provide a high light reflectance surface. Visually this means that even on dull days the exterior of your home can appear warm and vibrant.

The colour range is extensive, with over 300 standard colours and an available specials library of some 16,000 shades. All colours are produced individually by trained colour experts using a batch blending process, which gives the flexibility to manufacture individual custom colours and colour match particular shades.

Our paints are produced using natural earth oxide pigments, which do not fade throughout the whole life of the paint, it is UV stable and has an inherent resistance to mould and algae and attack by the pollutants which are prevalent in today’s environment.

As well as providing protection, the choice of paint colour can greatly affect our lives, helping to brighten our days and I’m sure you will agree colour can make a very positive contribution to our feeling of wellbeing.

Mineral paints for sustainability
April 2011

“Paints can have a significant role to play in meeting sustainability criteria in the build, repair and renovation environment, with mineral paints offering ideal solutions, perfect for restoration projects. Mineral paints have been known for their sustainability for over 130 years, well before ‘sustainability’ became part of global policy, offering unique environmental solutions.”

The extremely long life of mineral paints is due to the microcrystalline structure of the paint which forms a chemical bond with the underlying surface, rather than simply coating it, providing exceptional long life protection. This gives rise to long term whole life cost benefits as the frequency of repainting cycles is significantly reduced. Mineral paints are compatible with all mineral building materials including concrete, brick, render and stone.

In addition to being harmless to the environment in terms of manufacturing or application, mineral paints are odourless and fully breathable, allowing any moisture vapour within the underlying surface to pass through without blowing the paint off. They enable damp and condensation to be managed, regulating humidity in rooms. A dry surface absorbs less heat energy than damp walls, reducing heating costs and fuel usage. This makes them ideal for walls that need to breathe, especially in older properties. The microcrystalline structure of mineral paints improves surface light reflectance thereby potentially reducing lighting and its associated energy requirements.

Other sustainable features include resistance to acid and alkali attack from airborne pollution, the use of inorganic fillers and earth oxides natural pigments and an inherent resistance to mould and algae without the need for the addition of biocides within the paint.

Produced under the ISO 14001 environmental management standard, mineral paints are of a completely different composition than conventional paints and do not further deplete scarce petrochemical resources. The low energy manufacturing process ensures that low levels of carbon dioxide are emitted, with no fumes emitted during or after application, which means rooms need not be fully vacated when redecorating.

Mineral paints are water based, solvent and volatile organic compound (VOC) free and do not contain any plasticisers. They are inherently fire resistant, being naturally incombustible and give off no toxic emissions when subjected to fire.

The colour range available is extensive, with over 300 standard colours and an available specials library of some 16,000 special shades. All colours are produced individually by trained colour experts using a batch blending process, which gives the flexibility to manufacture individual custom colours and colour match particular shades. The combination of brilliant luminous colours and a matt finish is one that only mineral paints can achieve, creating an atmosphere of elegance.

Mineral paints can be used on unpainted and painted surfaces and are easily applied, in the same way as conventional paints. They have a long open time; they don’t dry quickly, making it easier to achieve a uniform paint finish even under difficult lighting conditions. Scientifically this is achieved through macrofill-technology, where silicate ball-shaped ‘macro fillers’ within the paint arrange themselves next to each other, compacting and spreading evenly during application. Pigments and other filling particles accumulate around these macro fillers to form - ‘macro-clusters’. Incidental light is almost completely scattered from these clusters, providing a very uniform appearance and homogenisation of surface texture.

The coverage obtained is outstanding, with less paint required and longer times between repainting cycles, providing exceptional long life protection and decoration, with cost savings on the volume of paint required, and also on scaffolding and labour costs.

Mineral paints are true eco paints with no petrochemical based ingredients. As there is no standard definition of what constitutes an eco paint, many conventional paints that are labelled as eco paints still contain petrochemical ingredients, fungicides and emit VOCs, and therefore it is worthwhile checking for such ingredients to determine the true environmental credentials of any eco paint.

There are well documented examples of mineral paints lasting, even in severe exposure locations, for periods in excess of 100 years. Buildings coated with mineral paints in the 19th century are still in excellent condition today. Amongst such examples are the ‘White Eagle’ Inn, Stein am Rhein and the City Hall, Schwyz, both of which are in Switzerland and were decorated in 1891, together with facades in Oslo (1895) and in Traunstein, Germany (1891). Here in the UK, striking wall paintings were painted at St Martin’s Church, Blackheath, Surrey, in 1894-95 by Anna Lea Merritt, an American artist. The technique used for the wall painting was revolutionary at the time, using mineral paints for the first time to resist the effects of damp and deterioration. This gave remarkable success in retaining the lightness and quality of the colours. She and Sir William Roberts-Austin presented a paper on the then new technique to the Society of Arts back in 1895.