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Fairfax House, an office building, in the heart of Leeds’ commercial district, has been equipped with Decadex - a hardwearing exterior wall coating from Liquid Plastics. The building was undergoing a refurbishment programme. Part of the scheme was to give the dull 4,000 metre square rendered walls a much needed facelift. The new wall coating, however, needed to provide more than just good looks for the 1970s building. It had to be durable and hardwearing, offering years of maintenance-free service. It also needed to be a high build product, capable of covering the thick layer of sharp Canterbury Spa red aggregate. Liquid Plastics’ Decadex, a waterborne exterior wall coating, which is seven times stronger than traditional paint, was used in two contrasting shades of grey to completely change the external look of the building. Decadex forms a resistant, matt and durable elastomeric finish which tolerates substrate movement. The system is designed to provide decorative protection in the most aggressive conditions for at least 10 years. Decadex is claimed to have many advantages as an exterior wall coating because it provides protection against the affects of carbonation in reinforced concrete. It also retains a bright, clean, attractive appearance throughout its design life and will not embrittle with age or exposure to UV light. The product also conatains an active fungistatic system.

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Crown Trade Timonox flame retardant paints helped prevent flames from spreading through a block of flats that set fire in Birmingham. The fire caused extensive damage to the flats, but the Crown Trade Timonox painted areas showed little sign of damage.

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A Housing Association chose StoLotusan, the self-cleaning paint for a major repainting project on 59 homes in Pimlico, London. . The product is said to mimic the natural effect of the lotus leaf, having the ability to repel water. When a building is coated with the paint , water droplets are unable to maintain surface contact, so the rain runs off carrying dirt particles with them.

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Claimed to be its most advanced water-borne paint to date, Sandtex Trade has introduced Hydrobond. The company says it has been introduced to extend its redecoration cycle through colour retention and substrate adhesion. The Hydrobond formation was developed using EBS - emulsified bonding system - to create a balance between weathering and chemical resistance. Unlike traditional water-borne masonry paint which sits on a layer on the surface of the substrate, polymer particles are absorbed into the pores

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Sand blasting and seismic temperature shifts are said to be no match for Synthatec Premium, marketed as the toughest powder coating in the world. Tested for more than decade in Dubai, Valspar's powder coating is guaranteed to protect exterior metalwork in the UK for 40 years.

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Made in Germany, the Beeck range of active silicate paints and treatments for plaster and masonry. The paints are said to integrate chemically with a building's materials to create a permeable, crystalline self-cleaning surface which breathes with the base material: plaster; render; stone; brick or concrete. This is not the impermeable crust of petrochemical acrylic paints which eventually bubble, crack and peel. Because they form a crystalline surface, the company's silicate paints are repellent to surface water, fungi and algae.

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