Protectosil® water repellents include products that are specifically designed to combat these problems, not only increasing the longevity of treated structures, but also decreasing maintenance costs. Effective hydrophobation is possible without using tinorganic compounds - Because of frequent requests by our customers we would like to inform that our established Protectosil® products do not contain tinorganic compounds.
Protectosil®: Depth hydrophobation for optimum protection
Protectosil® water repellent molecules are smaller than the pores of the substrate. Due to this and the low viscosity, they penetrate deep into the building material and chemically bond to the inner pore walls, rendering the substrate hydrophobic. External water is kept from entering the pores, while water vapor generated from within the structure can still escape. The structure remains breathable. The above graph is a simplified illustration for this.
Water repellents - the clue is to keep water out
Moisture is the root cause of almost all mechanisms that damage mineral building materials. The porous nature of many substrates allows water and dissolved contaminants to penetrate via capillary suction into the pores. This may cause various problems such as corrosion of reinforcing steel, salt burst or freeze-thaw damage. There is no doubt that by preventing water ingress into
a structure, damage is drastically reduced. But the key question is how? Treatment with water repellents - called hydrophobation - using Protectosil® building protection products is unique. Protectosil® water repellent products penetrate deep into the substrate. They keep water out and
maintain the substrate‘s water vapor permeability. By contrast, film-forming coatings may block the pores of the surface. The large molecules in polymeric water repellent coatings seal the pores of the substrate and may stop it from breathing. Water is kept out, but water vapor generated from
within remains trapped, causing damage such as spalling. In addition, the surface coating breaks down due to UV radiation, allowing water to penetrate once again.
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