DC30 ... no need for primer.
DMC’s new coating designed for region
01 July 2012
DRY Mortar Company (DMC), an innovative Riyadh-based manufacturer of dry mortar products, has developed a new decorative finish that has been designed to withstand the harsh environmental conditions in the region, and thus eliminate the need for frequent repainting.
DMC decorative coat DC30 is a pure mineral-based pre-coloured product, which is applied directly on the cement plaster without the prior use of primer.
“Over the past few years, a vast array of finishing products has been launched on the market, offering customers a bewildering choice of different colours and textures,” says Nikolai Domeyer, the company’s sales and marketing director. “However, when it comes to price and quality, there are only a few products that can withstand the harsh climate of Saudi Arabia.”
He continues: “The most popular decorative finishes in the market are acrylic based, which work fine in moderate climate, but when they are exposed to extreme climate conditions like those in Saudi Arabia, they do not deliver the performance home owners would expect.
“A maintenance official at a major company recently said he was painting some of its buildings every six months – sometimes even after three months – as their decorative paint had started peeling off.”
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Peeling occurs because acrylic-based paint seals the surface and does not allow the wall to breathe, according to Naif Al Rakheis, who is in charge of laboratory and quality control at DMC.
“This means humidity inside the wall can’t evaporate. This humidity lowers the bonding of the paint with the surface, resulting in blistering and peeling of the paint,” he explains.
This problem is encountered especially in hot countries such as Saudi Arabia, where the massive differences of temperature between the interior and exterior of a building due to air-conditioning leads to condensation and humidity inside the wall, he says.
“The only solution for this problem is to use a decorative coat that is 100 per cent mineral-based and not sealing the surface. This allows the wall to breathe and humidity can get released immediately,” adds Al Rakheis.
Highlighting the benefits of DMC’s DC30 compared to existing systems on the market, Domeyer says: “In addition to the huge advantage of not suffering the risk of peeling and blistering, the product is ultraviolet (UV) stable and hence does not fade and can create similar finishes like profile paint but at 50 per cent of its cost and offering far better performance. The pigments used are 100 per cent natural and so offer a beautiful range on tones. In addition, the rough, open structure of the finish effectively hides small cracks in the surface.
“This apart, the high-performance additives used in the product ensure best-in-class workability and allow a team of four people to easily finish painting an area of 500 sq m per day, thereby lowering the labour cost. With the use of advanced spraying technology, this area can go even up to 800 sq m, resulting in application costs of less than SR1 ($0.266) per sq m.”
Al Rakheis says the company’s main raw materials are all procured from Saudi Arabia, with each delivery subject to strict quality control at DMC’s laboratory.
“We take batches of each and every production and store it. So in case of a problem we can easily trace and fix it,” he says.
DMC’s key advantage in the market is its highly skilled laboratory staff, which enables it to constantly optimise products and keep the costs low, while ensuring the best quality and high workability.
DMC says it is pleased with the response it has received to the product in the market. “We were surprised how positively our customers reacted to the product. Our clients were particularly impressed by the extremely easy application, the low cost and the beautiful colours,” says Domeyer.
He says DMC sees a big potential in areas such as Dammam and Jeddah, where humidity and heat create huge challenges to traditional coating systems.
DMC paints are part of a full system of products offered by the company for the construction industry, including insulation renders and pre-mixed renders, all formulated to work in conjunction with its paint.
