ICI Dulux Mouldguard July 15, 2008
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ICI Dulux Pentalite Mouldgard - A933-25664
ICI has come up with a product that solves a particular persistent problem faced by homeowners - mould growth. Mould can appear in many places, but particularly in areas where you don’t want them. Seriously, would you rather have mould present in your storeroom or in your bedroom. I haven’t heard of complaints of mouldy storeroom (yet?) but there seems to be a disproportionate occurrence in bedrooms. Bathrooms and kitchens are also favorite haunts. What they do is create an eyesore on the surface of the paint while slowly digesting the paintwork. With food and moisture, it spreads wider and wider. Before long, the entire wall or ceiling becomes a community of many different types of moulds, giving the wall an unintended spectrum of colours.
Often overlooked also is that moulds are detrimental to health. In a different period in my life, the study of mould spores in the air was, at that time, my only pre-occupation. In infested areas, spore counts can go up to a level that requires quarantine. People have known to fall sick just from exposure. No wonder those TV makeover nannies are usually masked up while cleaning in mould-infested homes.
ICI Dulux Pentalite Mouldgard is designed to prevent moulds from growing on its surface. Like I mentioned, Mouldgard is ideal for bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens where mould growth is likely. Some characteristics of the paint :
- White in colour
- Smooth, matt finish
- water-based, water clean-up
- dries in 1 - 2 hours, depending
- no lead content
- interior applications only
- coverage of about 10 sq m per litre
- 5-litre pack size
It is good to first prepare the surface by applying Dulux Fungicidal Wash prior to painting. This will kill off existing moulds and spores.
The recommended recoat time is 1 - 2 hours, but in my own use, the drying time can be as fast as under 1 hour if good ventilation exist. I used a commercial grade fan to aid air flow. I always suggest 2 coats to achieve a good finish.
ICI Dulux Pentalite Mouldgard is my recommendation (even if mould growth is only suspected).
I’ve attached the product brochure and the product datasheet for your reference.
Nippon Marine Paint Colour Card July 13, 2008
Posted by admin in : Colour Chart, Marine Paints , add a comment
(click picture for Colour Card)
The Nippon Marine Coating Colour Card has been uploaded. The standard colours use the BS (British Standards) system. The Technical Datasheet and the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for the topcoat are already available here.
Natural Color System (NCS) June 28, 2008
Posted by admin in : Colour Chart , add a commentI get countless enquiries on colours. Last week, there was a search on this site for the colour S2060-R20B. Let me use this opportunity to explain this particular colour notation and the colour system it originates from.
I’ve mentioned in the past the BS or British Standards colour system and the RAL colour system from Germany (see post). Now, I would like to introduce another widely used colour system - the Natural Color System or NCS. NCS is developed by the Scandinavian Colour Institute AB (www.ncscolour.com). There are 1750 colours in the current NCS Index Edition 2.
Like the BS and the RAL systems, NCS is developed for the ease and efficient communication of colours. This simple statement understates the importance of such a colour system. It is an almost indispensable tool of communication. For example, if you need to specify a colour for a product made half way round the world, naming conventions like ‘Grass Green’ or ‘Sky Blue’ would not do. Grass may be greener on the other side (pun intended) and sky may not be blue in some places. Besides, there are thousands of shades of blue or green. Ambiguity in such conventions can lead to complaints, loss of confidence and even litigations. Colour systems allow for the use of a set of alpha-numerics to communicate colours. All uncertainties removed.
A bit more background to the NCS. The 2nd Edition of NCS was launched in 1995, based on 60 years of research by the Scandinavian Colour Institute AB. Unlike the BS and the RAL systems, the NCS colour notation is self-explanatory. Lets go into its notation, using S2060-R20B as an example :
This is how it works:
The NCS notation is based on the similarity between the colour in question and the 6 elementary colours - Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Black and White. The 1st letter ‘S’ denotes the use of the 2nd edition. The next 4 letters indicates nuances. In this case, ‘20′ indicates the colours resemblance to black and ‘60′ indicates its degree of chromaticness. ‘2060′ therefore tells us that this colour has 20% ‘blackness’ and 60% ‘chromaticness’.
The next 4 alphanumeric describes the colour’s hue - how it resembles the 2 elementary colours shown by the 2 letters. In this case, ‘R20B’ means the colour has 20% ‘blueness’ and 80% ‘redness’.
Pure greys do not have hue and is notated by its nuances and a letter ‘N’. White is ‘S0500-N’, while black is ‘S9000-N’. ‘S1000-N’, ‘S1500-N’ and ‘S2000-N’ are gradations of pure grey.
Currently, in paint products, Jotun utilises NCS in its tinting machines. In the past, ICI Colour Dimension also made use of NCS. But a number of years ago, ICI switched to the Master Palette Color System. The notation is different, eg.
50YY 77/285
From my internet search, I found a great site that provides an online viewer of NCS colours. The site is created by Robert Karlsson of i2 Studios. It lets you key in the NCS colour notation and shows you onscreen the colour entered. Do note that all colours produced online will vary according to the colour settings of your display unit, and serves only as a guide. Go to:
Hope the above article helps you understand a bit more about this particular colour system.
Please feel free to leave your questions or comments by clicking here.
Jotun Epoxy Paint (Penguard Topcoat) June 19, 2008
Posted by admin in : Marine Paints, Recommendations , add a commentI’ve been asked on many occasions to recommend good epoxy paints for concrete floors. I can name a few from past projects, such as Ameron’s
Amerlock 400, Berger,s Epilux 218 and Nippon’s Copon EA4. I have added another to my range. I do that when a product solves a problem I have. For Amerlock, it was its surface-tolerance. For Epilux 218, it was its sheen. For Copon EA4, it was its stock availability. Jotun Penguard Topcoat qualifies for its performance and colour. I’ve seen completed projects and results are usually quite good. Also, most colours in the RAL range, the BS range and the NCS range can be produced. For the uninitiated, that’s easily a thousand colours.
Jotun Penguard is a two-pack epoxy topcoat based on a polyamide-cured epoxy resin. In other words, it is an epoxy base with a polyamide curing agent. Epoxies are heavy-duty coatings and are much more lasting than conventional coatings such as alkyd paints. When fully cured, which takes about 3 days for this product at 35 degress Celsius, it is very hard and tough. It is resistant to water, chemicals, oils and many types of solvents.
Some Technical Details
Penguard has a volume solid of 50%, DFT of 50 microns when dry and 100 microns when wet, a theoretical coverage of 10sq m per litre, dries in 4 hours at 35 degrees Celsius and can be re-coated after 3 hours. Like I mentioned earlier, it only becomes fully cured after 3 days. Pot life is 8 hours at 23 degrees. I suppose it gets reduced to about 1 - 2 hours at 35 degrees. It is a good practice to always do the mixing of any 2-pack products in a very cool place so as to prolong the pot life. Remember never to mix more than you can paint on. Once mixed, 2-pack products cannot be kept longer than the pot life.
Priming
On concrete flooring, besides the standard surface preparation, I would recommend priming with Jotun Penguard Primer. The primer is white in colour and can be top-coated in 2 hours (assuming 35 degress Celsius and good ventilation).
Colours
Penguard Topcoat is available in its standard 40 colours (see colour card here), and can also be tinted to over a thousand colours from the BS, RAL or the NCS range. Some colours, especially the dark ones, cannot be reproduced. So, please check first. Price Depending on whether it is a standard colour or a premium colour, the price ranges from $60 - $80 per 5-litre set (this consists of a 4-litre base and a 1-litre curing agent)
Let us talk about Natural Color System or NCS next time we meet….
Searches On This Site June 18, 2008
Posted by admin in : Colour Chart, Painting Tips , 2commentsFirst of all, my appreciation to all who visit my humble piece of online real estate. Thanks also to all who leave their comments. This post is just to go over some of the searches that visitors have made on this site (in the red search box on the right). Below is a list of recent search keywords: - colour chart - paint for wooden doors - 2060-r20b - aluminium wood primer - jotun color card - cutting in - khaki - 21237 - metal paint - bs 0.012 - EMZ445 - 3145 There are many queries on colours and colour charts. I will scan and put more in the near future. Along this line, there are also many searches with
colour codes such as the few you see in the list above. The search will usually come up blank because I have never listed the complete range of colour codes in any of my post. There has to be hundreds of thousands of colour codes in existence and listing them is not practical. The easiest way I can help is for you to drop a comment if you don’t mind sharing your question with everyone else, or, send me an email if you do mind. Being in the paint industry for so many years, I’ve come across my fair share of colour codes and coding format. Even if I am unable to help, I may be able to point you in the right direction. While we are at it, lets clear some of the colour codes listed above. - 2060-r20b is a NCS (Natural Colour System) colour. The exact colour is available in the NCS colour fanbook. If you need to know the BS (British Standard) or RAL equivalent, drop me a line and I will do a manual match. - 21237 is a ICI Dulux Weathershield colour code. See here. Go to page 12 of the ICI Colour Chart. - bs 0.012 is a BS (British Standard) colour and if memory serves, the colour is dark blue. Contact me if you need more. -3145 is Lilac Frost from Nippon 3-in-1 Medifresh range See here. Go to page 7 of the reader or page 5 of the catalogue, and you should see the colour near the bottom of the page. - EMZ445 is definitely a International Paint product code. I would need to call them to find out more. Thanks for visiting. If there is something you would like me to write about, feel free state the topic in the comment. In the next post, we’ll talk about Jotun Penguard Epoxy Paint.
