STORMDRY MAX - Safeguard Europe's NEW external water repellent.
Russell Rafton
Director at DRYFIX PRESERVATION LTD Yorkshire's Leading Damp and Timber Specialists / Director Coleman Diagnostics
I'm sure most people have heard of Stormdry but have you heard of Stormdry MAX?
Stormdry MAX is Safeguard Europe's latest product to market an enhanced water repellent that can be applied to external masonry, it's basically Stormdry on steroids!
Safeguard say it's been developed to provide protection against penetrating damp, offer low level flood resilience and as an anti-graffiti coating. Unlike the original stormdry product however, stormdry max is not an emulsion cream, instead its a more thixotropic gel which cures quickly when exposed to the air. The new stormdry max product is a clear gel which has the ability to bridge cracks up to 0.6mm in width, double the performance of the original stormdry product. Stormdry max is also UV resistant and guaranteed to provide effective protection for up to 10 years provided it's been installed on a suitably prepared substrate. Safeguard recommend walls are clean, dry and treated with the original Stormdry product first as a primer. Id also recommend you consult the very good 'Cleaning External Walls of Buildings' BRE Guide 27 (part 1 & 2) in preparation and prior to application of any external water repellents.
There are many claims made by manufactures of external water repellents such as, they cure penetrating damp, they are capable of stopping water ingress in the event of a flood and significant improvements to thermal performance. Whilst I'm sure some are true, the effectiveness is difficult to prove and measure accurately particularly in the case of thermal improvements. In many years of testing products however, I've found Safeguards literature to be pretty accurate in terms of the claims they make and effectiveness of their products.
Recently Safeguard supplied me with a tin of their new Stormdry MAX product and I thought it would be good idea to compare its performance against the original Stormdry and test its water repellent capabilities.
Stormdry vs Storydry MAX
If you've read my blogs previously, you'll know I've carried out many experiments testing the water resilient capabilities and breathability claims of Stormdry. In these experiments Stormdry has proven itself to be an excellent product which offers enhanced protection to masonry against water penetration whilst having no detrimental effect on permeability.
Stormdry is a great product, I genuinely like it however, it's rare I specify it other than to enhance protection to recently restored masonry. This is simply because in most situations there will be an offending cause which can be resolved. Only when I consider the risk of further harmful damage due to conditions beyond my control do I consider the application of water repellents justifiable. I suspect however, if you live near the coast or in locations with extreme wind and rain then you're more likely to favour the use of water repellents.
Here's a few links to my previous blogs if you're interested
THE EXPERIMENT
So the easiest way to demonstrate the water repellent capabilities of Stormdy MAX was using an absorption test of a treated sample and to compare this against a sample treated using the original Stormdry product.
I took three sample bricks which would commonly be used as a facing bricks for modern construction. The bricks were dried over a period of weeks in my laboratory. I measured the weight loss of each brick until it became constant with the ambient conditions to ensure each brick was equilibrium dry. I had two samples of each brick which I would use for the experiment.
I carefully pasted each brick with the original Stormdry product and left them to dry. The following day I gave one of each sample a coating of the new Stormdry MAX product. In the literature Safeguard recommend a coat of original Stormdry as a primer prior to stormdry MAX. Again I left all the samples to cure.
The first thing you'll notice about Stormdry Max is that it comes in a tin rather than a plastic tub. The product is very well protected and the tin incorporates a locking seal to ensure the lid remains in place. The hardest part is actually getting into it, it really does take some getting open which i'm sure is intentional to keep the air out and stop the product curing. You'll notice when eventually getting the lid off that Stormdry Max is a completely different product to Stormdry. Stormdry is an white emulsion cream easily applied by brush or roller. Stormdry MAX is a hazy thixotropic liquid with the consistency of honey but accompanied with a smell of varnish. It's gloopy consistency is much harder to apply as it tends to run when applied too thick and you'll need thinners to clean your brush or roller afterwards.
Safeguard claim Stormdry MAX leaves a semi-gloss appearance which fades with time however, in my experiment the product left a mat, rubbery gel like finish which was very notable.
After application I re-measured the weight of each sample to see the increase from the untreated sample vs the treated sample. The weight increase was notable. Those samples treated with Stormdry MAX had weight increase of 37 - 42 grams where as those samples treated with the original Stormdry only had weight increases of just 9 -16 grams. The weight increase isn't really important but it does give you some idea regarding the thickness of the coating.
Now for the experiment I treated all four sides of each sample which wouldn't be the case if you were treating a wall with just one exposed face, but I thought it a worth mentioning.
I then placed all six samples into buckets filled with water and allowed them to rest for eight hours in total. At 1 hour intervals I removed each sample, patted them down to remove any excess water and re-weight each one. This process would record the uptake of water for each sample over a period of time providing an indication to the level of protection offered by the treatment. I specifically limited the experiment to a period of 8 hours because most materials will reach saturation in just eight hours, therefore any uptake afterwards would be minimal.
A line of up of the treated samples. Two of each brick, one sample treated with Stormdry and one sample treated with Stormdry MAX.
The Results
The experiment revealed mixed performance. Two of the samples on test produced excellent results. These were the LBC brick and the red solid facing brick both shown below.
In both samples the water uptake was minimal just 3.5 grams for the LBC and 4.5 grams for the solid facing brick. In comparison the same samples treated with the original Stormdry product uptake was 100 grams for the LBC and 107.5 grams for the red solid brick.
LBC FACING BRICK
Water uptake Stomdry 100 grams / water uptake Stormdry MAX just 3.2 grams (difference 96.5 grams)
Performance graph of the test on the LBC facing brick
领英推荐
RED SOLID FACING BRICK
Water uptake Stomdry 107.5 grams / water uptake Stormdry MAX just 4.5 grams (difference 103 grams)
Performance graph of the test on the solid red facing brick
As can be seen in the graphical data above, the bricks treated with Stormdry MAX had minimal water uptake when compared to those samples treated with the original Stormdry product, proving its superior waterproofing properties. But here's where the experiment got interesting.
The solid farm house brick didn't perform so well. The effectiveness of treatment to these bricks as indicated by the water uptake was negatable.
The sample treated with the standard Stormdry product had a water uptake of 84 grams. The sample treated with the Stormdry MAX product has a water uptake of 86.5 grams. So in-fact there was more water absorbed into the sample treated with the MAX product. These results completely conflict the results of the prior samples.
Performance graph of the test on the farmhouse style facing brick
I've scratched my head over these results for a while, there was no difference in the application of the coating and after studying the coatings in detail both were evenly applied. The difference I believe is in the brick. These farmhouse bricks are made as a replica to an old common and locally sourced clamp brick. They're soft, extremely porous and their face is uneven with many irregularities. Fissures, cracks and crevices are common with these style bricks. Whilst Stormdry MAX boasts crack bridging properties of up to 0.6mm in reality most defects in their manufacture are much greater than this. This means bricks of this style were provided with limited benefit to the treatment.
EVALUATION
You have to consider that my experiment was only designed to test the performance of Stormdry MAX's waterproofing capabilities and as Safeguard claim, there are many other uses for this product such as, an anti graffiti coating and improvement to thermal performance which have not been tested.
Whilst I found enhanced performance results in some samples, this appeared limited to those bricks with a smooth and even surface. Those bricks with irregular faces didn't fare too well. So, I guess its a case of understanding the natural vulnerabilities in the material before application because although it has enhanced performance properties over the original Stormdry, it's not miracle product.
We should also probably discuss the appearance of the masonry once treated. As I mentioned before, this is a completely different product to the original Stormdry which once applied soaked into the masonry. With the original Stormdry generally treated masonry was almost undistinguishable from untreated, it was an invisible barrier which I liked.
Stormdry MAX however, does tend to leave a gel like finish. It's much thicker and viscus which is where I suspect it achieves its crack bridging properties, but its also much more difficult to apply and can leave runs and noticeable drips when it cures. Although I'm told this appearance fades in time, I find it hard to believe it fades to an extent where its no longer visible.
Side by side comparison treated vs untreated sample.
When viewed under a microscope these changes in appearance are even more noticeable. Here you can see the shiny coating of the treated sample vs the natural appearance of the brick prior.
The top image is the sample treated with Stormdry MAX leaving a gel like coating. The bottom image is the natural brick.
If you've made it this far, I hope you found this article useful and somewhat informative and if you have any questions or queries about this subject please don't hesitate to get in touch.
Happy surveying
Russ
If you would like to learn more about damp, moisture mapping or damp diagnosis you may?find the following articles useful:
Salt Decay in Masonry
The effects of water repellents on porous masonry
Industry Perception Study
Moisture Content Analysis -?https://www.dryfix.net/blog/explained-moisture-content-analysis-using-the-gravimetric-process/
Russell Rafton - Dryfix Preservation Ltd Senior Surveyor
A 6 x Industry Award Winning Company with the Property Care Association.
Complete Preservation
2 年Well done Russ be interesting to find out if it does become invisible, and how long it takes. I’ve used stormdry a few times and it’s performed as desired for me ??
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2 年Well done Russ
Waterproofing Designer, M.D. Trace Basements, Trace Remedial Building Services.
2 年A coating then, not an absorbed repellent so as you say - completely different. Presumably not vapour permeable at all either. Good to have more tools in the toolkit always, but description as a repellent feels a bit of a misnomer or is it just me.
Sales Manager at Safeguard Europe
2 年Thank you for your artical Russell. Always great to have our products reviewed by you!
Managing Director at Catrake Ltd t/as YDC
2 年Great article Russ! It's always good to know what you are working with before applying it.