20 REASONS WHY WE SHOULD USE MORTARSFROM NATURAL HYDRAULIC LIME (NHL)

Natural hydraulic lime (NHL) products are natural-ecological products with high mechanical properties, resistant to the status of “transpiration” creating a healthy living environment. Every product of natural hydraulic lime (NHL) has been made to be the most suitable for construction, rehabilitation and maintenance including plasters, coatings, adhesives, etc., for new construction, while still enabling restoration projects and maintenance of old, historic buildings and monuments.

EM4C certified natural hydraulic lime FL2, NHL3,5 and NHL5 under standard UNI EN 459-1. The production certificate is the real identity of products and guarantees quality, natural origin, according to high criteria of the standards, and the complete absence of synthetic additives or volatile organic compounds or materials recycling.

The natural hydraulic lime is also certified as a product with extremely low radioactivity, graduated at the lowest level on the basis of European standards relating to radioactivity levels of materials from natural raw materials. The certificate issued by ENEA (the Italian National Agency for New Technologies on Energy and Sustainable Economic Development).

The natural hydraulic lime of EM4C has all of the unique properties of natural hydraulic lime with the highest rates because of the excellent quality and the manufacturing method.

The unique properties of natural hydraulic lime (NHL) are listed below:

  1. The natural hydraulic lime is a purely natural product without additives and with extremely low radioactivity.
  2. No need to add in the natural hydraulic lime mortars plasticizers, cement, stabilizers, etc. because the natural hydraulic lime has excellent properties.
  3. It is compatible and suitable to be combined with existing construction materials, regardless ‘of age’ for different needs related to strengthening and repair.
  4. It has high resistance to weather conditions and short curing time without any special protection as other types of lime (fat lime mortars).
  5. In the absence of gypsum and cement, mortars of natural hydraulic lime (have very little presence of alumina) show high resistance to salts ensuring resistance to the presence of alkali sulfate, and to avoid sulfur compounds with silicon, allowing for applications in coastal environment.
  6. It has high strength and resistance to bacteria and mold as the alkalinity prevents any growth.
  7. It has high flexibility and durability properties that are acquired gradually during use.
  8. It has high modulus avoiding creating joints. It does not allow the crack growth while having a minimum degree of shrinkage.
  9. It has high permeability, compaction and dispersion decreasing disconnection resulting in underlying structures with the highest healthy lifestyle and environment.
  10. It has high protection in appearance of moisture in construction due to its permeable macro porous structure.
  11. It has high workability, because of the complete absence of lime.
  12. It has high cohesion as a homogenious mixture (self-healing), because of the complete absence of lime.
  13. It has high maturity that allows the continuation of work in time not usually exceeding 24 hours.
  14. It has many possibilities for production of different product applications, such as plaster, building mortars, coatings, adhesives, sealants, etc.
  15. Building materials from natural hydraulic lime are recyclable and their properties can be recovered and reused.
  16. During carbonation of free calcium natural hydraulic lime absorbs carbon dioxide CO2 from the atmosphere.
  17. It has a high cost – benefit ratio due to the manufacturing and properties, process of mining and production of mortars, and a high rate of productivity related to the ratio of volume over the weight of the product.
  18. The natural hydraulic lime mortars of EM4C are satisfying all of the above properties with the biggest indicators of reliability and quality demonstrated through their applications, both in modern construction and preservation and conservation of old and historic buildings.
  19. All natural hydraulic lime mortars of EM4C are ready for use with the addition of water, in the appropriate quantity, for the applications of unique mixtures of plasters, sealants, adhesion, mortars, and almost every type of building materials with high standards while reducing significantly the time, expertise and labor costs during installation.
  20. The use of natural hydraulic lime in almost every art form and construction project shows the exceptional and unique capabilities of the products for many difficult applications.