Veneto Mineral Coloured Finishes

Taking inspiration from centuries old, rustic patina of Venetian villas and palazzos. Warm, weathered, earthy colours with a story to tell. The Veneto 828 Mineral Coloured Finishes range of exterior wall finishes brings all the romance, ambience, imagination and wonder of Venice to your project.

Developed by Unitex, Veneto 828 Mineral Coloured Finishes are pre-coloured products with durable oxide pigments in a dry powder form that are mixed with water and applied over a sealed Unitex Render. With a sandy ochre finish, Veneto 828 Mineral Coloured Finishes do not need to be overcoated with an acrylic topcoat.

Moderate weathering will bring out subtle shade differences to rapidly produce an aged patina that adds character and warmth to modern homes. This is a finish regularly sought after by architects. Applied with trowel and sponge, Veneto 828 Mineral Coloured Finishes are suited to both new home construction and renovations. Used in conjunction with Unitex profiles (arches, sweeps, quoins, etc), Veneto 828 Mineral Coloured Finishes can upgrade the appearance of an existing home or create the timeless style of a Venetian Palazzo from scratch. The Veneto 828 Mineral Coloured Finishes range benefits from today’s technology and meets strict environmental standards with zero emissions. Spray and roller applied finishes are also possible when using Veneto Mineral Coloured Finishes.

Add water, mix and apply
Veneto 828 Mineral Coloured Finishes products are dry powders containing sand, cement, oxide pigments and polymeric additives to provide a durable product. On-site, all that has to be added is water to provide a ready-to-apply finish. Unitex recommends that for consistency of appearance, care should be taken to add the same amount of water to each pail and to drill mix each pail thoroughly for the same amount of time. Best consistency is found with mixing for 5 minutes then allowing to stand for approximately 10 minutes followed by a further 5 minutes drill mixing before application.

Veneto 828 Mineral Coloured Finishes range is an exterior ochre finish suitable for use over surfaces prepared with render from the Unitex Specialty Renders range. See our Renders section to choose the right Render for your masonry surface or construction material. Make sure that the render has been applied evenly and consistently and is thoroughly dry¹ before applying Veneto 828 Mineral Coloured Finishes as any imperfections with the render may also be seen after application of the exterior finish.

Veneto 828 Mineral Coloured Finishes are supplied in 20 kg pails and each pail, when mixed with water, is expected to yield 15 litres of trowel applied coating. Approximately 4-5 litres of water to each pail of Veneto should be tried initially and adjusted with further water to the applicator’s desired consistency. Consistent drilling of each pail for the same time for all buckets is recommended to adequately prepare the colour.

For spray or roll applied finishes, higher proportions of water should be used but it is important to be aware that when mixing water with powder by a drill, that trowel-like viscosity is best as the somewhat thicker viscosity produces consistent shades. After all lumps have been incorporated into the slurry, further water can be added with mixing to achieve spray and roller viscosities.

At a 1-2 mm thickness of Veneto 828 Mineral Coloured Finishes, approximately 10-15 m² of wall can be coated per 15 litre pail. Please merge in other pails of Veneto 828 to achieve the desirable subtle shade changes that each bucket and its preparation with water and drilling will give you.

Veneto 828 Mineral Coloured Finishes:

• Fire Resistance
  The full Unitex coating system when subjected to Early Fire Hazard Tests – Australian Standard AS 1530:3, 1976 meets the strictest standards.
• Water Resistance
  The coating, even at exceptionally high build, is formulated with a water permeability factor to rainproof the exterior and allow water vapour from the substrate to leave unhindered.
• Storage
  As these products contain cement, please store in the original sealed pails in a cool, dry place. Under these conditions, a shelf life of approximately 6 months is achievable.
• Colour
  Veneto 828 Mineral Coloured Finishes are pre-coloured using durable inorganic oxide pigments. A standard range of more than 21 earthy shades are available by clicking on the colour palette on the left. Custom shades can also be matched but please note that in keeping with the theme behind Veneto 828, only traditional, earthy tones are possible. For custom shades we ask a premium and sufficient time to complete the matching to your satisfaction. Veneto products are made to order.

Application Details

Veneto 828 Mineral Coloured Finishes should be trowelled over a thoroughly dried render, e.g. Redi Render, which has been sealed with Uni-Cembond. After trowelling, Veneto 828 Mineral Coloured Finishes must be finished with a soft sponge float to achieve a sandy finish. See our section on Renders for details on the surface preparation of substrates prior to applying a render.

In dry, mild conditions, Veneto 828 Mineral Coloured Finishes should be dry after 72 hours after application. With certain site conditions such as shaded areas, lower temperatures or high humidity, curing of the exterior finish may take longer, even up to 7-10 days. Always check the weather forecast before applying exterior finishes as rain, especially within the first 8 hours after application, has a tendency to damage and weaken the finish or at best, leave water marks. Heavy rain, preferential water dripping, overnight condensation etc. at any time during the initial 3-4 weeks may leave water marks and wash staining on the surface. Should such rain or water or other damage occur, the exterior finish integrity and adhesion must be checked and repaired when fully dried.

Both frosty conditions and excessively high temperatures should be avoided. Unitex recommends applying Veneto 828 Mineral Coloured Finishes in temperatures greater than 8 ºC and less than 30 ºC. Should hot and windy conditions be encountered after commencing applying the product, dampen the substrate with water. Do not apply Veneto finishes until the ‘wet’ look has receded and the surface has absorbed the free water. This will enable Veneto 828 Mineral Coloured Finishes to remain as workable as it is in milder conditions. Always ensure that the areas being coated can be comfortably finished by the number of applicators available before the coating dries out.

1. Base, e.g. Redi Render
2. Sealer coat of Uni-Cembond
3. Coat 1: Veneto applied with a steel trowel and straight away finished with a soft sponge float
4. Coat 2: Between 4 – 24 hours after the first coat is touch dry, or at least on the following day, a second coat may be applied in the same way

After Veneto 828 Mineral Coloured Finish has been applied, finished and is touch dry, early rainfall can cause whitening, discolouration, streaking and blooming. Unless this highly distressed look is desired, Unitex recommends that as soon as the finish is touch dry, the total wall area must be fine water spray washed with clean water thoroughly to remove traces of any water soluble synthetic additives still remaining in the wall coating.

Adequate expansion joints are required to minimise cracking on the surface of the finish. Location of the expansion joints is the responsibility of the Builder or Head Contractor. Unitex recommends regular expansion joints to every elevation, between different substrates and between floor levels, to allow for stresses and building movements.

If such expansion joints are not provided by the Builder or Head Contractor, cracking due to movement of the substrate may occur. This is in no way indicative of faulty material. Rather it indicates sub-standard building practice.

1. Add the contents of the pail slowly under drill mixing to 4-5 litres of clean water in an appropriately sized clean vessel.
2. Drill mix thoroughly until a lump free slurry of the required slump is produced. Allow to stand and activate for approximately 10 minutes then re-whip prior to use.
3. The mix can then be adjusted with water to hold the required viscosity. For a uniform, even finish, aim to keep wet product at a constant viscosity over the whole project.
4. Apply Veneto 828 Mineral Coloured Finishes with a trowel over a dry, Unitex rendered surface sealed with
   Uni-Cembond (from Unitex) sealer coating and finish off with a sponge float.
5. For spray and roller application, additional water will be needed to reach a lower viscosity.
6. When mixed according to these instructions, each pail will make up 15 litres of wet product.

Footnote:
¹Importance of thorough drying.
Generally, the substrate must be dry before application of the render. Likewise, the render must be dry before a texture is applied over the render and similarly, the texture must be dry before a topcoat such as Uni-PTC is rolled over the texture. It is the responsibility of the Builder and/or Contractor to ensure that each surface (including substrate) is thoroughly dry before the next coat (render, primer/sealer, texture or topcoat) is applied. Unitex recommends that professional contractors use a Moisture Meter to determine the degree of dryness. Building Inspectors consider dry conditions to be consistent with readings of less than 12% WME (Wood Moisture Equivalent). Wet and cool conditions and also tropical wet and humid conditions present the most challenging weather conditions to achieve dryness levels suitable for overcoating. Should a coating be applied on a substrate or surface that has not sufficiently dried, sometimes a white bleaching or fine hairline shrinkage cracking on the surface may occur in the weeks after application as moisture slowly evaporates out of the system.