Monocouche render
Monocouche comes from the French to mean single layer, monocouche render is was adopted in Europe to describe modern renders that differ from traditional lime or cement renders. In general monocouche renders use white ordinary Portland cement as a binder instead of the more commonly used grey ordinary Portland cement, this allows the render mix to be coloured with pigment more easily and thus only needing the one layer without painting.
Essentially the ingredients of Monocouche render are cement, sand, lime, and pigments often along with modifying admixtures like silica, mica, which help performance. Polymer admixtures like acrylic resin are also used and sometimes the render is referred to as polymer render, these can help improve resistance to staining and water ingress as well as flexibility against cracking which maybe be increased due to the single nature of the coat.
Some issues with such renders have been noted to be colouration due to UV exposure and in some cases hairline cracks, and because it is through coloured it can be difficult to repair. However some contractors may use a mesh over the first pass of the render, although it s a single layer product it is often applied in two passes, the mesh in the middle can help movement without cracking. Finally although water resistant, it is actually water proof per se, though this can depend much on the different manufacturer and the additives used.
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