
Video: Everyone Is Talking About Healthy Living

Interview with Baumit product manager Barbara Wiedemann about "healthy living" in general and lime plasters in particular.
Photos: Baumit
Why is the lime plaster range so wide now?
Barbara Wiedemann: The climate lime plaster program makes almost all design requests feasible. Cement-free lime plasters, lime machine plasters, lime fine and hand plasters, lime marble spatulas and lime fine plasters, as well as pasty, paintable lime top coats bring the needs of tradesmen and builders into harmony.
Which criteria are the decisive ones for the specialist companies?
Barbara Wiedemann: For the skilled tradesmen, it is about predictability / calculability and security as well as efficiency in execution.
Does design ability play a relevant role for specialist companies?
Barbara Wiedemann: It's also about a high degree of variability in design. Marble spatula and smooth lime enable matt or glossy surfaces with a representative effect. Cement-free lime plasters can be used to work close to the historical finding. Old floors, ceilings, historical doors and windows and visible sandstones can be given an adequate framework. Cement-free lime plasters are also the basis for the production of friezes and ribbons with pure silicate colors. Choosing the right lime plaster is a question of knowledge of the material and of carefully combining old and new craftsmanship with modern, detailed planning.
Are there different wishes on the part of fabricators and builders?
Barbara Wiedemann: Yes, of course - the building owners are often interested in the absence of harmful substances and corresponding certificates and test reports. The requirements from building labels also play an increasingly important role.
Is everyone talking about healthy living?
Barbara Wiedemann: Everyone is talking about demographic change. The housing industry is particularly affected. By means of appropriate measures, it would like to make tenants or buyers more attractive and increase the chances of getting better prices. Focusing on healthy living means striving for a differentiation for the housing industry, to gain a sales advantage.
Is there also the opposite of "healthy living", ie "sick living"?
Barbara Wiedemann: Yes! A healthy person can “live sick” in a living space that is permanently contaminated with pollutants. So z. T. newly built or newly renovated public buildings closed due to the high levels of pollutants, as they affected people's health. It has been scientifically proven that the risk of allergy increases significantly in polluted rooms. Common reactions to pollutants are: malaise and headache from solvents, watery eyes, irritated mucous membranes and cancer risk from formaldehyde.
What plays the biggest role in the context of "healthy living"?
Barbara Wiedemann: Clean, unpolluted air indoors, because modern people spend around 80 to 90 percent of their life time in closed rooms.
Where does this enormous impact on indoor air come from?
Barbara Wiedemann: How sensitive the indoor climate is to changes in construction is becoming increasingly clear in connection with the denser construction. For example, the legislature has changed the construction method in Germany significantly. The required thermal insulation and the associated energy savings only work if buildings are airtight. As a result, the heat, but also pollutants that used to be ventilated by leaks, remain in the house. This tightness has the consequence that the exchange with the outside air (the air exchange rate) is up to ten times lower than in old buildings. With the intention of saving heating energy, reduced ventilation further reduces the air exchange in occupied rooms, which further exacerbates the effect of the pollutant concentration.
Are there any binding limits?
Barbara Wiedemann: One of the first official documents specifying the limit values for pollutants in indoor air is the “Guideline for Indoor Hygiene in School Buildings” from the Federal Environment Agency in 2008. The limit values in this document are increasingly used for the construction or renovation of public buildings. As of March 31, 2011, the guideline "Sustainable Building for the Federal Building Administration for Use in Office and Administrative Buildings (New Buildings)" was introduced based on European legislation. In particular, the legal decisions at European level such as Regulation (EU) “No. 305/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council”will massively change construction in Germany.
What influence does the surface coating have on indoor air quality?
Barbara Wiedemann: An enormous one. The same also applies to masonry mortar and screed, etc. Healthy indoor air can only be achieved if the products required for the new building or modernization provide information about their effect on the indoor air through a corresponding test certificate. Only then can the planner assess the necessity, quantity and expected emission potential accordingly.
Does this only apply to new buildings?
Barbara Wiedemann: No, also in the renovation and modernization and in the renovation of historical buildings. Remodeling usually means preserving the historical substance wherever possible and at the same time creating habitable and maintainable apartments and premises according to modern standards. The peculiarity is that pure lime, lime and lime cement plaster, including the renovation plasters that are used here, not only have to meet the technical and processing-related requirements, but they also have to provide evidence that the indoor air is not contaminated with pollutants. Products that can prove this with a corresponding test certificate make a double contribution - firstly to the renovation of historic buildings and to healthy living.
Leisten Kalkputze einen Beitrag zur Wohngesundheit in Innenräumen?
Barbara Wiedemann: Because of their special sorption capacity, they can have a moisture-balancing effect. They help to prevent a too low humidity. As a result, the airways do not dry out as easily and the risk of infection decreases. Lime plaster is said to have properties that improve the indoor climate, because lime plasters "swallow" pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and CO2. The latter is related to the fact that lime plaster absorbs and incorporates CO2 during its carbonation phase. Lime plasters not only regulate moisture - due to their high alkalinity, mold does not provide a breeding ground. Thus, the lime plaster manages the indoor climate and the air humidity in the house. In addition, it consists of purely natural raw materials. Neither dust nor dirt adheres to the antistatic surface.
Are colored lime plasters also in demand?
Barbara Wiedemann: Yes, because individual craftsmanship with color and light are often the decisive element for the specialist entrepreneurs to receive a lucrative order. For many people, healthy living also means that rooms are to be designed harmoniously. Colors have a decisive impact on well-being. Light conveys vitality, joy and warmth. Therefore, the spatial design, which includes the lighting design, is an indispensable aspect of healthy living.
In your experience, what are the most important criteria for a product decision for processors?
Barbara Wiedemann: The finely felted or finely structured surfaces give the rooms a harmonious ambience that is finely balanced between tradition and modernity. Lime plaster has been tried and tested for centuries and is more relevant today than ever. Because lime plaster not only offers a long-known impression, but comes in a very contemporary form today. One of the main reasons why the material is so popular today and is often used is due to the surface look and feel. Lime plasters on the wall convey a warm, building-biological living climate. An elementary requirement for this is that the lime plaster surfaces are not covered with wallpaper or dense paints and coatings. Another reason for the popularity of lime plaster is the efficient and user-friendly processability as machine plaster. Climatic lime plasters are adapted to the light masonry that is mostly used today. They are suitable for all applications in indoor and damp rooms and leave space for all coating options. Due to their special composition, accelerated lime plasters minimize temperature and subsoil influences (e.g. differences in absorbency). Recommendations for use increase the security of advice and processing. Due to their special composition, accelerated lime plasters minimize temperature and subsoil influences (e.g. differences in absorbency). Recommendations for use increase the security of advice and processing. Due to their special composition, accelerated lime plasters minimize temperature and subsoil influences (e.g. differences in absorbency). Recommendations for use increase the security of advice and processing.
What is the decisive criterion for the purchase of the product?
Barbara Wiedemann: Its formability. There are almost no limits to the surface design. First and foremost, it depends on the creative potential and the craftsmanship of the contractor. Individual tastes and trends from fashion and art set new impulses. So z. B. imitations of concrete. Ready-to-use thin-layer lime plasters for indoor use offer the advantages of a mineral finishing coat in a paste-like and colorable form. Climatic lime plasters in their purest, cement-free form are suitable for renovation. Lime smoothing and spatula enable contemporary smooth surfaces in this and in the modern context. Safety, efficiency and design are not mutually exclusive factors, but the core competence of modern lime plasters.
Is there another aspect that we haven't considered yet?
Barbara Wiedemann: The topic of sustainability should not go unmentioned as an aspect of healthy living. Healthy living is possible if the choice of materials, the interior design and building physics factors are brought into harmony. Planners, craftsmen and manufacturers are constantly challenged to find this balance in their daily work.
Further information:
www.baumit.de