Imprägniermittel: Schutz von Betonfassaden in einem nassen Klima / Water Repellents: Protection of Facades of Concrete in a Wet Climate

Water repellents are widely used in Iceland on structures of concrete for the purpose of protecting cracks against water and for reducing the moisture content of the concrete, often as priming imprégnants under paint coatings. The climate is wet, freeze-thaw cycles are frequent and exterior concrete has suffered serious damages in general. A number of experiments involving the various kinds of application of repellents has been carried out, including both laboratory testing and tests in real house situations. The results show the water repellents to be very effective in protecting commonly occurring relatively narrow cracks, but not to be very effective at all in the lowering of the moisture content of concrete exposed to the climate of south-west Iceland.