Cocciopesto MGN

Traditional Brick Coloured Lime Plaster

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Cocciopesto MGN - Description

What is Cocciopesto?

In ancient Rome, a particular type of mortar called "cocciopesto", a mix of lime and brick dust or crushed terracotta fragments (coccio = pottery fragments; pesto = crushed) was widely used as:

A plaster to protect wall structures from moisture. It has been the plaster of choice for high-humidity environments such as Roman baths, basements and cellars.
A flooring material, both as a floor base and floor finish, due to their excellent longevity and moisture-regulating properties.
A finishing plaster to create impermeable linings for cisterns, wells and aqueducts (ancient water pipes), or today for bathroom or shower room walls.

Cocciopesto plasters are special lime plasters because they are:

Extremely breathable
Resist moisture and humidity
A warm material with high thermal mass, naturally preventing condensation even in high-humidity environments
Outstanding hygro-thermal regulators, creating a pleasant, healthy, low-humidity indoor environment

Cocciopesto plasters, given the wide accessibility of their prime materials and their wide range of application, spread rapidly to every corner of the Roman empire, and they are still widely used today.

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COCCIOPESTO MGN brings the original Roman formula in an easy-to-use premixed form, using the original prime materials. The plaster can be applied both internally and externally. Its breathability and moisture-regulating capacity makes it ideal for the natural restoration of damp walls. It can have colours ranging from yellow ochre to light red, depending on the colour of the bricks used.

Key Features

Here are some key features of this product.

Breathable

Being a lime plaster, it's naturally vapour permeable or breathable.

Suitable for Listed buildings

This plaster is suitable for historic or listed buildings and heritage renovations.

Multiple Colours

This is a coloured plaster that comes in multiple colours.

Excellent Humidity Regulator

Can effectively buffer humidity variations, maintaining low internal humidity, preventing condensation.

For Cellars, Basements

Can resist high humidity, suitable for cellars, basements.

Composition

Natural air lime: highest purity lime containing min 90% CaO, classified as CL90S according to EN-459-1 standard

Ground terracotta (cocciopesto): brick powder from traditional porous bricks, wood fired at low temperatures around 600°C

Natural hydraulic lime NHL 3.5, certified according to EN-459-1 standard

Marble powders, certified according to EN 12620 standard

Specifications

Granulation (mm)

0-3

Vapour diffusion resistance (μ)

6.52

Declared thermal conductivity - λ (D)

0.48

Water absorption

10.5

Adhesion (N / mm²)

0.1

Compressive strength (N / mm²)

CS II

Bulk density (kg / m³)

1510

Bag weight (kg)

Water intake (litre / bag)

Consumption (kg / m² / cm)

Application temperature (°C)

5-30

Fire rating

Chloride content (%)

None

Harmful substances

None

Colour

Light Brown

Recommended thickness (mm)

Certifications

UNI EN 998-1:2016 – Certified Coloured Plaster for External Plastering (CR)

UNI EN 998-1:2016 – Certified General Purpose Plaster for Internal / External Use (GP)

Minimum Environmental Criteria (CAM) Declaration: a “green purchase” environmental declaration, indicating that this product satisfies the environmental requirements of the Italian Government, representing the best ecological solution for a project when taking into account the entire life cycle of a product from manufacturing to disposal.

Free of Harmful Substances including formaldehyde

CE Marking: this product complies with all relevant European Union regulations, meeting all performance requirements required by the CE marking.

Solutions

This material can be used in the following applications or solutions:

Replastering Old Damp Walls

The Secret of Long Lasting Lime Plastering

coreconservation banners basement banner4195

Waterproofing Basements, Cellars

The Roman Lime Waterproofing System

Waterproofing Old Walls

Stopping Liquid Moisture

Farm and Barn Conversions

Doing It Right - Avoiding Costly Mistakes

Replastering Flooded Walls

Flood Renovation with Lime

Photo Galleries

Here are some photos demonstrating this solution. Click on any image to open the photo gallery.

Dealing with Excess Salinity - Salt Warehouses of Venice (Magazzini del Sale)

The Salt Warehouses of Venice (Magazzini del Sale) date back to the beginning of the 15th century. They were built to store a very precious trade commodity: salt. Situated across 9 large halls, the salt warehouse could hold up to 4500 tons of salts.

As a result of its location (Venice) and its use (a salt storage) it is probably the most salty building fabric in the world. The only lime plaster capable of withstanding such an extremely salty environment is the Rinzaffo MGN Roman salt-resistant base coat. This plaster is also gentle to the historic fabric – when it reaches its end of its life, it comes off gently without damaging the underlying historic (in this case the nearly 600-year old) wall fabric.

Videos

Here are some videos related to this solution. Please unmute the videos when playing them.

Roman Lime Floors- How They Are Made? A Hands-on Practical Demonstration

Solutions

Technology

Making High Performance Breathable Lime Floors

Technology

Traditional Roman Floors – How the Romans created them?

Technology

Waterproofing Roman wells with traditional Cocciopesto plaster

Technology

Similar Products

Here are some other similar products of the same category (e.g. other main coats or finishes). Depending on your application, you could use these as alternative products.

RisanaSmart

Fast Lime Replastering System

Base

Main

Calcina Bianca

Traditional White Lime Plaster

Main

Sanacolor 2000

White / Coloured Decorative Lime Render for External Use

Main

cocciopesto-deumificante-banner5-core-conservation

Cocciopesto Deumidificante

Humidity Regulating Lime Plaster for Cellars

Main

Risanamur B80

Main Lime Coat for Basements

Main

ArgiLolla

Lime Plaster with Clay & Rice Husk Bio-plaster

Main

Product Combinations

Although all MGN plasters can be used on their own, in many applications they perform best when certain materials are applied together as a plastering system complementing and reinforcing each other.

Here are some other plasters which are recommended to be used with this one.

Rinzaffo

Roman Waterproofing Lime Base Coat

Base

Waterproofing

Application

Here are some key technical points about how to apply this material correctly:

Main

Clean the masonry: the plaster must be applied on a cleaned and uniformly wet substrate. All crumbling and loose parts must be removed by brushing so the masonry is free of dust, salts and oils. If possible, also wash the walls with a pressure washer; this will clean and wet the walls in one go. Close larger holes with lime mortar and pieces of bricks.

Mixing: mix the material with clean tap water only without adding anything else (no other material or additive), until a homogenous, creamy-consistency mix is obtained.

Recommended thickness: min recommended thickness for interior walls is 15 mm, for external walls is 20 mm.

Application: apply the plaster in 10 mm coats.

Additional coats can be applied in further 10 mm increments. Use an embedded fibreglass mesh for extra reinforcement over the recommended thickness.

Finish options: main lime coats can be optionally left without finishing. To have a finished surface any MGN finish can be applied: Calcina Fine MGN (white lime finish), Intonachino Arenino MGN (coloured lime finish) or Marmorino MGN (Venetian Marmorino finish).

Application conditions: ambient and wall temperatures must be between +5 to +30°C during application. Surfaces should be protected from rain and humidity until they have completely dried (approx. 3 – 10 days depending on weather conditions).