Sydney meeting shines light on drymix potential

With Australia’s drymix mortar community set to assemble in Sydney on February 18^th, ABHR spoke to Mr Ferdinand Leopolder, the man behind the conference and a far broader international suite of drymix information and meetings.

For Australia’s construction and building sectors, the problems linked to traditional on-site mortar preparation are legion. It’s inefficient, there’s a lot of waste, jobsite traffic can be chaotic and the end products – such as flooring and plastered walls – can be of dubious quality.

In contrast, the use of drymix, which is factory-blended and packaged mortar, in combination with jobsite machinery, silos and pumps has many advantages in terms of production of volume products such as masonry mortars, renders, plasters and screeds.

“Drymix mortars, due to their reduced wastage, thin application and long-term durability have always been an excellent alternative to conventional methods such as jobsite mixing,” explained Mr Leopolder. “Recently, these properties have come to be seen as ‘green’ or ‘sustainable’.

“Considering Australia’s vast spaces and long distances, drymix mortar technology offers additional advantages to the country’s construction industry, over and above the gains seen in Europe. In a nutshell, drymix mortars offer Australian industry simple logistics and ease of use, while supporting efficient working processes.

“New applications and the adaptation and improvement of existing mortar types will satisfy the need for quality finishing materials in the ever growing markets for commercial and residential real estate in Australia. Drymix mortar technology supports win-win situations, not only in the relationship between manufacturers and contractors but also that between developers and final owners or tenants.”

The Third Australian Drymix Mortar Meeting is being held at the Novotel Sydney at Brighton Beach on 18^th February 2016.

Speakers and their topics include:

• Daní Llado of Ferro on Mortar Coloration: Options for New Designs and Cool Façades
• Michael Mestekemper of Haver & Boecker on A Technical Determinion of Correct Packaging for Drymix Mortars
• Mike James of Nu-Age Plasters on Seismic Retrofitting of Non-Rreinforced Masonry Buildings in New Zealand
• David Khanna of BPI.Visqueen on Global Packaging Innovations in Cement and Drymix Mortars
• A speaker, to be confirmed, from Kerneos on Smooth Surfaces Using Calcium Aluminate Cement
• David Hood of Ardex on The Enigma of Sub-Aqueous Efflorescence
• Harold Schoonbrood of Wacker on Flexibility in Tile Adhesives
• Troy Hogan of Construction Technologies Australia, CTA, Sika on The Setting of Large Format Tiles
• Trevor Mitford of Concetti on Dry as a Bone: Packaging Dry Cement Premixes in PE Film
• Dietmar Müller of Poraver (G. Fethers) on The Use of Lightweight Aggregates in Drymix Mortar
• Guillaume Lafay of Actemium on A New Concept for an Innovative Mixing Plant of Dry Mortars and other Dry Product

Mr Leopolder is principal of drymix.info, which bills itself as “the international community for drymix mortars.”

To inquire or book a place at the Sydney meeting, contact mailto:’[email protected]’