Monocouche cement render is both a decorative and architectural finish, applied to the exterior or interior of building facade structures, to provide both decoration and weather protection. It can be applied to most substrates.

The French term monocouche translates as “one-coat” and has been adopted by the European render industry, in an attempt to distinguish modern renders and their application methods from those of traditional renders and their application methods. It refers to the development of more advanced render formulations that can be applied in one coat to form and cure as one monolithic layer on the elevation of a building.

The formulation of a monocouche render is distinguished by the use of White Ordinary Portland Cement as a binder which then enables the formulation to be pigmented. The addition of pigments will give a manufacturer the opportunity to produce a colour range and employ the term ‘through colour render’ as when the product is applied and finished the pigment will bound in place, all the way through the body of the render.

This factor marks the biggest difference between modern renders and traditional renders that utilise grey Ordinary Portland Cement and hence cannot be pigmented successfully. A traditional render would have to receive a coat of paint to achieve a coloured decorative finish.