Coatings for building products and dewatering aid for use with same

1. A dewatering aid for dewatering a cementitious slurry coating on a product, said dewatering aid comprising a particulate material in an effective quantity and particle size to maintain porosity in the slurry and the product to be coated during dewatering and thereby permit dewatering of the slurry through the product to be coated, wherein said dewatering aid is fly ash particles having two components with a first larger size component of particles of about a 100 micron maximum size in an amount of about 10 to 60 wt % of the cementitious slurry based on total dry ingredients, and a second smaller size component of particles of about a 10 micron maximum size in an amount of about 5 to 30 wt. % of the cementitious slurry based on total dry ingredients.

2. The dewatering aid according to claim 1 , wherein the slurry includes additives as fillers selected from the group consisting of ceramic hollow spheres, diatomite, wollastonite, ground rice hulls, perlite, vermiculite, expanded polystyrene, gypsum, calcium carbonate, alumina hydrate, and silica flour.

3. The dewatering aid according to claim 1 , wherein the product through which the slurry is dewatered is a cementitious building board or product or gypsum building board.

4. The dewatering aid according to claim 1 , wherein the slurry includes fibres.

5. The dewatering aid according to claim 1 , wherein the coating includes an hydraulic binder selected from the group consisting of white, grey or pigmented cements, hydraulic limes and mixtures thereof.

6. The dewatering aid according to claim 1 , wherein the coating includes cements selected from the group consisting of Portland cement, blended cements, blast furnace slag, pozzolans, masonry cement, oil well cement, natural cement, alumina cement, expansive cements and mixtures thereof.

7. The dewatering aid according to claim 1 , wherein the slurry includes a binder between about 10 and 50 wt % based on total dry ingredients.

8. The dewatering aid according to claim 1 , wherein the slurry includes organic additives selected from the group consisting of plasticising agents and biopolymers.

9. The dewatering aid according to claim 1 , wherein the dewatering aid allows the coating to be uniform on the product.

10. The dewatering aid according to claim 1 , wherein the dewatering aid permits dewatering of the slurry within a few minutes.

11. The dewatering aid according to claim 1 , wherein the cementitious slurry coating includes additives to improve resultant properties of the coating.

12. The dewatering aid according to claim 1 , wherein the cementitious slurry coating includes additives to improve workability and applicability of the slurry to the product to be coated.

13. The dewatering aid according to claim 1 , wherein the cementitious slurry coating includes additives to improve the properties of the product to be coated such that upon dewatering of the slurry through the product, the product is thus treated with said additive.

14. A dewatering aid for dewatering a cementitious slurry coating on a product, said dewatering aid comprising a particulate material in an effective quantity and particle size to maintain porosity in the slurry and the product to be coated during dewatering and thereby permit dewatering of the slurry through the product to be coated, wherein said dewatering aid comprises about 25-60 wt % silica, about 10-30 wt % Al 2 O 3 , about 5-25 wt % Fe 2 O 3 , about 0-20 wt % CaO, about 0-5 wt % MgO, wherein a first portion of the particulate material has a larger particle size of about a 100 micron maximum size in the amount of about 10 to 60 wt % of the cementitious slurry based on total dry ingredients and a second portion of the particulate material that is a smaller particle size of about a 10 micron maximum size in the amount of 5 to 30 wt. % of the formulation based on total dry ingredients, and wherein the slurry is up to 50% water, wherein the water is based on percent by total weight of solids.

15. The dewatering aid according to claim 14 , wherein the dewatering aid is fly ash.

16. The dewatering aid according to claim 14 , wherein the product through which the slurry is dewatered is a cementitious building board or product or gypsum building board.

17. The dewatering aid according to claim 14 , wherein the dewatering aid permits dewatering of the slurry within a few minutes.

18. The dewatering aid according to claim 14 , wherein the particulate material includes a particle size greater than about 100 microns and wherein the particles of size greater than about 100 microns is selected from the group consisting of fly ash, and bottom ash.

19. The dewatering aid according to claim 14 , wherein the slurry includes additives as fillers selected from the group consisting of ceramic hollow spheres, diatomite, wollastonite, ground rice hulls, perlite, vermiculite, expanded polystyrene, gypsum, calcium carbonate, alumina hydrate, and silica flour, and wherein the additives may be further selected from the group consisting of organic additives of plasticising agents and biopolymers.