Evaluation of strategies for the environmental impacts’ mitigation of mortar coatings in Brazil

Abstract This study aimed to evaluate the environmental impacts of different mortar mixtures (roughcast and rendering) and their combinations, commonly used in the Brazilian buildings. Two types of construction process were evaluated for the roughcast (conventional and rolled processes) and for the rendering (conventional and projected processes). We used the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology considering the scope with the following stages: raw materials manufacturing, transport to the site, construction, end-of-life of the wastes generated during the process and the coating carbonation. We verified that it is feasible to reduce from 15% to 64% of environmental impacts of the coating only by choosing the construction technique. The main contribution of this study is the proposition of environmental guidelines, based on a quantitative analysis, for the specification and construction of mortar coatings in Brazil.