Most contractors have developed strong affinities to different tools and products during their careers. After having a good experience, many can stay loyal to a brand for years with very little consideration of market alternatives. Window, door and siding professionals rely heavily on sealant, among other flashing products, to ensure their installs are done right. Here are six challenges that might be easier to overcome with a simple change.
Window, door, siding and trim manufacturers are always expanding their product portfolio and adding new colors. Not all sealants are created equal, and some might have trouble keeping up. When finding the right color match starts to seem challenging, it’s time to make a switch to a sealant brand with a broader and expanding portfolio that aligns continuously with industry trends. Larger sealant portfolios can typically provide more, “exact” and “close” matches to the building products pros are installing every day.
The color required must also be available quickly. As project lead times for remodel window, door, and siding installation are getting a shorter once again, contractors don’t have the luxury of waiting for the right products to arrive. When a preferred sealant for a contractor doesn’t have nationwide distribution and availability, it might make sense to look for a brand that does. Simply getting the right color sealant, quickly, can be a determining factor to maintaining a project’s timeline and the customer’s expectations.
There are some sealants that don’t have optimal adhesion to certain window, door, siding, trim materials, as well as other building substrates. And to improve performance and value, building products manufacturers are constantly introducing new and/or modified materials into the market. This becomes a challenge since not all sealant technologies have universal performance. For example, many silicone-based products don’t have great adhesion to porous building materials including stucco. Latex products aren’t suitable for all environments, and solvents cannot be used inside the home and may take up to 10 days or longer to cure. Ask for manufacturer recommendations and consider asking experienced peers for advice online or on the jobsite. Without optimal adhesion, you can lose the ability to create a lasting, weather-proof seal.
As trapped moisture inside the building substrate heats up and looks for a way to escape, it will seek out the path of least resistance. This means it will often diffuse through wet sealant – resulting in small bubbles or even holes by the time it has cured. You can learn more about this phenomenon in a Technical Bulletin on OSITough.com. Switching to quick curing sealant can be a somewhat easy fix to this problem. Quick cure times are often a performance attribute of SMP formulations.
Just as cold weather can make some sealants difficult to extrude, warm weather can give some sealants a less viscous, runny texture. Some latex and solvent-based products freeze in temperatures below 32 degrees Fahrenheit – increasing the likelihood your job will be delayed. And if the manufacturer used a fiber cartridge, it can actually result in a small rupture that might not be discovered until later when the product has thawed and seeped into your tool case, truck bed or inside the vehicle.
In addition to extrusion performance, temperature can also cause longer cure times, effect bond performance and negatively impact overall long-term results. These potential failures mean a higher risk of callbacks for contractors.
Once a sealant has been applied, there is a window of opportunity for the fresh bead to collect dust and dirt from the environment. This is known as the skin-over time, or a period when the bead’s surface is still wet and susceptible to capturing and locking-in particles from the environment. It can provide an overall messy or even aged appearance to a new install, and it can lead to customer complaints and callbacks. There are fixes, but typically it’s best to prevent this problem from happening by identifying and purchasing a sealant with a shorter skin time.
Many times one may finish a project before they’ve finished the tube of sealant. There are some short-term solutions to save what remains. An open tip can be sealed with a nail, or taped. It also possible extrude a bit of sealant and flatten it to create a plug at the end of the tip. All great ideas, but very limited in how long they can prevent the sealant from curing inside the tip. Unfortunately, the curing will quickly reach a depth in the tip where it can no longer be pushed out. And the tip can’t be cut any further or the resulting bead size would be too large for any reasonable application.
For a better option, contractors should look for a sealant that has a removable tip. It can reduce the amount of waste by preserving a partial tube for a longer time. Regardless of how much sealant cures in the tip, it can be easily removed and replaced with the tip from a fresh tube. A removable tip can also be used over and over again on a large job ensuring that you never lose the product that remains in the tip when the plunger has been completely depressed. Plus, switching tips from one tube to another preserves the cut and helps deliver a consistent looking bead throughout the entire project.
For contractors who have experienced any of these issues QUAD MAX is a great solution. It’s a sealant with great adhesion, a fast cure time, resists bubbling and dust collection, and has a removable tip. Plus, it takes the guesswork out of color matching with over 300 colors that directly match over 9,200 finishes being offered by window, door, siding and trim manufacturers. QUAD MAX can be painted in an hour and has no issues being applied in extreme cold and warm temperatures. Learn more about QUAD MAX and find out where to buy it today!
Disclaimer: the information provided is intended to offer a general understanding. OSI recommends you seek out technical data sheets, speak further with an expert and/or gather additional performance information before making any final product decisions.
