Gulf Construction Online - Tremco-illbruck ensures integrity

Facades

Commercial Bank of Dubai ... a combination of stone, glass and metal cladding on the facade.

Tremco-illbruck ensures integrity

Tremco-illbruck, which has opened a Middle East branch office in Dubai, UAE, offers a wealth of solutions to ensure the successful performance of a building’s facades.

01 December 2011

THE sealing of joints between the cladding panels – commonly known as weather sealing – is absolutely critical to maintaining the integrity of the building envelope, says Tremco-illbruck, adding that there are many variables to consider to ensure the successful performance of the weather seal.

'Yet many companies will offer a one-size-fits-all solution – normally a silicone sealant – with little consideration to the potential pitfalls,' says Stuart Wakeham, general manager of the newly-opened Dubai branch office of Tremco-illbruck.

The European company offers a wealth of facade solutions with its range of sealants, tapes, membranes and fire-stopping products.

He explains that the joint size – both width and depth – need to be considered as well as the anticipated movement of the joint. The nature of the substrate is also important, in terms of porosity and possible sensitivity to wet sealants that might result in staining. Some weather seals are flush with the cladding, some are concealed within the joint, and others need to be a special colour.

To accommodate any potential requirement, Tremco-illbruck offers not only a comprehensive range of silicone sealants (primarily for glass or metal substrates) but also polyurethane sealants for porous substrates, wide joints and special colour match requirements. Gaskets, manufactured in the US, can also be incorporated into the design as a weather seal, either recessed in the joint – normally EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer) – or exposed as a plug-in type seal in a range of colours, usually from preformed silicone.

The installation of illmod 600 precompressed impregnated tape into a precast concrete facade.

For sensitive or uneven substrates or applications where wet sealants are not desired, the company also offers a unique product called illmod 600, an impregnated pre-compressed foam sealant tape that is applied to one side of the joint and expands to fill the gap.

'Manufactured in Germany, this type of preformed sealant has been used successfully in Europe for more than 30 years for sealing cladding joints and window perimeters. It is wind and dust-proof and exceeds 600 Pa driving rain-tightness. It is clean, quick and simple to apply with no waste,' says Wakeham.

In addition to the sealants based on established chemistries such as polyurethane (PU) and silicone, Tremco-illbruck is also developing a series of high-performance hybrid products to fulfil a wide range of roles. 'SP525, for example, can be used in place of either a silicone or a polyurethane and is a 100 per cent green product,' he explains. 'Eventually, this will not only simplify sealant selection but will also overcome the tricky problem of perimeter sealing, where it is common to have dissimilar substrates.'

Behind the visible cladding or curtain-wall, there are many other gaps or joints that need to be sealed or protected. Tremco-illbruck Butylband tapes are widely used in curtain-walls under pressure plates whereas butyl sealants are preferred for bedding of panels and back pans. Moisture control is also critical at the junction of the cladding and the structure and Tremco-illbruck’s EPDM membrane is widely used in such applications.

The company also offers adhesives such as PL400 for the bonding of stiffeners to cladding panels and corner pieces, hybrid adhesives for bonding any conceivable construction materials securely, plus a wide range of acrylic and PVC (polyvinyl chloride) tapes for spacing, cushioning and bonding.

An EPDM membrane and butyl tape airseals ... installed between the curtain-wall framework and substructure prior to cladding application.

Finally, Tremco-illbruck has a full range of UL (Underwriters Laboratories)-listed fire-stopping products that enables the provision of fire-rated seals and joints between facade and structure or around penetrations through the structure. Tremstop Acrylic SP (spray grade) is the preferred product for this application due to its versatility and ease and speed of use.

As a company that operates worldwide, Tremco is committed to sustainability and to the protection of the environment and these two factors are very much at the heart of the company’s research and development (R&D) programmes, which strive to develop better, cleaner, longer lasting solutions to the challenge of providing total building envelope protection – a commitment that will help maintain Tremco-illbruck’s leading market position both the Middle East and throughout the world, says Wakeham.

Tremco-illbruck, a company formed in 2005 after the acquisition of the illbruck company by Tremco and headquartered in Cologne Germany, is the European division of the RPM Building Solutions Group, based in Cleveland, Ohio, US. Tremco-illbruck opened its Dubai branch office, Tremco-illbruck Middle East, last month (November).

When Tremco acquired illbruck, it had already established a 25-year track record in the Middle East as a leading supplier of sealants, coatings, gaskets, fire-stop products and adhesives to the construction, glazing and facades markets.

'It was Tremco’s wide product range, supported by a strong local technical presence that enabled the company to provide a true ‘solutions-based’ approach to its customers – an approach that resulted in the establishment of long-term partnerships with many leading contractors and fabricators, particularly within the glazing and facades industry,' says Wakeham.

The addition of illbruck’s product portfolio of specialised tapes, adhesives, foams, chemical anchors and EPDM foils and membranes has enhanced Tremco’s product offer to the facade constructor still further to the extent that the company can now supply virtually everything – apart from the fundamental glass, stone and metal.

'Structural silicones and insulated glass silicones remain at the heart of Tremco-illbruck’s product offer and the company remains the region’s leading supplier of these key products, both produced in the UK. Polyurethane IG (insulated glazing) sealant and butyl primary sealant, both manufactured in France, complete our offer to the glazing market,' he concludes.