Preventing Sticky Situations
Mixing and matching weatherization materials can cause sticky situations. With the industry’s push to establish more moisture-resistant building envelopes, today’s builder has a wide range of water-resistant barriers, sealants, adhesives, and building tapes from which to choose. You want to feel confident knowing that you made the right decision. Our advice? Choose wisely and read the guidelines, as chemical incompatibility between materials can lead to catastrophic product failures. Here’s a quick look at what to watch out for:
Self-Adhesive Flashings • According to guidelines from several manufacturers, self-adhesive flashings can have compatibility issues with sealants. • Many asphalt-based flashings are not recommended for use with flexible PVC membranes and gaskets. Should the asphalt come into contact with flexible PVC, the plasticizers in the PVC will cause the asphalt to become liquid enough to flow, with temperature increases possibly accelerating the reaction. • Many self-adhesive products also have strict installation temperature guidelines. We see the poor adhesion that results from installing flashing in temperatures both above and below the guidelines.
Sealants and Adhesives • Adhesives and sealants can have different chemical properties that are simply incompatible. • Sometimes, the resulting problems won’t appear until well after the wall or window assembly is complete.
• Reactions vary from
compromised adhesion to full-on meltdowns.
Ultimately, preventing incompatibility issues should be as simple as reading and following the manufacturer’s product guidelines and installation instructions. But even if you’re confident that mixing and matching products from two different manufacturers is okay, you should still test their compatibility before installation. This can be time-consuming, of course, and may not lend itself to all climate conditions. The easier option is to source your weatherization system components from a single supplier that has already tested products and guarantees their compatibility. This approach is at the heart of our Fortifiber® 1-2-3 Moisture Control System™, which features a range of fully compatible WRBs, flashing, and sealants. And remember, with Henry Company, you’ll have a Henry rep to help you choose your system so that you can always feel confident that you’ve picked the right one for your job.
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