Fall 2007 News

The Sealant, Waterproofing, & Restoration Institute (SWRI) offers third party validation for waterproofing products, providing independent verification of quality standards.  

“Quality assurance has become a watchword for manufactured products throughout the entire world… These programs will be utilized more and more by the end-user or specifier to clarify and identify those products which do perform to published standards,” explains the website.  

“Manufacturer’s product performances claims can, at times, be either confusing, incomplete, or misleading – especially when trying to compare different sealant and wall coating products. End users, applicators and specifiers want and need consistent independent lab results for meaningful comparisons. The SWR Institute Validation Program helps to alleviate the confusion.”

Once a product passes the validation process, SWRI then grants its Validation Seal and provides the test data in a clear and concise manner.  

Manufacturers that wish to have their product validated simply choose a laboratory from a list provided by SWRI.  Products can be validated in four categories: wall coating, deck coating, liquid sealant, or pre-cured sealant.

Once the lab is chosen, the manufacturer provides the name of the product to be tested, as well as a current manufacturer data sheet with the stated performance characteristics, test results and any other collateral materials. The third-party lab will randomly purchase from a local retailer the product to be tested, and tests the product to the greatest claim on the manufacturer’s data sheet.

Since the program’s inception, several companies have already received validation.

Sil-Span Pre-Cured Seal, manufactured by Pecora Corporation, a major U.S. manufacturer of sealant and waterproofing products, recently received validation in the Pre-Cured Sealants category.  

“This certifies that the product not only consistently meets the design specifications, but also performs to industry standards,” states a Pecora press release.  “This proves the product’s technical data sheet is correct and allowing end-users to feel confident about the product’s capabilities.”

Tremco Inc. was the first to receive certification in the Deck Coating category.  

A major U.S. manufacturer of sealant and waterproofing products, the company submitted two products, Vulkem 360 and Vulkem 350 for validation.  The products each consist of a topcoat and basecoat, making four products in all that received validation.

Dryvit’s Elasti Care Sealant has also received validation.  Made by Dryvit Systems, Inc., a major U.S. manufacturer of Exterior Insulation and Finish Systems (EIFS), the product was submitted to the Liquid Sealants Validation Program. The product was tested by DL Laboratories Inc. for conformance to ASTM C 719 and ASTM C 661.  

Complete test results on any of these products, as well as additional information on the validation program is available on the SWRI website, www.swrionline.org, or by calling SWR Institute Headquarters at 816-472-7974.

Effective May 1, 2007, Cetco began changing the way it reports the certified properties for two of its Bentonite products.  Bentomat and Claymax GCLs will be reported in a manner reflecting the change in ASTM Method D5889 (Quality Control of GCLs) that will occur later this year. This change includes two GCL specific test methods:

ASTM D6768 -Grab tensile strength of GCLs  

ASTM D6496 – Peel Strength of reinforced GCLs 

Previously, the company reported how the products performed to both ASTM standards above, as well as the older ASTM D4632.  Values for this older test method will no longer be reported on certified property sheets, but are available on request.

In addition to the removal of the outdated test procedure, certified tensile strength values increase 33% to 60% and peel strengths increase by 40% compared to the values previously reported. These increases will also be reflected on certified property sheets printed after May 1, 2007.  

“The new values are not related to the test method change, but are the result of recent process improvements that yielded improved consistency of our products” states Cetco Operations Manager Bob Trauger. 

More information regarding these changes can be obtained by downloading Technical Reference TR 343, from www.cetcolte.com, or by calling Cetco customer support at 800.527.9948. 

W. R. Meadows has teamed up with AEC Daily to offer AIA/CSI free approved training at AEC Daily’s Online Education Center. 

The online courses, called “Knight School” after Meadow’s armored mascot, provide instruction on controlling moisture movement in buildings with special attention on “The Complete Air & Vapor Barrier Approach and Below Slab Protection.”

AEC Daily specializes in offering free online continuing education courses approved by AIA, CSI and many more organizations.

W.R. Meadows, of course, offers an extensive line of high performance, premium-grade construction products for use in, on, around, and under concrete. The company plans on offering additional courses in the near future. 

To view a current catalog of classes, or to enroll in the “Controlling Moisture Movement” class, visit www.aecdaily.com/sponsor/wrmeadows.  The class can also be downloaded as a podcast.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) will launch a new initiative, the National Green Building Program, at the 2008 NAHB International Builders’ Show in Orlando. 

The program plans to link dozens of successful state and local green building programs with a universal online certification tool, national registry of green homes and green builders, as well as a wealth of educational tools and resources for home builders and home buyers. 

To date, about 100,000 green homes have been built through programs run or supported by local building associations around the country, but no national database or standard has been developed.

“We are bringing green building into the mainstream,” said NAHB President Brian Catalde, a home builder in Southern California. “[Our program] isn’t a new way to build green. It’s a low-cost administrative and certification system that will help keep green affordable, and that’s the key to market acceptance. 

As part of the program, NAHB will begin a new builder certification.  The “Certified Green Professional” designation is awarded after 24 hours of course work and requires regular additional continuing education credits.  NAHB will offer significantly enhanced green building classes to back up the program, aimed at green builders, developers and remodelers.

The green building trend shows no signs of slowing down.    According to new survey data commissioned by NAHB, The vast majority of Americans are willing to pay more for a green home—if the government is willing to offer incentives or rebates to help defray the extra costs.
A survey of registered voters showed that 78% of respondents would be more inclined to purchase a green home “if the government offered incentives or rebates,” according to the results.
While there’s a tremendous interest in green building, consumers aren’t yet prepared to pay much extra for it.  According to the survey, of those who said they’d pay more for a green home, fully 74% said they’d be willing to pay no more than an additional 10%.