Winter 2018 News

Polyguard Products, the Texas-based waterproofing company, has released a new video featuring their new residential waterproofing system. Called Homestretch Rubber, the synthetic SBR rubber waterproofing system can be spray applied or rolled on. The commercial version of the same product has been used successfully for more than two decades.

Dave Leslie, technical director at Polywall, and Brian Long, the contractor who applied the product at the south Texas jobsite in the video, explain that the blue membrane creates a continuous, monolithic 30-mil membrane that easily accommodates footing transitions and penetrations. Long adds that the formulation allows contractors to leave the product in the machine for up to two weeks, greatly simplifying the task of everyday tool cleanup.

The lobby of the 11-story Edmonton Federal Building in Alberta, Canada, features one of the largest living walls in that nation.

The building was originally constructed in the 1950s, and as part of a recent renovation, Nedlaw Living Walls designed and built the multi-award winning Living Wall Biofilter as the focal point of the new grand entranceway into the rejuvenated historic building.

More than an aesthetic feature, the 2,400-sq.ft. living wall serves as an element of the building’s HVAC system, increasing humidity and drawing air through the wall of plants to trap pollutants.

The Edmonton Federal Building is open year-round to the public.

The Air Barrier Association of America (AABA) has expanded their scope and services for the members. In addition, they’ve announced their annual conference and trade show to be held next year in Salt Lake City.

AABA has committed to better marketing for its members, and has developed a Quality Assurance Program (QAP). To support these priorities, they’ve hired Todd Parrott as a dedicated sales and marketing manager for ABAA.

Russ Snow, chair of AABA, says, “Todd has a great deal of experience, a high level of energy, and has already started to make a difference in the market.”  Additionally, they have created a volunteer regional advocate position to monitor and issues and opportunities regarding air barriers.

The 7th annual ABAA conference and trade show will take place May 8-9, 2018 at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

In September, SprayWorks Equipment Group announced that in addition to selling spray equipment, they now carry a full line of spray foam, coating, and polyurethane waterproofing material.

“We wanted to make the equipment buying process seamless for our customers,” says John Davidson, VP of operations “and to do that, it only made sense for us to offer a full line of material both on our website and in our warehouse.”

Davidson says they vetted the top material manufacturers in the United States and have selected the best material offerings from Rhino Linings, Gaco Western, Wasser Coatings, and Green Insulation. Material ranges from roofing systems, polyurea coatings, and residential and commercial open- and closed-cell insulation.

Cultec, a Connecticut-based company that specializes in providing chambers for stormwater management, recently received third-party certification for its newest product to be used in construction projects in Canada.

Intertek tested the structural capacity and durability of the Cultec’s largest chamber, the Recharger 902HD, and certified that it met the requirements of the Canadian Standards Association B184 Series-11 for polymeric subsurface stormwater management structures.

Michelle Zwick, a quality assurance engineer for Cultec, claims they are one of only two businesses to meet third-party certification to this standard in Canada.

W.R. Meadows, the internationally-known waterproofing company, has partnered with two separate design firms to update their technical database.

In October, they announced a partnership with Avitru (formerly Arcom). The deal makes W. R. Meadows product data and customized specifications available through Avitru’s software platforms to architects, engineers and design professionals.

The two companies worked together to create customized versions of MasterSpec sections to accurately specify the company’s waterproofing product lineup. Along with the specification sections, W. R. Meadows’ product catalog and data sheets are easily accessible to specifiers when working on their projects.

In a related move, W.R. Meadows has also partnered with BIMsmith to offer architects, designers, specifiers and contractors an opportunity to create their own free custom BIM models. Now, construction professionals can digitally combine products into assemblies for walls, floors, ceilings and roofs using Revit, the most popular BIM platform.

“As we look for ways to expand our reach into the AEC community, tools such as BIMsmith are important resources for our customers to curate systems using our products,” said Glenn Tench, director of marketing for
W. R. Meadows. “Specifiers are relying more and more on digital access to manufacturer data in the design process and we are very pleased to have found a partner that is on the forefront of innovative technology.”