Tools & Techniques for Efficient Sealant Joint Preparation, Installation and Finishing (by Bob Reynolds)

Bob Reynolds: I’m Bob Reynolds, marketing director for Albion Engineering Company. Albion is a 90-year-old, family-owned business that has been recognized as a leader in the field of handheld dispensing technologies. In the construction field, we provide tools that dispense all the standard size packages: 20-ounce sausages, quart cartridges, 10-ounce cartridges, and all sizes of 2-component cartridges. In addition, we have developed a wide range of accessories that increase the efficiency and quality of users’ installations of adhesives and sealants.

There are several advantages to choosing bulk-packaged sealants and adhesives over sausage packs or cartridges. Firstly, there is a significant cost savings. Secondly, for two-part materials, you get a faster cure and a much wider range of colors available. And because the tools are larger, starting with 20-ounce and moving to 30-ounce and 80-ounce, you don’t need to refill your tools as often.

Wayne Belcher: Wayne Belcher with United Professional here again. We’re in Bellevue, Washington. We’re going to do some caulk tests on sidewalks. We’re going to show you the proper application. I’ve got Juan Carlos here who put our agitator and color pack in. Now, we’re gonna show you how to properly mix it. We want to make sure we pick one side of the bucket to scrape off on to keep ourselves nice and clean. You see where the handle is? This is where we’re gonna choose.

We let the drill do all the work for us. Make sure we guide it in without a lot of air. Make sure we scrape the sides. Remember, we want to pick one side of the pail. Keep ourselves nice and clean. Make sure we get down into the bottom of the pail. So, now that we got a nice even color, we got our activator and our color pack all mixed in really nice. Now, here’s how we’re gonna bring the paddle up out of the bucket. You see. Nice and clean. Nice and thorough.

We’re gonna mix a second bucket. Well, it’s now time for us to begin. So, I’ve got a big Albion here. We’re gonna be able to shoot quite a bit of footage with this gun today. I’m gonna show you how we’re gonna load this gun and do so cleanly. You tap that in to get a good seal. Tap. Tap. Pull. Tap. Tap. Pull. Come off of one side of the pail that we chose. We’ll clean our edge. You see we’re completely full, no air. Now, we’re gonna work this way all day, nice and clean.

Bob Reynolds: The proper installation of backer rod into an expansion or control joint, or a window, or door perimeter, is critical to the long-term performance of the sealant. Sealant manufacturers require an hourglass-shaped joint. A backer rod installer enables you to quickly, consistently set the rod at the right depth, without puncturing it.

Wayne Belcher: Hey, come on over here. We’re gonna show you something. We’re gonna learn a little bit about how to seal to a window frame to the EIFS surface. So, if you come over here. I wanna show you something. You’ll notice that here is the scratch coat on the back side of the EIFS. The EIFS finish has come and stopped and that’s exactly how it should be. So what we’re gonna do is, we’re going to seal up to the finish coat and make that all disappear. Now, you can see around the window we’re going to seal a little wider at the top. We’ll show you how we’re gonna do that. As we come around the top and down the other jamb, we’re gonna make that all disappear with sealant.

So, now we’re gonna take some backer rod to set the depth of the sealant around the joint of the window. We’ll roll that in nice and neat. The purpose of the backer rod is to set the depth of the joint, prevent three-sided adhesion. And when I caulk it, it’s gonna give me something firm to tool against. So, we’ll just get that set back in there just right. Typically, the depth of the sealant rule of thumb is about 1/2 the width, but never to be less than a 1/4 inch and never greater than a 1/2 inch. Before I caulk this, let’s take another look. I’ve already prepped the joint and you can see the scratch coat that I’m going to cover with sealant. Little wider at the top, we’re gonna pay close attention to how we do that. But, we’re gonna come down the jamb. And we’re gonna make that all go away and look perfect, like an extension of the window.

Bob Reynolds: The industry is the most familiar with standard ratio dispensing tools such as our 12 to 1 drive. But also available are high-output low-thrust drives like our 8 to 1 for thin materials. And on the other end of the spectrum is our 26 to 1 high-thrust low-output drive for thick materials and long nozzles. Our 18-volt cordless gun generates 950 pounds of thrust which is similar to a 26 to 1 drive.

Wayne Belcher: Well, we’ve loaded it. We’ve dialed in our pressure, about 20 to 24/25 PSI. Let’s see how it works. So, what I’m using today is an Albion electric 18-volt. Watch how I slowly put that in the proper place.

Bob Reynolds: The proper tooling of a sealant after dispensing into a joint is critical to its long-term performance. The use of a spatula that flexes appropriately and has the right shape at the tip is critical to achieving that hourglass cross-section shape that sealant manufacturers specify.

Wayne Belcher: Well, you saw us already shoot the joint. Now, let’s see what we can do about tooling it, making those lines nice and straight. So, come on in. I’m gonna start at the bottom. Find out just how much I got. Working against the gravity. And I want to pull it or smear it, and from the top, nice and slow. Find out how much I got, and now I know where it’s gonna go. I can draw my line. One more pass. I want to make it pretty because that’s just me. Well, hello again. This is Wayne Belcher again from Rosenberg, Texas. We have just shot the sill of our curtain wall that we’re wet sealing. I’m now gonna take some of the stainless steel C.A.T. tools by Albion. I’m gonna show you how to tool that material effectively so we get good adhesion.

Nice and smooth. Looks nice and pretty as if it was taped. This tool effectively draws the lines nice and straight. Puts the sealant exactly where we want it. Well, we’ve shot a little bit of material out. Now, we’re gonna take the time to tool it. I’m using the Albion C.A.T. tools. By the way, I invented these tools and I’m really happy that Albion is carrying on the tradition. Let’s see how they work. Pretty sweet, hey? Well, I want you to take a look at some of this tooling. Take a look at what we’ve done already to the curb. Let’s go down here and do a little bit more. Out of a set of six C.A.T. tools, we’ve picked two that we thought would be a better fit for this particular size joint. Here we go. First pass, let’s see how much we’ve got. Second pass, to see where it’s gonna go. Third pass is almost a finish pass, and we’re done. Nice and smooth. No transitions. The client’s really gonna like this.

Bob Reynolds: The preceding videos were selected to illustrate some of the industry best practices for sealant installation and finishing. It’s our hope that with the knowledge of these tools and accessories, you can be more efficient on your next sealant project.