- There's a lot of different sealants
and a lot of different formulations on the market.
And sometimes it's hard to understand
what makes up the actual product,
and what you should be using for your needs.
So today, on The Metal Roofing Channel,
we're gonna be talking about
performance of different types of sealant,
and what it means for your metal roof installation.
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What's up guys, welcome to Q&A Mondays, I'm Thad Barnette,
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today about sealants are located in the description below,
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Well, today, we are taking a look at sealant performance,
and what makes up formulations of different types of sealant
that you see on the market,
and what you should be using for something say like,
a metal roof installation.
Well, at Sheffield Metals,
we use and promote Novaflex from Novagard,
it's our sealant of choice,
and we saw it's a contractors all over the country
and all over the world,
so today, I have Joe Borak, from Novagard Solutions here,
and he's gonna talk us through,
this concept of sealants performance hierarchy.
So Joe, tell me first,
a little bit about yourself,
and a little bit about the company,
what do you guys do.
- Yeah, first of all,
thanks for the invite to come and join you today,
again, my name is Joe Borak, my position here at Novagard.
I'm the VP of Building Systems, Industrial Hybrids,
PVC foam, and also a Leisure Pool and Spa Divisions,
little background about the company,
we've been in business for 43 years,
we're privately owned-based in Cleveland, Ohio,
some of the products we make,
we make silicones, hybrids and PVC foam.
Some examples of each one,
our PVC Foam division actually started 43 years ago,
it's called, FoamSeal,
some of the products we make are weatherstripping,
engine and door compartment foam,
and also appliances and HVAC systems,
that utilize our foams in those acts, applications.
Regarding the hybrids, our industrial hybrid division,
we sell mostly the tractor trailer manufacturers, buses,
and also for windshield applications to help install
windshields on commercial automotive applications.
Our silicones are mostly used
in electronics, automotive, transportation,
also we have thermally conductive silicones for EVs,
which are electric vehicles and battery installations,
and the division that we're talking about today,
is called, a Building System Division.
And we launched our initial product
33 years ago called, Novaflex,
it started off in the window and door industry,
and when that industry was transitioning from aluminum
windows to vinyl windows,
we were one of the first products to it,
actually here, really well to the vinyl windows.
So that's how we got started making Novaflex,
in the industry,
nine years ago,
we launched a product called, a Metal Roof Sealant,
and it is geared towards metal roofing,
metal building, metal wall panels,
and it is a very user-friendly product that installers like
and users love because it lasts for a very long time.
So, in a nutshell,
that is our company and what we do at Novagard,
here in Cleveland.
- Do you have a true history of sealants,
and those types of products,
so, you should really know what you're talking about,
and let's go back to what I said before
about that sealant performance hierarchy.
Tell me a little bit about that,
and tell me about the different types of sealants
that are out there, formulations, things like that,
that people should know about.
- Yeah, so we put together the seal and hierarchy chart,
and it goes from bottom to top,
and it's all based on performance,
so there's basically, five categories or five chemistries
of sealants and Cox in the construction industry,
that we see day in and day out,
the bottom layer is what we call, latex, acrylics
and water-based Cox.
And they are organic in nature,
they have carbon in their chemical makeup that needs water
in the formulation to get it out the cartridge,
and once it's out of the cartridge, the water evaporates,
which will cause shrinking and cracking sometimes up to 40%.
Some other applications is also for interior painting.
So, they'll put it around windows
and it's actually a good product for that application.
If excused, exteriorly,
it could wash away if it rains within 48 hours.
So that's some of the drawbacks,
but also some of the benefits of using a latex or acrylic
or water-based product,
going up the ladder,
there are solvent-based products,
there're solvent-based Cox,
again, they're organic in nature
and they will degrade over time as well,
'cause there's carbon in the chemical makeup,
they generally, are hard to work with and hard to clean up,
so some of the guys out there
that are using solvent-based sealants,
that you can spot them,
because they have sealants all over their bodies,
all over their clothes,
'cause they wipe it off as they go and it doesn't come off.
But again, like water-based products,
they put solvents in their chemical makeup
to get that out of the cartridge,
and once it's out of the cartridge,
the solvents will evaporate,
which can pose, potentially cause shrinking and cracking.
They are also hard and stiff to work with in colder weather
to get it out of the cartridge,
so you'll see a lot of guys put solvent-based products
on their dashboards on the way that job sites
to warm them up, to get it out of the cartridge.
But solvent-based products have been a while for,
around for a long time,
and there's some solid competition out there with products
and they've been around for awhile
and they actually work pretty well
and specific applications.
Going up the chart would be, polyurethanes,
again, they're organic in nature,
and they will degrade over time,
they have tendencies to be hard to work with,
and actually pull away and crack from the substrates,
sometimes you may need a primer,
for applying on some substrates
and they as well, are stiffed a gun out in colder weather,
but polyurethanes, have been around a long time,
they are probably the most specified product
out in the market today,
because they were specified about 15 to 20 years ago,
and architects don't like going back
and changing specs for sealants,
but you will see them on specifications quite a bit.
Up the ladder, we go to modified silicones.
And we actually have a modified silicone called, NovaBond,
but they as well, are organic in nature,
there's carbon in their chemical makeup
and they will degrade over time.
One of the benefits is,
modified silicones, give you paintability
they have very low shrinkage,
but they do get hard after the cure.
So once you've gotten it out,
it cures seven to 14 days,
and the actual product will be a hard cure,
so it'll be kind of, when you touch
it's kind of stiff.
So, but modified silicones are going right up that ladder,
and they're actually second best to silicones,
and silicones are inorganic in chemical nature,
and they will not degrade over time.
They remain permanently flexible,
and you can extrude them out,
down to negative 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
A lot of the products will cure within 24 hours,
and one thing about silicones is that they're not paintable.
That's why they come in a bunch of different colors.
So, there's one drawback with silicones
is that they're not paintable,
but overall, when you want something that's gonna last,
there's nothing better than a silicon sealant.
Now, talking about silicones,
they're, there's four cousins in the construction industry,
there's oxime cured silicones,
there's acetoxy cured silicones,
there's alcoxy cured silicones,
and there's acetone cured silicones.
And what we manufacture here at Novagard,
predominantly, are oxime cured silicones,
and they have a very low odor,
they adhere to a bunch of different substrates,
very very contractor friendly,
and we have a whole spectrum of colors that we produce here.
But regarding sealant hierarchy,
those are the five key chemistries,
that we see in the construction industry.
- So this is the list of performance hierarchy,
but does this translate to cost as well?
- Yes, and depending on the environment around us,
like, I've been with Novagard for 12 years now,
and back then,
our product was less expensive than solvent-base,
because solvents were pretty expensive for raw materials
back in the day,
but all in all, I would say most of these products
are relatively similar in price,
and it's just depends on the actual application
that the contractor needs to perform.
So, they all have their own place
in the construction industry,
all of the products listed there, are very good products,
and they actually, the way they compare and contrast
to one another,
is just the way the manufacturer makes the products.
So, they can make it,
make one of their products quicker curing,
or slower tack time or slower cure time,
depending on the application that they're targeting,
so, all of them are different in their own, right?
And they're all very good products.
- Now you said you had a metal roofing product as well,
and we're definitely familiar with that,
can you talk to us about that,
and where does that fall in the spectrum
in that performance hierarchy.
- Yes, yes, our metal roof sealant
is the product that is specified with Sheffield Metals
and sold through Sheffield Metals,
we launched this product nine years ago,
and it is an oxime cured silicone,
so, it gives you all the performance characteristics
as far as, will not degrade over time,
it's permanently flexible,
will not shrink or crack and,
overall longevity,
it's gonna give you longterm durability
for your applications
and being on a roof or on a building, on a wall panel,
that is vitally important is the longevity of the product.
- So what are some of the features and benefits
that we can expect from a silicone product,
like the Novaflex, for the metal roofing.
- Yeah. Glad you asked that.
Some of the characteristics that we see in our products
is that it offers you permanent flexibility,
it will not shrink or crack over time,
will not sag or slump when the guys are gunning it out
overall, it gives you a weather-tight seal when you need it,
and also, we talked about the adhesion
to many different building substrates,
brick, metals, glass, masonry, this silicones,
depending on the chemical makeup of it,
the oxime cured silicones will adhere to all of those.
Another important fact is that once it's cured
between 24 and 48 hours, it gives you a waterproof seal.
And what we do here at Novagard,
we also add a mold and mildew biocide into our products,
which will resist mold and mildew growth
especially if you're going over clean substrates.
What do you guys have found at Sheffield Metals,
also, is that it's easily gunned at all temperatures.
So, it's gonna gun the same in the middle of the wintertime
as it does the middle of the summertime,
so, in the wintertime, it's not gonna get real stiff,
and in the summertime, it will not fall out of the tubes,
so, guys really appreciate
that performance characteristic of it.
Being that it is a silicone, it is a green naturally,
we don't have to do anything
to the product reformulating-wise
and it's, it is green building compliance
and also it's VOC-compliant in all 50 states,
another big thing the guys like is the toolability of it.
If they gun a big bead around a penetration
there, it's very easy, the tool,
it wipes right off their hands with a rag, a wet rag,
and also it's low odor and solvent free.
So you don't have to worry about that,
and with homeowners and things along those lines,
but actually you can use this product,
both interiorly and externally,
on buildings and not have a problem,
with Ms. Smith and the odor.
So, it's a very very user-friendly product
and it, the performance characteristics
put it head and shoulders
above all of our competition.
- Yeah, and that's something
that I'd like to talk about more,
if somebody would ask us, at Sheffield Metals,
why should, why do we promote Novaflex specifically?
How does it, how do they different from other brands,
other competition out there,
can you talk to me about some specific things.
- Yeah. Well, but bottom line is it eliminates callbacks.
So, once you put, whatever bead you put out
on your particular application,
it's gonna stay there.
It's not gonna shrink,
it's not gonna evaporate,
and at the end of the day,
their name is on the line for each particular job,
so, if they wanna go out there, do it once,
do it right and get off the job as quickly as possible,
and not having any callbacks, and with Novaflex,
it virtually eliminates callbacks.
- And we did do a video about,
when and when not to use sealant
on a metal roof installation
with our technical director few months ago,
so you guys definitely check that out,
I'll leave a link in the description,
if you didn't watch that video as well.
- We just really appreciate our partnership
with Sheffield Metals,
and this channel,
I appreciate the opportunity
to come on and chat a little bit about sealants,
most people out there in the field,
they call sealants either, silicone or cork or whatever,
and they really don't understand
the difference between the chemistries,
but there is a huge difference,
and the guys and girls that actually do the installations
and understand the features and benefits
of the five different chemistries,
they can utilize them all and have successful results.
But we really appreciate the partnership
that we have with Sheffield,
so, thank you again, for the opportunity.
- Yeah, well, thank you, Joe,
and thanks to Novagard as well,
if you have any questions,
comment down below,
we'd love to answer them,
subscribe here to, The Metal Roofing Channel for more,
as always I'm Thad Barnett,
and we'll catch you next time.
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