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A trip to your local home improvement store can be an overwhelming experience for the average person, especially if you’re trying to figure out which caulks and sealants to use for your exterior home improvement project. Unlike the interior, the exterior faces high UV exposure, extreme temperatures and the requirement to stay 100% waterproof.

When you’re dealing with silicone caulks, you have a non-paintable surface, with poor UV performance. Although water based and latex caulks have good paintability, they also have high shrinkage, poor elasticity and poor UV performance. Synthetic-rubber (polyurethane) sealants and tri-polymer sealants (silyl terminated polyether sealants) can do it all: paintable, great moisture sealing, no or low shrinkage, and very good UV resistance. Many are also pre-tinted in popular colors. These include the popular NP1 (polyurethane sealant), Sonolastic 150 VLM, and Novalink sealants.

All of these sealant and caulk materials are heavily advertised and marketed with super flashy packaging, labels and all kinds of fancy logos. If you’re looking for a high performance caulk or high performance sealant, you can literally be confronted with hundreds of brands and companies that claim to have the best product for your needs. So what can you do, when you are bombarded with all kinds of choices?

Each brand of caulk generally has its own special and unique qualities. Although, it is in your best interest to read all of the labels and also follow the company specifications, for the use of the caulk and sealant, the very thing you want to know may not be found on the labels of the containers at all! Many of the best products are architectural / commercial grade and not generally available to the public.

Sealant was originated through the needs for exterior finishing in the home building industry. Caulk was originally a term that was used to describe the sealant material used to build boats. Many companies and manufacturers these days are using caulk as an all-purpose word to describe paintable interior grade products. Sealants by definition have at least /-25% elongation capability over a long-term period and are UV resistant. Advanced sealants are 100% solids and offer up to 100% elongation.

Most of the general public use caulk and sealant interchangeably to serve the same basic purpose, which is to fill gaps between building materials and to shield materials from air and water.

Although sealants and caulk work the same basic manner, they both also fail for the same basic reasons. There are three major types of caulk failures that you will encounter. These are substrate, cohesive, and adhesive. The bond that is put between the substrate and the caulk can actually fail, making the caulk tear and break down. Caulked joint problems are also very common and are usually due to the substrate not being effectively prepared or using the wrong product all together.

So, before you choose a certain kind of product, you want to really think about how you will be using it and for what purpose. You will also want to consider the area or location you are going to apply the caulk or sealant.

For example, if your intent is to seal the area around the base of a toilet, sink, bathtub or shower, it will be imperative that you purchase a product that both mildew-resistant and durable enough to survive scrubbing and chemical cleaning. If your intent is going to be to use sealant or caulk between wood clapboards and vinyl windows, then you’ll need to purchase a product that is able to bond very well to both types of materials and is weather resistant.

You will also want to keep humidity, temperature and moisture in mind when you are shopping for caulk or sealant. Water-based caulks not recommended for outdoor projects, because these products do not withstand the hot-to-cold and cold-to-hot weather changes, as well as other harsh weather situations. If you are living in an area that is below 50F during the time you need to apply sealant, then you’ll probably want to use a silicone sealant, instead of polyurethanes, because polyurethanes are very difficult to apply in chilly conditions.

Other Applications: For sealing skylights, glass domes, greenhouses and such, Sonolastic Clear 25 is a popular product. For Kynar or siliconized paint finished metal roofs, a special sealant formulated to seal to these surfaces is a must. Products such as Duralink are popular. For repair of swimming pool tile grout lines, polyurethane sealants are excellent. Products like Ultra provide a very durable seal, which can survive in areas where grouts fail quickly. Ultra is also used as a pickproof sealant in security applications.

To the delight of many, who prefer the do-it-yourself project, certain caulks and sealants can be color-matched to paints, tiles, grout, wallpaper and even carpeting. The beauty of these products is that they can be color-matched while they are still in the product tube. NP1 is also available in many popular pre-formulated colors. Any good home building products store will be able to help you color-match your caulk and sealant to your desired color. Once the caulk has cured, then it will precisely match the color you were seeking to acquire.

In summary, let’s review your options again:

1. Water-based caulks are the easiest to work with. They have a smooth, thin and consistent flow, and they are easy to apply with almost any tool. These products cure quickly, have very little odor, and the clean up is easy with water.

2. Silicone caulks and sealants are good for interior or exterior areas, which will not be painted and are good for areas that will be exposed to extremely cold weather, certain metals, and glass. Silicone materials do not repair well (nothing wants to stick to cured silicone material, not even more silicone)

3. Synthetic rubber sealant is best used for areas with high movement and dissimilar materials. These materials can be painted and are designed for long-term exterior exposure. There is also less chance that the synthetic rubber bond will break during movement. Common applications are roof tile repairs, roof moldings, and roof to wall sealing, window frame sealants, and doorsill sealant.

4. Self Leveling Expansion Joint Sealant, such as SL1 and SL2, are used to fill and seal the expansion joint gaps in concrete and driveways.

5. Tri-Polyimer sealants, such as Sonolastic 150VLM are the next generation. Although somewhat more expensive, they offer superior exterior performance.

6. New Hybrid products are available that defy all classifications. Using these kinds of sealants can yield a lot of surprises, so be sure to read the instructions carefully. Some of these products tend to expand upon drying, so it is best to test them out in an inconspicuous location before actually using them on your project.

Print this article and take it with you when you are shopping for caulk and sealant. Review it and then follow any instructions on the containers of the products you buy. It is our hope that this quick tutorial will help provide some clarity on exactly what products you should buy for your home improvement or home construction project.

A building or establishment needs more than just natural lighting to keep the building safe. There are many other Construction Safety Lighting Options that you should consider and each of them can be bought at low costs. You can even customize the lights so you can use them during emergency power outages or to a point where they serve as designs and add aesthetic beauty to an establishment other than utility purposes.

Construction Safety Lighting Options consist of three types which are Task Lighting, Access and Stair lighting, and Emergency Lighting.

If you are using a part of a building for work or as an office, then it is best that you have adequate Task Lighting to ensure that your workers can clearly see what they are working on. This could also be called interior lighting and it is up to you to mix and match designs, but making sure that the lights are helpful and give no hindrance to work.

Access and stair lighting should always be present in a building. This allows people inside a building to safely move around the building. Make sure that these lights could cover any access paths or stairs as these are common places for robberies, hold-ups and other criminal acts.

Emergency lighting is important so people inside a building could exit the workplace in case of emergencies. There are two kinds of emergency lighting units available; Non-Maintained, which refers to lights that are sustained by batteries, and Maintained, which has a steady supply of electricity. Non maintained lights can be available in safety boxes and installed in walls which can be switched on during power outages.

Don’t forget to consider LED lighting for your construction site. LED lights are cost effective in a number of ways and generally provide brighter light, more reliability and less maintenance. Barricades are also important for construction safety. There are many different types of barricades available for use in any construction site. Whether you want to stop people from going in to a site completely, want to keep people away from an area or need to warn people to be careful in a certain area, barricades and barricade lights are immensely useful and a solid investment.

There are a number of Construction Safety Lighting Options that you could consider. When picking out the lighting designs and bulbs that youd like installed in your establishment, make sure that the designs dont interfere with the light and the bulbs are durable and have a long life span.

Winning contracts has always been a highly competitive business for the Construction Industry so anything that can give a company the edge is to be welcomed.

One extra service that could help is completing the job with a specialist Builders’ Clean before hand-over.

It’s accepted that you’ll leave a clean and tidy completed project and these days most building workers know they have to clean up after any job they do.

On even the most tidily-managed jobs dust can be a problem and it can hang around in the air for weeks after completion of a new build.

Since dust is recognised as a major cause of allergies demonstrating to a client that you’ve done all you can to reduce the risk for the building’s eventual occupants could help add to your construction company’s good reputation so that you stand out from the competition.

Dust is actually made up of minute particles of bug fragments, mould spores, bits of plastic and other materials and can be a particular problem in the winter when doors and windows are kept closed. The tiny dust mites living in the dust are what cause the allergic reaction.

Dust allergies can result in symptoms ranging from asthma through itchy, watery eyes to repeated sneezing, eczema and a runny nose.

Of course there are many other causes of allergic reactions, some of them as a result of the various chemicals used in the making of carpets and laminates.

You will show your client that you’re willing to do that little bit extra and could earn a reference to promote your company in the future if you use a specialist Builders’ Clean after construction work, especially from a company that uses environmentally friendly, non allergenic cleaning products.

When you’re considering hiring a post-build cleaning service with this in mind there are a number of points you might want them to pay attention to.

You might want to list the materials that have been used during construction and check they have the correct materials to clean them to ensure surfaces are not damaged. But you might also ask whether the cleaning materials they use are environmentally friendly and preferably non-allergenic or natural cleaning agents containing a minimum of chemicals.

Concern for the environment is becoming an integral part of building and commissioning projects, so you could perhaps ask if the cleaning company recycles as much as possible and disposes of everything safely. After all, you might be asked to provide evidence to the client or the planning authority that the process has been as environmentally friendly as possible.

Another question to ask the cleaning company is whether it has robust specialist equipment capable of extracting as much dust as possible.

If they are using any chemicals in cleaning do they abide by the COSSH regulations for handling hazardous substances.

Finally, as building projects sometimes overrun or there are last-minute changes, you need the cleaning company to be flexible and able to change their cleaning times at short notice if the job overruns.

The cleaning company should also provide a list of anything they’ve spotted that is damaged, not quite finished off or in need of their attention when they’ve finished their job.

Handing your client a clean, ready-to-occupy building that’s as free as possible of potential causes of allergies can give both you and the specialist after-build cleaner with an unbeatable reputation that helps you both successfully bid for future contracts.

Copyright (c) 2010 Alison Withers

In the construction industry, the health and safety of the workers is really important because they are the instruments needed to complete construction projects. Implementing a construction phase health and safety plan is one way to ensure that you create a safe working environment for full and part time employees, trainees and even clients, neighbours and other members of the public.

As far as main contractors are concerned, there are 3 actions that they must carry out by law. These actions are project management, contractor appointment and personnel appointment. Under project management, the contractor will need to plan, manage and supervise each construction phase in order to ensure that it is performed safely and the worker’s health is not at risk. Under the contractor appointment, this involves providing directions and information and at the same time monitoring coordination and cooperation between contractors. Personnel appointment entails ensuring that the labour force is being informed, trained, inducted and consulted on the company’s construction phase health and Safety plan.

There are a lot of advantages that can be gotten from taking care of your workers’ health and safety. If your workers are happy, their innovation and productivity will triple! You will also be able to tackle the nuisance of absenteeism as well. By simply implementing and enforcing a construction phase health and safety plan, you will be able to keep your staff safer and also prevent project delays and compensation claims.

A company’s workplace healthy and safety program must be well planned and also documented. It is mandated by law to create a site safety plan prior to commencing work for high risk projects in the construction industry. A lot of successful companies have proven many times that focusing on work place health and safety increases productivity by a considerable amount. It is important to know that those who took short cuts in enforcing construction phase health and safety plan compromise the safety and health of their workers.

It is can never be overemphasized that THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO SHORT CUT in safety and health! This is because safety and health in the work environment is governed by regulation and laws in every state in Australia and territory. Those who violate safety laws will pay colossal fines. Employers have to be able to guarantee their workers’ health and Safety on the job.

No employer can actually boast of being able to control a lot of things that go wrong in the world. But they can control how they run their own businesses and ensuring that they implement a construction phase health and safety plan which is one way to ensure that they lower the company’s expenses.