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Sealants and adhesives are essential products for many trades within the construction sector. It is important that tradespeople opt for high quality solutions that possess key attributes for the job at hand.
Here, Andy Cummins, Senior Product Manager at Geocel provides an overview of the brand’s Trade Mate range and how these specifically formulated products can benefit installers.
There is an extensive selection of sealants and adhesives available on the market and considerable variation in product quality. Even the most experienced tradesperson can find it difficult to identify the ideal product for their next project, with poor quality sealants often not performing as intended, even if applied correctly. This can result in callbacks – both a costly and time-consuming activity – and customer dissatisfaction that can harm an installer’s reputation.
In the UK, water damage is one of the most common reasons for homeowner insurance claims, regularly stemming from kitchen and bathroom leaks. Leaks are often a result of low-cost sealants failing. Poor quality sealant can shrink as it is applied, forming a weak bond that can potentially leave a route for water ingress. Likewise, poor quality sealants can also have lower flexibility, lower structural integrity, and lower levels of adhesion.
As such, it is vital that plumbers understand both the importance of high-quality sealants and the key differences between each type – silicones, acrylics, and more recently MS Polymers. With this knowledge, the trade will be well-equipped to identify high-performance products that are specifically formulated for the job at hand to prevent leaks or other issues for customers.
Silicones
Silicone sealants are extremely versatile and adhere well to a wide range of construction substrates. Offering extreme temperature, water and elastic resistance, as well as excellent UV and colour stability, these products are ideal for expansion and connection joints in sanitary areas, floors and walls as well as sealing window and door frame perimeters.
Acrylics
Acrylic products are more well-suited to smaller everyday tasks, such as jointing, caulking and filling gaps. With fast overpainting times, they can help tradespeople to complete jobs quickly. However, for applications where there is high movement or regular exposure to water, there are other types of sealants available that have more well-suited attributes.
MS Polymers
MS Polymer sealants combine many of the benefits associated with traditional sealant products, namely the UV stability of silicones and paintability of acrylics. However, they also possess unique features, for example they are non-staining on natural stone, making them ideal for sealing marble or granite kitchen worktops. Furthermore, these products can be used internally and externally and can even be applied in wet conditions.
Geocel’s Trade Mate
A market leader in the manufacture of sealants and adhesives, Geocel has developed the Mate range to offer an extensive portfolio of silicones, acrylics and MS Polymers across the Trade Mate and Painters Mate brands. The Trade Mate range consists of 23 products that are applicable across all trades, the Trade Mate range provides a go-to solution for every challenge a tradesperson might encounter on site, enabling them to deliver the best possible finish, every time.
Within the Trade Mate range, there are also several high-performance products developed specifically for plumbing applications. For example, Trade Mate Sanitary Seal is a fast-curing silicone sealant for all types of common sanitary wear. As well as ensuring excellent adhesion, it contains a fungicide to resist mould growth and will not crack or discolour.
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For use on non-porous surfaces and sealing gas flues, Trade Mate Plumber Flue is an ideal high-temperature silicone sealant. By creating a flexible seal, the product is capable of withstanding long-term temperatures of up to 250°C and short-term temperatures of up to 300°C. Other plumber-specific sealants include Trade Mate Plumber Joint, Plumber Thread and Plumber Grease.
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Geocel is also a proud partner of the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity (the Lighthouse Club), the construction industry’s leading charity for providing emotional, physical and financial wellbeing support to those in the industry and their families. As part of this support, the charity’s helpline can be found on all Trade Mate range cartridges to promote and raise awareness of its vital services.
For more information on Geocel’s extensive Trade Mate range, including its plumber-specific products, please visit: https://www.geocel.co.uk/brands/trade-mate/
