Clearview National September 2019 - Issue 214 | Page 20

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Titans of tape helping transform Britain’s buildings
In 2005, two of the world’s biggest sealant manufacturers joined forces. The result
was tremco-illbruck, now the unchallenged leader in the field. Product Manager
David Naylor charts the company’s rise – and lays out its mission to make British
buildings some of the warmest, quietest and most thermally efficient in the world.
» » 1928. 1952. 2005. THREE YEARS, IN
three totally different eras, that, for most
people, have absolutely nothing in common.
But for tremco-illbruck, they were major
milestones in our history.
In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered
penicillin, Mickey Mouse appeared on film
for the first time – and, in Cleveland Ohio,
William C. Treuhaft started the Treuhaft
Manufacturing Company.
Treuhaft specialised in making sealants,
protective coatings and weatherproofing
products, and his business grew quickly. By
the ‘50s, it was America’s biggest manufacturer
of industrial maintenance solutions, with 250
in its range.
Something else had changed, too.
Treuhaft Manufacturing Company had been
abbreviated to Tremco.
But at around the same time, across the
Atlantic another business was coming to life.
In 1952, Elizabeth II became Queen, the
UK’s first ever Singles Chart was published –
and West German industrialist Willi Illbruck
founded the Illbruck company.
With the West German economy booming
as its post-war recovery gathered pace, Willi’s
new business initially set about manufacturing
dies for making steel wool.
But as time went on, it gradually diversified
into other areas, including the one that would
eventually make its name – sealants.
And in 2005, the year of Live 8 and the
birth of YouTube, the Tremco and Illbruck
were brought together by RPM International,
a construction materials specialist with 14,500
employees in 26 countries, to create tremco-
illbruck.
In the years since, armed with the combined
expertise of both businesses, and backed by the
huge resources of RPM, we’ve made massive
strides in helping modernise construction.
And one of the areas we’ve had the most
impact is window installation. For decades,
most of the UK’s windows have been fitted
with silicone. It’s two biggest selling points are
that it’s inexpensive, and it’s easy to use – you
point the gun, and pull the trigger.
20 » SE P 2019 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M
But it also comes with a whole host of
drawbacks. It’s a poor insulator, for one thing
– typically offering U-Values of 2.6 or worse
(Passivhaus is 0.7). And over time, silicone
goes hard.
Any movement between the window and
the frame can cause tiny micro-cracks in the
silicone, resulting in the sort of air and water
leakage which seriously compromises the unit’s
thermal efficiency, and, eventually, leads to
more serious complications.
In recent years, tremco-illbruck has been
at the forefront of attempts to encourage
installers to adopt an alternative - impregnated
tape.
In essence, it’s a compressed foam insulating
seal. Once you remove the backing paper, the
tape steadily expands to effectively seal all gaps
and spaces between the frame and wall.
And we’ve developed impregnated tape
products for virtually any application. TP600
Compriband was arguably the original article
– one of the very first impregnated joint-
sealing installation tapes to deliver twenty-first
century performance. It was an outstanding
product then, and it still is today.
If you need flawless airtightness, there’s
TP653 (to be launched at FIT Show 2019),
capable of helping a building achieve
Passivhaus standard.
And if you need a product that excels across
the board, there’s TP652 Trio Plus, which
delivers industry-leading weather-tightness,
air-tightness and thermal and acoustic
insulation.
That’s down to its patented Step technology
– an extra grey layer that delivers more
foam on the inside of the joint, equalling
higher compression and superb all-round
performance.
In TP652 LL, there’s even a version that’s
quicker and easier to apply, thanks to a liner-
less self-adhesive.
At tremco-illbruck, our mission is to help
window installers offer their customers the
very best thermal and acoustic performance,
and help British buildings become warmer and
quieter than ever before.
www.tremco-illbruck.com