Characterization of sealants and expanding foams

Constructions joints occur everywhere where several construction materials meet. That’s many meters that need to be taken care off, respecting the function that the materials or the joint need to fulfill. Typically a joint filled with sealing material has to account for water tightness, or is applied for esthetical reasons. Insulating materials can also be injected for thermal or acoustical insulation. A combination of joint materials often guarantees more advanced functions, fire resistance is a typical example. Of course a combination of functions can also be fulfilled and nearly every time the jointing material needs to take up movement of the surrounding construction elements, which is definitely the case for an expansion joint. These requirements call for specialized quality products. Airtightness certainly adds to this list, putting a new challenge to construction products and jointing materials.
It is quite clear that airleaks often occur where construction elements meet and that they can account for a big part of the total amount of leaks. Air lost in and around windows for instance can easily make up 30 to 40% of all airleaks. Window connection joints are notoriously infamous for being thermal bridges too. No wonder Soudal primarily concentrated on these area’s offering solutions based on product combinations that are adapted to local building practice and tested accordingly.