another cold weather caulking question

[m beezo]

What are you guys using for the outside caulking that has to be done in the cold weather? My question concerns an electrician who installed some motion detector lights for a customer. He had to drill thru the brick and into the inside of the building. Before doing the final attachment of the box he applied caulk around the hole and conduit to seal it up which I think is the right thing to do. My question tho is while his caulk was stored inside the building and warm the brick and metal surfaces were not. The temperature the day he did the work was around 20 degrees. The caulk he used was Titebond's caulk which as I understand it is not water based or so he said.

So what type of caulk can you use so you do not have to come back on a warmer day to caulk somehting like this type of work? Seems there has to be something because not everyone is installing all the siding or windows and then coming back on warmer days to do a caulk job. Or are they?

[gbruzze1]

Re: another cold weather caulking question

I just replaced 3 dozen storm windows 2 weeks ago. The weather never got above freezing. For all exterior caulking I used OSI Quad Window Door and Siding caulk. It says it is workable in all weather. However, I had to keep it stored inside and frequently rotate out the tubes used because the cold tubes had a little difficulty with flowing smoothly.

http://www.osipro.com/products.pl?id=QUAD

Interior caulking I used Phenoseal.

[THWagar]

Re: another cold weather caulking question

We use OSI Quad or Vulkem 116 on most of our exterior projects and will caulk to around 30 degrees. OSI's website says good down to 20 degrees for application and Vulkem says to follow their application instructions for 0-40 degrees. Neither of them are damaged by freezing. Generally we will caulk around a new exterior door or a few windows in the winter but will wait until spring on larger projects.


http://www.tremcosealants.com/filesh...HERproduct.pdf

[gbruzze1]

Re: another cold weather caulking question

THWagar,

Where did you find that temp range for OSI?? I checked the tube and their website and found nothing. So i called them up and they said the temps I was working in (25*) was fine.

[m beezo]

Re: another cold weather caulking question

I had thought the Titebond was supposed to be comparable to both OSI and Solar Seal. I will have to check out the website or a tube to see what it says.

So what you guys are saying is what the makers says, that it can be installed in cold weather. I was worried that the temperature of the surfaces that you applied it to would be the problem and maybe adhesion would be compromised. Sounds like you guys are not seeing that as an issue in real life situations and not just what the makers say?

[THWagar]

Re: another cold weather caulking question

THWagar,

Where did you find that temp range for OSI?? I checked the tube and their website and found nothing. So i called them up and they said the temps I was working in (25*) was fine.

gb,
On the link you gave click on tech data right below the tube of caulk. On the 2nd page under the heading "preparation". Is there a way to link to a PDF?

[gbruzze1]

Re: another cold weather caulking question

th,

Thanks I guess I didnt see that last week.

MBeez,

In my opinion, the OSI is awesome for sealing windows to the stops. Even in the below freezing weather, the windows were almost instantly sticking to the window stop with the OSI. The only difference I saw was that the flow began getting a little tough after a little while.

[Bill Robinson]

Re: another cold weather caulking question

Beezo, you can usually start with the manufacturer's guidelines.

A best practice would be to do some samples on substrates most often encountered and in temp ranges you usually see.

Remember the manufacturer specs and derived from near perfect simulations.
So, if you are applying SS 900 in 20F temp conditions to approved substrates and the surfaces are not cleaned the deal is likely off.

[THWagar]

Re: another cold weather caulking question

I had thought the Titebond was supposed to be comparable to both OSI and Solar Seal. I will have to check out the website or a tube to see what it says.

So what you guys are saying is what the makers says, that it can be installed in cold weather. I was worried that the temperature of the surfaces that you applied it to would be the problem and maybe adhesion would be compromised. Sounds like you guys are not seeing that as an issue in real life situations and not just what the makers say?

Beezo,

I haven't used the Titebond product but I can tell you what the labels say. We just finished a garage that we had all the Hardi pre-finished a custom color to match the house and they sent a case of Titebond with the delivery from the finisher. Its been sitting in my basement for a month and I had forgotten about it until you brought it up.


Titebond Weathermaster Polymer:
-on the box it says "Extrudes down to 0 degrees F"
-on the tube it says "Air, caulk and surface temperatures should be above 0 degrees F"

I'm going to test some once we get above 0 degrees to see how it flows. It also says it can be painted with water based paints anytime after 1 hour from application which would be nice on smaller jobs where you want to paint same day.

[Lavrans]

Re: another cold weather caulking question

Nice thing- if air & surface temperatures are all at 0º F or below, you generally don't have water problems. Well, not liquid water problems... :-)

[Randy Bush]

Re: another cold weather caulking question

I like the OSI caulk it go on nice when you keep it warm. although most of the yards here are going to Titebond so I have to order in what I need , but it is cheaper doing it that way too.It might just be me but I don,t think that Titebond spreads as nice as OSI. If keep warm I have never had any problems when cold out.

[tom struble]

Re: another cold weather caulking question

i'm done with clear quad,even at above freezing temps it blows out at the top,i keep it in a hot box to try to get it to flow,it still blows out

the colors seem to be less affected by colder temp,why this is... idk

[m beezo]

Re: another cold weather caulking question

i'm done with clear quad,even at above freezing temps it blows out at the top,i keep it in a hot box to try to get it to flow,it still blows out

the colors seem to be less affected by colder temp,why this is... idk

you forget to punch the inner seal? I have not used enough with that product to know how it works.

I hate to see things like that and have had a few that seem to blow out the back of the tube instead. Either end it is frustrating.

[tom struble]

Re: another cold weather caulking question

you don't have to punch the seal on quad,but i spike it several times any way,this happens while i'm caulking

[THWagar]

Re: another cold weather caulking question

i'm done with clear quad,even at above freezing temps it blows out at the top,i keep it in a hot box to try to get it to flow,it still blows out

the colors seem to be less affected by colder temp,why this is... idk

I've never used clear for anything and have never seen any kind of caulk blow out at the nozzle end..........it is usually at the side or rear of the tube. I have had different colors of Quad that have air or gas bubbles in them that keep pushing caulk out of the tube even when there is no pressure from the gun. Every time you stop caulking another 3-4" of product comes out of the tube until you get to the bubble and it "burps".