Shelter - March 2007

Volume 46, Issue 2 - March 2007

The Next Big Thing

Fasteners

Stabilize Masonry Walls Invisibly
The new Heli-Pin helical façade anchor from Powers Fasteners Inc. allows contractors to stabilize both brick and masonry walls and make invisible repairs to building facades.

The Brewster, N.Y.-based company says its corrosion-resistant stainless steel anchor tie creates a mechanical connection between masonry facades and underlying base material. It says these anchors can serve as reinforcement for ties that are corroded or missing, or embedded into mortar joints for new construction. They have a reinforced core for high shaft strength, come in a variety of lengths and diameters and can be installed with no exposed hardware. www.powers.com

Clean and Easy Results With Splitstop™
Titan Metal Werks Inc. of Wheeling, Ill., now offers its Splitstop™ TITAN III (T3) high performance wood and composite screws in a new dark brown and stainless steel version. Titan says the T3 design eliminates mushrooming around the screw head, reduces splitting near the deck board ends and has no difficulty in head setting without pre-drilling, dimpling and even in hard composite materials. www.splitstop.com

Machinery

Hands Off
The AutoRouter from Porter Machine Works cuts tread and riser dadoes in two stringers, simultaneously, without operator involvement. The Chesapeake, Md.-based company says this automatic stair stringer router features heavy construction including a tubular steel frame, a 6-foot traveling fence, four 2-inch clamp cylinders, and high-frequency routers.The company says set-up is quick and easy and the AutoRouter routs a pair of typical stair stringers for treads and risers in about 10 minutes. www.portermachine.com

Door Handling Made Automatic
Vega Automation Systems Ltd. of Woodbridge, Ontario, offers the DHS-40 – an automatic door handling station designed to eliminate manual door handling and avoid denting and scratching the slab surface.The company says up to 40 different skids of doors can be positioned underneath the handling station and the DHS-40 automates the process of feeding doors into the cutout machine utilizing several vacuum cups and pneumatic side clamps to pick up slabs. www.vegaautomation.com

Door and Window Components

Effective Sill Pan Flashing
Jamsill Guard™ is a molded, ABS plastic, weatherproofing sill pan flashing that’s installed in the rough opening before door or window installation. Jamsill Inc of Talent, Ore., says its seven series is designed to fit most aluminum, vinyl or wood door and window applications and can be used with 2-by-4 or 2-by-6 construction. Its seamless molded corners completely wrap the subfloor and plate while the interior edge creates a continuous seal along the sill edge. www.jamsill.com

Fireplace Mantels

Fine Furniture Quality Mantels
Pearl Mantels says its products are fine furniture quality and designed to add beauty and grace to any home. The Collierville, Tenn.-based company says its mantels feature hand crafted details, are made from select hardwoods, solid hardwood with veneer or MDF and are reasonably priced. Wood can be stained or painted and MDF is primed and ready for paint. www.pearlmantels.com

Siding

Cedar Look With Low-Maintenance PVC
NuCedar Mills Inc. of Chicopee, Mass., introduced what it says is the first clapboard siding milled from solid boards of cellular PVC. Classic Clapboard™ is milled like beveled cedar and the company says it matches the profile of fine, vertical-grain Western red cedar. It comes in 4-, 6- and 8-inch smooth or cedar grain, is offered in 17 popular and five historical colors, carries a lifetime-limited warranty, and the company says it installs as easily as vinyl. www.nucedar.com

Supplies

Bands That Don’t Bleed
Henrich Industrial Rubber Bands of Waverly, Iowa, says its bands will stay on your product for over a year without coloring or staining wood. The company says its product is made of a wood formula that’s been meeting the demands of the wood industry for 16 years with no report of color bleed off or chemical residue.Henrich also offers a “touch elastic” hinge bumper as an alternative to corrugated pads for the door industry. It says this product reduces packaging costs and eliminates hinge damage claims. www.henrichrubber.com

Sanding Advancements

Dinesol Products from Generation 4
Dinesol door sill pans, door clips and lift handles are now available from Generation 4. The Rock Falls, Ill.-based millwork hardware provider will now serve as the exclusive distribution, sales and marketing company for Dinesol Building Products’ plastic parts for the millwork industry. Generation 4 will ship the products from its Rock Falls, Ill., and San Jose, Calif., facilities and says its customers will be able to add these products to their prepaid minimums.

Replacement Windows

Contemporary Style and Impact Resistance
Atrium Companies Inc. is offering a new Series 700 family of vinyl casement windows. The company says this casement line of replacement and new construction windows offers contemporary style combined with exceptional engineering and energy efficiency. Atrium also offers The SafeHarbor Hurricane Impact Program — a complete suite of impact-resistant products, including windows, patio doors and various styles of protective shutters. www.atrium.com

Moisture-Control Products

Keeping Water Out and Costs Down
Reno, Nev.,-based Fortifiber Building Systems Group®, a moisture control systems provider, says it has employed new materials and a manufacturing process that gives Moistop PF improved tear resistance and jobsite and UV durability. Moistop PF is part of a complete moisture control system for walls and is ideal for application over oriented strand board (OSB) or plywood, installs with simple tools, allows for easy integration with the weather-resistive barrier and is available in pre-cut widths of 6, 9, 12 and 18 inches. www.fortifiber.com

Mold Inhibitors

Siamons Says
Siamons International of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, now offers Concrobium Mold Control™, a product it says is proven to eliminate and prevent mold without containing bleach or other harmful chemicals. The patented formula is 100-percent natural and can be used by builders to pretreat materials for mold prevention or by renovators to fight existing mold. It requires no special handling or isolation time and can be used on virtually any surface including drywall, lumber, flooring, concrete, roofing, masonry and tile. It can also be fogged to treat entire rooms or applied during the manufacturing process to make building materials mold-resistant. www.concrobium.com

Doors

Elegance Inspired by Nature
Sierra Door of Scottsdale, Ariz., says its AugustaWood® door is an exclusive that offers distinctive color, grain and knot pattern that is not found in other rustic woods. The company says that knots are very uniform in size and location and color tones range from light to medium brown and are enhanced when AugustaWood is clear coated and left natural. www.doorsbysierra.com