Construction + Civil Engineering

Building or renovating a house is a long and arduous process. While cement and gypsum mortars remain the go-to choice for many professionals, foam adhesives offer a quick and safe alternative without compromising on the quality. Here, Selena Group, a manufacturer and supplier of construction chemicals, outlines the advantages of using foam adhesives.

Foam adhesives are professional single component polyurethane adhesives. Compared to traditional adhesives, they offer a rapid cure time, markedly higher adhesion and stronger grip. Their innovative foam form has been designed for use in sealed applications. Sold in cans, foam adhesives are applied using a gun. Their small-cell and regular structure offers excellent insulation, high resistance to deformation and durability.

Foam adhesives for bricklaying can be used for TLMB autoclaved aerated concrete blocks, grinded ceramic blocks and silicate blocks. For these applications, the building materials used must meet strict standards with regard to height, thickness and parallel supporting surface. Foam adhesives are an ideal solution for the construction of external and internal load-bearing walls and partition walls.

The right type of foam adhesive can also be used for thermal insulation of buildings to perfectly bond together and seal the joints of polystyrene boards, preventing thermal bridges. With foam adhesives, it is also easier to bond board to the wall as, unlike materials such as cement, the material doesn’t have to be applied to both the centre and perimeter of the board.

The ‘hybrid’ method of fixing polystyrene foam is seen increasingly often on construction sites. A foam adhesive is applied around the perimeter of a piece of insulation material, with ‘dollops’ cement applied in the middle. The cement stabilises and keeps the board in place, with the foam adhesive bonding around the perimeter.

Speed and high yield should go hand in hand and foam adhesives can help achieve this. Foam adhesives produce no dust, making it easier to keep the work place clean and these materials offer flexible working temperatures between -10⁰C to 30⁰C. In an age where increasing focus is being placed on sustainable measures, foam adhesives offer an environmentally friendly solution.

Construction or renovation is a major undertaking, which makes it imperative to use measures and solutions to optimise time and costs and, above all, quality. Foam adhesives make indoors and outdoors construction easier. Importantly, they also help save water and electricity, an important factor at a time when costs are rising. Last but definitely not least, the final result is certain to last for many years.