Above It All Podcast: Episode 24

Above It All podcast episode #24 features TPO Product Manager, Jamie Treglio, for Johns Manville Commercial Roofing.  Join us as we discuss a product that is perfect to use to adhere TPO in the summer months and gets you the coverage rate you need from an adhesive for your TPO projects, JM TPO Water Based Membrane Adhesive.  Iterations of the product have been launched before but nothing like this; get the full story from Jamie on this episode of the podcast. 

Above It All is a podcast by Johns Manville dedicated to the roofing industry.  The goal of this podcast is to bring knowledge from a Johns Manville perspective on trends, innovations, and people shaping the roofing industry. Join us as we dive head first into enriching conversations about the people and passion that are an integral part of the JM experience.

Transcript

Daniel Robbins: Welcome back to another episode of Above It All, a podcast dedicated to the roofing industry by Johns Manville. Today, we are going to be going over Water Based Adhesive, and this is a product we’ve had for some time, but we’ve gone through some iterations of it. And we have the product manager, Jamie Treglio. Did I say that right, Jamie?

Jamie Treglio: You did. Yes. Jamie Treglio.

Daniel Robbins: Awesome. Well, we have Jamie on. Jamie, thanks so much for being on the podcast and being here to tell us about this product and how it can bring value. Let’s dive in a little bit.

Jamie Treglio: Thanks for having me.

Daniel Robbins: Wait, sorry, say that one more time.

Jamie Treglio: Oh, thanks for having me.

Daniel Robbins: Of course. So let’s dive into the product a little bit. Can you give us a little background on what this Water Based Adhesive is, what products it works the best with, application, things like that?

Jamie Treglio: Yeah, absolutely. So a little history about our Water Based Adhesive is it initially launched on TPO in 2014, 2015, kind of that time frame, and then we ended up relaunching a newer version of it in 2019. So in that time, there were a couple advancements in the adhesive world that we were able to take advantage of, and really improve our product for the market. So when we relaunched in 2019, it’s still TPO membrane specific. There’s also a PVC version that’s specific to PVC. Okay. However, when we went and we launched it, we were able to take advantage of some color change indicators, so it goes from blue to dark green when it’s ready for you to adhere the the membrane. We also were able to get more square feet coverage. So that was definitely a plus and one of the things we were looking for. So now we can go up to 220 square feet per gallon. And previously, it was something like 110 or something like that.

Daniel Robbins: So that seems like...

Jamie Treglio: It’s definitely...

Daniel Robbins: Well, hold on. So with that part that you were just talking about, with the coverage rate, so it sounds like the material is stronger, therefore you’re able to get more out of the canister or whatever packaging it’s in?

Jamie Treglio: Right. Or the adhesive technology is greater than it was in the four years since we launched it to when we relaunched it. So we were able to get a much better coverage, which speaks to the ingenuity both in the adhesive field and to our JM engineers.

Daniel Robbins: Wow, that’s awesome. I know that brings value probably to a lot of contractors, ‘cause they’re always looking to consolidate some workflows and stuff, and I know if you’re getting better coverage rate, you’re moving faster. So that’s awesome. So go ahead, keep going. I know you were kind of on a tangent right there. Keep going.

Jamie Treglio: Well, I was sitting here thinking you gave me some of those prep questions, and I was going through in my mind, things I wanted to talk about. And it’s actu-ally a great time to be doing a podcast about our Water Based Adhesive, because it’s starting to ship again for the year. So our Water Based Adhesive only ships between April 15th through October 1st. And that is because it is water based, so you can’t ship it to a lot of the country in the winter time. So it’s definitely the time to start putting it into quotes and things now for the summer months, to take advantage of some of the economic profitability that it can provide to the market.

Daniel Robbins: Outstanding. So you really don’t wanna have it... You wanna be careful using it in a moist environment, is what it sounds like.

Jamie Treglio: Well, yes, and really just when it’s cold outside, you definitely want it to be warmer. I don’t think that humidity necessarily affects it as much as the cold, so temperature, it needs to be above 40 degrees and rising for 48 hours before you would apply it.

Daniel Robbins: So I know a lot of places have restrictions on certain types of adhesives where this product works great. Is it something that you can use though, really the green strength is just as comparable to any of the other adhesives that we have?

Jamie Treglio: Yeah. So it is considered a low VOC. So anywhere that you are required to use a low VOC adhesive, Water Based Adhesive can be used there, which is great.

Daniel Robbins: Yeah, that’s awesome. And I don’t know if you’ve been around and experienced low VOC, but for some reason, I feel like when I’ve been around this prod-uct, it doesn’t smell very heavily. It does have a smell to it, but it doesn’t necessarily flood the environment. Yeah, it’s not overwhelming.

Jamie Treglio: It is better. But do remember that low VOC does not always mean low smell, it is the difference. [chuckle]

Daniel Robbins: Right, right. Right. We have some low VOC products where you open them and you’re like, “Oh my gosh, that’s very intense.”

Jamie Treglio: Absolutely. So this one’s on, I’d say, the softer side of that.

Daniel Robbins: Okay. So we talked about that coverage and it having a very reliable green strength. So the coverage rate is great, it has really strong reliability when it comes to making things stick. What are some other great things about it, like related to the environment? Why is this something that is considered more beneficial for the environment?

Jamie Treglio: Well, I think anytime you’re using something that’s more of a water-based material, I think it just gives people a little more sense of calm. But really one of the best benefits of this product are some of the code coverages. So you can use an economical product in the summer months, and we actually at Johns Manville have approvals that you can do a wet lay-in with your TPO using this product. So that is the fastest way to get membrane onto a roof and keep moving through your project. So it really helps out crews in that way. And so I think they feel good about it being low VOC, and then suddenly, it makes so much sense to their bottom line, that it’s definitely something that we want to push in the summer months.

Daniel Robbins: So we’ve talked about benefits of the products. Let’s dive into application a little bit. As far as the first step in that process when you’re applying it, and also to paint a picture of how simple this product is to use. Can you start us off, Jamie, with what that looks like?

Jamie Treglio: Yeah. So there are two ways really that you can use this adhesive. It can be a two-sided application, and that’s going to mean that you’re going to put the adhesive on your substrate as well as on your membrane and then marry them together. And that is when you’re going to look for the bright blue indicator color, which means it’s wet to turn to the dark green indicated color, which means that you can adhere it. That’s our two-sided application. Now, the one-sided application that I was just talking about, the fastest way to lay down a TPO, is really going to be you’re going to roll it down, it’s gonna stay bright blue, there’s not a flash off time. You’ll lay down the membrane, and then your roll it at that point. So as long as your temperatures are above the 40 degrees Fahrenheit that we are recommending and stay on the data sheet. And then you also have to make sure with your dew point that you’re not over a 10-degree difference between ambient temperature and dew point. But other than that it is absolutely easy to use, and really helps crews move quickly on the roof.

Daniel Robbins: Yeah, that sounds like that would be really valuable for our contractors that are using this product. Can you explain a little bit about that two-sided applica-tion versus the one-sided application?

Jamie Treglio: You would use a two-sided application if you’re doing something with fleece back, if you’re working on a vertical installation. Some of those kinds of areas really require the two-sided application.

Daniel Robbins: Very cool. Well, this product sounds like it could bring customers a ton of value, you have the environmentally friendly aspect of it with the water based ele-ment, you have the better coverage rate, which is going to help you move quicker on jobs, and then you have the lay-in wet element to it, which is pretty cool. ‘Cause I know easy, right off the bat, that’s gonna make things move quicker.

Jamie Treglio: I absolutely agree. I think it’s definitely something if they haven’t already checked it out, it’s time to try it out and see how they can use it in their business.

Daniel Robbins: Yep. And keep in mind, too, what Jamie said earlier, if you’re planning on using this product, make sure that you’re in a place where you can rely on the climate. Other than that, we’re gonna wrap it up. Thank you, Jamie, for being on the podcast and we will catch you again next time.

Jamie Treglio: Thank you.

Daniel Robbins: All right, thanks. Bye. That about does it for this episode of Above At All. Thanks so much for tuning in and following this journey. Hopefully you have been getting some bits of gold out of this, to understand a little bit more about JM, understand about our products a little bit better. But yeah, you can download this podcast, you could subscribe to it on Apple podcasts. I like that, I think that’s the easiest way of getting it, but also too you can get it on JMroofing.news. Now we are moving this over to JM.com soon, but JMroofing.news will still be a website domain that you can use to get to our blog. And our blog is gonna have all of our episodes as well, so stay tuned. I believe our next episode is on owner services, which is kind of an exciting new venture that we’ve been developing here at JM for our building owner market segment. We’ll catch you all next time. Thanks so much.