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Company Profile

The EMSEAL Approach to Successful Expansion Joint Treatment--Collaborative,
3-D, Design, Detailing, Construction, Fabrication, Installation.

It’s not just about great products.

While EMSEAL prides itself on having high-quality, innovative and durable materials for use in sealing and bridging small and large, building component and structural joints in foundations, decks, walls, and floors, the company’s track record of successfully completed projects is equally attributable to its approach to expansion joint treatment:

Anybody can make an expansion joint appear watertight in cross-section.  However, joints leak at changes in plane, direction and where dissimilar joint materials meet. 

Successful projects with expansion joints that don’t leak are characterized by a collaborative commitment by the A/E team, the general contractor, the joint manufacturer, and the waterproofing sub-contractor to detail, construct, fabricate, and install three-dimensional solutions.  

The process begins at design with the visualization by the A/E team and the joint manufacturer of expansion joint locations, layout and impact on all other adjacent materials and spaces. 

This visualization is aided by the use of simple isometric line sketches of joint layouts which reveal conditions that could be designed-out, simplified, or for which details must be developed.  The A/E then supplements the usual cross-sections with axonometric details of conditions involving changes in plane, direction and between dissimilar materials. 

To these conditions, the expansion joint manufacturer must furnish axonometric CAD details showing their materials adaptation to these conditions.   The manufacturer’s application of their material to the designed conditions should be warrantable as watertight at all agreed upon changes in plane, direction, and intersection between various joint materials.  The final isometric layout(s) and all cross-section and axonometric details then become part of the bid documents and working drawings.

Before and during construction the general contractors' role is to elevate the place the expansion joints typically occupy in the sequencing path.   ALL trades must be held accountable for their work in relation to expansion joints.  The joints, for example, must be protected from construction traffic damage and cannot become a place to accumulate construction tolerances. 

The expansion joint subcontractor must commit to taking field measurements from which the manufacturer can fabricate and furnish factory-welded, warranted assemblies to install into the relevant joint locations.

This collaborative approach is not just theory.  It is a practice that has resulted in the successful execution of watertight expansion joints on new and retrofit projects on structures of every type.  From the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, to the enormous, newly constructed mixed-use development—Atlantic Station in Atlanta, to the retrofit of FedEx Field Washington Redskins Stadium, and the newly constructed Citizens Bank Philadelphia Phillies Ballpark,  owners, A/E’s, general contactors, EMSEAL, and a select group of like-minded waterproofing sub-contractors are proving this approach possible and practical.

If this collaborative and disciplined approach is not adopted as the basic philosophy on any project of any scope, whether a stadium, hospital, school, government building or airport, it can be expected that leaks at expansion joints will constitute a high percentage of post tenancy headaches.

We invite you to make EMSEAL your partner in success on your expansion joint project:

1-800-526-8365 or techinfo@emseal.com

EMSEAL EXPANDS
Sealant and Expansion Joint Leader Continues Stable Growth Trajectory

WESTBOROUGH, MA—A manufacturer of precompressed sealants and expansion joint systems for the commercial construction industry as well as for numerous gasketing applications in industrial other specialty market applications, EMSEAL has operated out of locations in the Northeast United States of America and the Greater Toronto Area in Canada for nearly thirty years. 

The company’s long history of quality in product, creativity in problem solving, curiosity in innovation, and personalized customer service are the basis of EMSEAL's stability and commitment to focus. This strong foundation supports the market-driven innovation, decision-making and rapid customer response that characterizes the company.  

Established in 1949 by the late Mr. Max Baerveldt, as Electro Mechanical Construction (Pty) Ltd., the company was one of the first licensees of a sealant technology invented by Laban Mast in the Netherlands in the late 1950's.  The sealant product, called EMSEAL became the basis, as well as the corporate name, of the present company, which has operated in North America since 1979.

Consistent growth over the years is based on management according to a carefully developed strategic plan under the leadership of a committed and focused executive, sales, engineering, manufacturing and customer service team.

“EMSEAL has solidified its place as a leader in the sealant and building expansion joint marketplace,” comments CEO, Lester Hensley.  "Our ongoing success is a tribute to everyone who works with EMSEAL, from the extraordinary service provided by our in-house sales and specification development engineers, to manufacturing, outside sales, field technical service and administrative staff, as well as through our independent reps, the EMSEAL team delivers quality based on the principles of market-driven, performance-proven products and services and professional, customer-centered service”. 

TRACK RECORD

Movement Joint Gaps are Problematic: Our experience, validated by the research of CIRIA (Construction Industry Research and Information Association), is that the treatment of movement joint gaps in buildings, from design, technology and installation standpoints, are grossly under-emphasized: "Although they are a minor component of the building envelope, joints with sealants are often responsible for defects and failures-sometimes after only a couple of years."

Expansion joints constitute a small percentage of a construction budget yet, along with other waterproofing-related issues, are responsible for the majority of all post-construction complaints and call-backs.

Our privately held company is committed solely to providing lasting joint-sealing and bridging solutions. We are not distracted by involvement in the offering of other types of products--patching materials, deck coatings, etc.

Results of a New Paradigm: Our single-minded pursuit of new ways of looking at our services and products, has resulted in the supply of millions of feet of sealant materials. Over the last eightee years, for example, more than 1,000,000 LF of parking deck expansion joint material have been installed on projects ranging from small and medium retrofits, to large new construction projects. Through this process we have cultivated relationships with well-respected, regional, national and international design firms, engineering firms, contractors, and owners.

Pre-Installation Quality Assurance: We have developed expansion-joint checklists, and a schematic layout system for use by designers, reps, contractors, and ourselves in communicating expansion joint needs. This system has dramatically improved the quality of information we receive and provided a sound basis on which decisions about choice of product can be made. Additionally, the use of this system has considerably reduced the amount of time all parties spend communicating their needs. Finally, it has provided a means by which costly errors can be avoided during design, fabrication in our factory, and installation.

Attention to Detail: We have developed and are aggressively promoting the full potential of heat welding our Santoprene seals to provide watertight transitions and terminations in the most difficult situations. We are not satisfied with simply supplying material to meet the requirements of cross-section design and we encourage axonometric detailing of these conditions.

Our details for sealing terminations include watertight transitions from joints in decks to vertical structures. We have in the past six years supplied over many thousands of factory welded Santoprene direction changes and terminations.

Installation Quality Assurance: We have instituted material delivery programs that provide contractors with mixing equipment including all accessories as well as, procedures, and training to aid and simplify the installation of our products.

Credibility: Respect and credibility are earned. The list of projects on which we have earned our reputation and the trust of much of our industry is extensive. Some addresses of note are: The Mall of America, The Pentagon, Philadelphia Phillies Ballpark, American Airlines Arena, The Chrysler Technology Center, Washington DC's Union Station, The Ludgate in London, The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, The Clinton County Courthouse in Ohio, and The Watergate Hotel, The Greensboro Coliseum, Houston Intercontinental Airport, The Indiana Children's Museum, Nordstrom's Stores, The Washington Redskins Stadium, California Polytechnic, etc.

Recently completed and ongoing projects include the resealing of the Empire State Building, stadium installations at the new New York Yankees, new New York Mets, Indianapolis Colts, and retrofits at Houston Astros, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Lambeau Field, and Gillette stadium. 

We have, at the invitation of many of the nations top design and engineering firms, as well as at the Sealant Waterproofing and Restoration Institute (SWRI) and numerous state chapters of the International Concrete Repair Institute  (ICRI), presented very well-received seminars on the treatment of expansion joints.

Member:

Sealant Waterproofing and Restoration Institute

Construction Specifications Canada

Contact us:
Architectural/Engineering/Construction: 800-526-8365 or 508-836-0280
techinfo@emseal.com

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Last modified: August 22, 2008