The International Builders' Show (IBS) returned to Orlando, Florida, in 2022. Held February 5 – 10, the show featured more than 1,000 exhibitors and 100 technical sessions. I was excited to attend in person, accompanied by my Avery Dennison Performance Tapes colleagues Joe Meckler, R&D engineer; and Ricardo Soto, design and application engineer.
The show was vast, with exhibits spread over five zones — new products, building, startup, safety, and home technology. But once we figured out the lay of the land, the floor was easy for us to navigate. It proved to be time well-spent learning, networking, and identifying ways for Avery Dennison to collaborate with the industry to bring pressure-sensitive adhesives to more applications.
Three areas of opportunity
Based on what we experienced at the show, three applications represent significant opportunities for pressure-sensitive adhesives in home building:
The building envelope
The building envelope separates interior building materials (drywall) from exterior materials (shingles, siding). It must provide a barrier for water and air, allow for vapor permeability, and provide thermal insulation. Increasingly, building envelopes are made with safety in mind — either with fire retardant properties to protect occupants or slip-resistant materials to protect workers such as roofers.
Pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes can be engineered with features that complement these needs: water resistance, vapor permeability, flame resistance, and more. The technology lends itself to increasing the home’s overall durability, comfort, energy efficiency and sustainability factors.
Roofing Materials
More roofing material manufacturers are incorporating pressure-sensitive adhesives in their products. In the low slope commercial roofing space, pressure-sensitive adhesives are replacing traditional technologies, such as butyl and asphaltic. Based on this experience, manufacturers are now exploring how pressure-sensitive adhesives can be incorporated into residential roofing system applications.
How can pressure-sensitive adhesives be engineered to improve residential roofing applications? Tapes could, for example, help increase roofers’ capabilities by providing the ability to be applied at temperatures down to 20 F, or in moist environments. Both would give builders greater flexibility for when and under what conditions they install adhesive-backed roofing materials.
Flooring Systems
Flooring is getting renewed attention for the industry's efforts to improve sound damping, airflow, and heating and cooling in homes. Adhesive products have potential in both damping and heating products.
There’s also an opportunity for adhesives to replace traditional subfloor assembly products, such as muds and mortars. This can result in greater efficiency (especially for less-skilled workers), less mess and waste.
Stick it or staple it? That’s the question
This is an exciting time for the building industry — I believe we’re at an inflection point creating opportunities for pressure-sensitive adhesives. As a growing number of industry manufacturers look for ways to address supply chain issues, inflation, the labor shortage, and overall competitiveness, they’re increasingly open to the idea of integrating tapes into their systems.
More manufacturers are asking, “stick it or staple it?” Many are looking at pressure-sensitive adhesives as the answer.
What are your challenges? How can we help?
Avery Dennison is looking to move beyond simply being a supplier and toward being a true industry collaborator. We offer tapes with a wide range of properties through our standard portfolio. But what sets us apart is our ability to engineer tapes with new features for specific applications.
So I'll ask: What challenges are you facing with your building products? Contact your Avery Dennison representative to explore ways we can partner with your business to find the solution to those challenges with pressure-sensitive adhesives.
