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Quanex Building Products
Since its founding in 1927, Quanex Building Products
has grown and evolved through a series of strategic ac-
quisitions. Today, the company is a leading supplier of en-
ergy-efficient window and door profiles, window and door
screens and insulating glass spacers, including the field-
proven Super Spacer® TriSeal™ structural silicone warm
edge spacer, which was designed specifically to meet ar-
chitectural needs, improve fabricator efficiency and con-
tribute to a superior building envelope.
Joe Erb, commercial sales specialist, says the com-
pany has witnessed a global need for high-performance
framing materials and insulating glass from Quanex.
“Canada was one of our earliest markets for these prod-
ucts because of the cold climate. But, even in the warm
and hot climate markets, customers are seeing the sus-
tainable advantages of non-metallic framing and insulating
glass spacer technologies,” he said.
According to Erb, fabricators are investing in their busi-
nesses and adopting more efficient technologies to im-
prove not only their products, but also their processes.
“We are seeing a significant uptick in the number of major
fabricators upgrading to full automation with Super
Spacer. It is designed for just-in-time manufacturing, re-
quires fewer steps and fewer people, allowing companies
to operate more efficiently without sacrificing perform-
ance and quality.”
The automated approach also serves the architectural
community and end user well.
“Because the product is robotically applied, it is more
accurate, providing crisp, clean sight lines with reduced
error,” Erb said. “This benefit is even more evident in larger
glazing applications where spacer placement accuracy is
critical to ensuring the aesthetic the architect demands.
The fabricator also benefits because automation increases
output and accuracy on the larger glass lites. The net re-
sult: a cost-effective, high-performance solution.”
With building codes constantly changing and evolving
Erb says fabricators who are coming on board with this
technology now and those who did so years ago, have po-
sitioned themselves far ahead of the curve in meeting de-
mands. “Super Spacer has been on the market for 25 years with
demonstrated performance architects can trust even in
large-scale applications, including structurally glazed high-
rises,” Erb said.
Quanex uses third-party testing and applies standard
test methods across the globe to ensure its products
meet international demands.
“Adding non-metallic and composite framing profiles
help fabricators stay well ahead of the game in terms of
energy efficiency, while providing the long-term perform-
ance end users desire.
When you have a good frame, the right glass, a good
seal and it’s all properly installed, there is great benefit to
the end user and to the environment,” Erb said. “It’s about
a whole building design approach.”
Quanex’s Super Spacer TriSeal is a flexible, structural
silicone spacer designed to address the design profes-
sional and fabricator's need for aesthetics, thermal per-
formance, structural strength, enhanced durability and the
manufacturing efficiency to keep their projects on budget.
With its unique triple-seal design, Super Spacer TriSeal in-
corporates an inner acrylic adhesive seal for immediate
unit handling and comes complete with a polyisobutylene
primary seal for enhanced gas retention and low moisture
vapor transmission.
Learn more about Quanex’s offerings for the commer-
cial market at www.Quanex.com/Architect.
The Canadian Design and Construction Report — Summer 2014 – 39