Bill Robinson is a nationally known construction trainer and presenter and owner of Train2Build and Train2Rebuild, a company that provides education for the building industry and homeowners. Headquartered in New Orleans, Robinson hosts consulting and training programs that focus on detailing the building envelope in the hot/humid climate, best practices for installing doors and windows, flood hardy building materials and methods, and moisture management in the Gulf Coast region. 

And it just so happens that one of his favorite building materials is double-sided tape. Which makes Bill Robinson one of our favorite customers, obviously. 

How did you first learn about ECHOtape? Through blogging, actually. Amanda Voss reached out to me when she was researching a series of stories on moisture management and adhesive trends.

When did you start using our products? I had become fascinated with the powers of double-sided tape through my work with JLC, but ECHOtape was new to me. I reached out to Steve Underhill and he sent a couple of sample rolls for me to try and I was blown away. That was three or four years ago. I’ve been using ECHOtape ever since.

How many different ECHOtape products have you worked with? Any favorites?  Although I have used your seaming tape, I’m mostly interested in double-sided tapes, using them in applications where I need to adhere to a substrate that I can’t typically drive nails through. Or even ones where you can, because I don’t like the idea of penetrations. Any hole, no matter how small, has the opportunity to become a problem when there is moisture involved. Double-sided tape allows me to have the same powerful hold, but with the added benefit of keeping things dry. For windows and doors, I am really impressed with the Double Sided Acrylic Foam tapes, UB-F3504 and UB-F3557.  And I’m a firm believer in seaming housewrap with tape, instead of fasteners or nails. Sure, it takes a bit more time, but the air sealing benefits are worth the extra effort.

What’s been the biggest surprise using tape in your construction projects? The surprise is the versatility. The reward is the adhesion level.  A nail is a nail; it has one job and does one thing. Caulk, which is something that I use often, is more versatile, but it’s still limited.  Tape is truly multi-purpose. The different adhesive components allow me to choose the best stick for the job. And it allows me to connect, or adhere to different substrates that were previously huge challenges, such as irregular surfaces. The cool thing is that I can weather strip without fasteners and ensure a moisture-resistant barrier.  

What has your customer experience been like? Phenomenal! My go-to guy is Steve Underhill. Mostly because I’m old school; I like talking through my challenges and you can’t do that with a chatbot.  Steve listens, he’s genuinely curious, and what he’s doing makes me look good. The results speak for themselves. 

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What’s next for you and your business? Bottom line: I’m a building envelope guy that lives in the humid Gulf Coast of Louisiana. Moisture issues are what we’re trying to solve every day. Building homes to withstand hurricanes and tornadoes is important.  But the real challenge is moisture and microbial growth. 

Right now, I’m involved in a number of flood recovery and rebuilding projects, including the Disaster Justice Network in Lake Charles and lowernine.org in New Orleans. We’re creating training programs and resources — for builders and homeowners alike—to help these areas create durable, healthy, efficient, moisture-resistant homes, to better withstand the next weather event.  

As a consultant, I’m also on all kinds of Zoom meetings with building pros, the best of the best. But most of these guys are from the Northeast and Midwest, their concern is insulating houses for heating. In the humid South, we need to focus on air sealing a house for cooling and moisture. Those are two different things.  When it comes to hiring a company for a job, whether it’s an engineer, architect, or builder, make sure they know your climate challenges. If you don’t know, ask me. I’m an educator and a connector, I can find you to the right people. 

Barns. Garages. Warehouses. If you can envision the metal building of your dreams, the team at Midwest Steel Carports can make it happen… with a little help from ECHOtape’s metal building tape products.

The Best Metal Building Tape for Midwest Steel Carports

What began as a modest family-owned metal building company in 2013  has grown to become one of INC 500’s fastest-growing private companies in America. That’s a huge achievement for a tight-knit, family-owned business that’s grown from five to 30 employees and counting.

ECHOtape first connected with Purchasing Manager Rodrigo Aguilar at MetalCon 2018 in Charlotte, NC.

“From insulating radiant barriers to seaming metal roofs, we use double-sided tape pretty heavily in all our builds,” says Aguilar.  Finding a tape that would hold its seal no matter the Midwest weather fluctuations — extreme cold, rain, and heat — had been a particular challenge. ECHOtape’s extreme temperature ratings seemed promising. After returning from MetalCon, Aguilar ordered a few rolls to test on his next insulation project. The rest is history.

These days, Aguilar places a steady order of DC-M194A All-Weather Double Sided Tape and PE-M4535 Seaming Tape from ECHOtape’s expanding online store.

“Ordering online has been really efficient,” says Aguilar.  “I can order exactly what I need for the specific project, and have it delivered to the warehouse or the job site.  Customer service has been fantastic, and their team has been a great resource when I have a question or need to troubleshoot specific issues.”
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Winning Big With Customer Focus

Aguilar continues: “At Midwest, we’re an incredibly customer-oriented company. We like to take care of the needs of our clients, nurturing them through the process from quote to installation and long after.  What’s great is that ECHOtape is exactly the same way. They hold the same values we do when it’s come to customer service and family-owned businesses. It’s a great partnership and a fantastic product.”

The mission at Midwest Steel Carports is to be the leading customer-centric carport company that helps people protect what matters most to them. But truth be told, they are more than just carports. Their projects encompass metal buildings of all shapes and sizes including barns, carports, garages, RV carports, sheds, warehouses, and more. That expansion has been fueled by an increased need for steel and metal building in both residential and commercial applications. It’s a rapid growth that shows no sign of slowing.  The company expanded its reach from Michigan and Wisconsin into Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana, “and this year, we moved our corporate offices to Texas,” says Aguilar.

“We’ve been doubling new builds every single year.  That’s in part to our customer experience, but it’s also the fact that steel offers better longevity than wood products. Switching from lumber to steel may be slightly more expensive at the outset, but it’s more efficient in the long run. Consumers and businesses are looking for that longevity.”

How does Green Sun Rising harvest the sun’s power in The Great White North? With solar panels and a little help from ECHOtape’s Cold Weather Double-Sided Polyester Tape.

Alaska and Northern Canada are rich in renewable energy resources.  In fact, recent estimates indicated that nearly a quarter of Alaska’s energy is currently supplied by hydropower and wind energy, with a growing interest in geothermal, tidal, wave, and biofuel energies. But mention solar, and people scoff.

Just ask Klaus Dohring, president of Green Sun Rising, an Ontario-based company that develops and supplies solar systems to generate clean electricity and heat.  “Whenever I suggest using solar energy in Northern communities, the typical response is that there is too little, or no sunshine in the winter months. This is irrefutable. But so is the flip side of that argument: in the summer there is an abundance of sunshine in the far north,” he told The Circle. Ignoring the naysayers, Green Sun has introduced both solar photovoltaic as well as solar thermal systems into Northwest Territories applications, with great success.

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And what adhesive does he rely on to help with those installations? DC-M194A Cold Weather Double-Sided Polyester tape!

“Finding an adhesive cold weather tape that can mount aluminum profiles in frigid sub-zero temperatures (-25C to -30C) without them falling down prior to fastening them permanently was a challenge,” says Dohring. That is until they found ECHOtape. “The extreme cold properties allow us to seal the aluminum profile against the metal façade at the point where the bolt penetrates the metal.”

For more information about tape visit The Complete Technical Guide to Adhesive Tape.

To learn more about ECHOtape and how we help customers find the right tape for their job, you can read about us here or contact us with any questions you may have.

What does indoor tennis have to do with tape?

Well, earlier this year, we received a tape challenge from an indoor sports lighting company.  The company, who installs professional LED lighting in large indoor tennis arenas, had developed a new way to enhance the lighting without adding extra wattage by draping reflective fabric from the purlins of the complex.

Originally,  the company was using a liquid adhesive to hang the fabric, but the smell was causing dizziness and nausea among the installers and players alike.  An alternative was needed, and fast.

ECHOtape to the rescue!

First, we needed to assess the surfaces. In this case, they were bonding a vinyl reflective fabric to painted steel purlins.  Once we knew the substrates, we needed to understand the stress the tape would be under, i.e. how much load would the tape bear after applying it to the fabric, and how long they needed it to hold. Since this would be a permanent installation, the adhesive needed longevity against the forces of gravity.

We dove into our catalog and looked at tapes that could handle differential surfaces with permanent load bearing. DC-U032A High Performance Double Sided Tape seemed to be a natural fit.

Coated with an ultra-strong acrylic adhesive, this tape has an instant high tact for a quick stick to almost any flat surface, making it ideal for creating a permanent bond between metal, plastic, wood, glass or fabric. We chose a 3” width to match the width of the purlins.

Of course, in order to ensure the success of the tape, we needed to test it. We sent the company a sample, along with strict application directions. During the testing phase, the company put extra stressors on the tape, tugging and pulling on the fabric in extreme manners, and subjecting it to additional heat and cold. None of which would happen in this temperature controlled environment.

Shortly after the testing phase, we received the first of several orders for various jobs. The company remains happy with the ease and strength of the application, and, of course, fumes are not an issue.

At ECHOtape we offer a full range of specialty tapes that can work in all kinds of circumstances, like the LED lighting tape solution listed above. Contact our ECHOtape team with your tape request if you want help determining which product is best for your particular project.

Do you have a tape challenge we can help solve? Tell us about it via Facebook or LinkedIn.

What began as a modest commercial print shop in 1992 has grown to become North America’s most progressive printers, and a proud ECHOtape partner for the past six years.  

Pazazz Printing specializes in integrated, cross-media marketing solutions, as well as UV offset printing up to 56 inches wide, digital printing, wide-format printing, labels and packaging. And last year, they became the first printer in Canada to gain Pantone certification for colour printing.

With so much versatility under their roof, we are proud to supply Pazazz with a few key specialty adhesives (AT-K7110, OV-G5211 and PV-V6501) that keep their systems flowing seamlessly and allow them to continue to serve their clients every day.  Plus, earlier this year, we proudly partnered with Pazazz and EMCO to donate and deliver a full pallet of duct tape to help rebuild Fort McMurray after the devastating wildfires this spring. 

Adhesive Specialist Michael Pavlik recently spent some time at their state-of-the-art print shop. Take a look: 

When it comes to metal, the alloy specialists at Montreal’s Magna Stainless and Aluminum are creating next-generation mixtures with remarkable uses —from the alloy wheels on our cars to the space satellites orbiting over our heads. So it might come as a surprise to find out that Adhesive Specialist Michael Pavlik  has been working with Magna for more than six of his 14 years with ECHOtape.

As it turns out, aluminum is a very versatile metal, but it’s also very soft in its pure form. Add small amounts of the metals magnesium, manganese, and copper and you make a superb aluminum alloy called duralumin, which is strong enough to make airplanes. However, in many cases, metals and/or their alloy cousins still needs to be protected. Which is where ECHOtape comes in. Magna uses a 60” roll of protective adhesive film that is laminated to 48” stainless steel sheets in order to protect metal for laser CO2 and fiber optic cutting, and when bending metals.

Watch the video above, or check out the images below to see the application process. Just another way tape helps shape the world around us!

Do you have a unique product or project that might benefit from a specialty adhesive? Let us know!

Area Rental & Sales Co. is the largest specialty rental house in Wisconsin. Their friendly staff is expertly trained to make sure their client’s next event is a success. Over the years Area Rental & Sales has handled a variety of functions from weddings to corporate gatherings and county fairs. Each event comes with its own set of circumstances and challenges so this team of true pros needs to be ready to problem-solve on the spot.

Victor George, the Warehouse and Supply Manager, was given a mission to find the best tape for the company’s various needs which include:

• carpet lay down
• tent patching
• seaming
• holding materials in place in extreme cold

As luck would have it, they were given a roll of ECHOtape’s Industrial Strength Carpet tape by a fellow vendor at one of their events. It worked so well that they decided to try the All Purpose High Tack Polyethylene Tape too. And the search was over. George cites the versatility, stickiness, and clean, residue-free removal as the reasons that the Polyethylene Tape has become the go-to adhesive for Area Rental & Sales.

They consistently received high praise from their customers for their professionalism, attention to detail, and smooth set-up and tear-down. To learn more about Area Rental & Sales visit their website. To find out the best tape for your company’s needs, contact our helpful customer service team today.

The Albert M. Higley Co. is a construction firm located in Cleveland, Ohio that operates in both the residential and commercial construction sector. To date, they have completed over $7 billion in construction projects in their six key areas of expertise: education, industrial, healthcare, offices/interiors, public/non-profit, and urban living. The Albert M. Higley Co. is known for building solid relationships, not only with their clients and local partners but with their in-house talent. The typical tenure at their firm is 14 years and as a result they can offer their clients a project team with an average of 28 years of industry experience. They were also recently named one of Northeast Ohio’s Best Places to Work.

As a company that specializes in the construction and renovation of commercial buildings, the team at Albert M. Higley Co. often needs to hang polyethylene sheets to prevent dirt and dust from spreading to other areas of the building. After receiving a recommendation to check out ECHOtape, they decided to give our All Purpose High Tack Polyethylene Tape a try.

“The guys really like the adhesion level. ‘It sticks to everything, and leaves no residue upon removal.’ [It] sticks better to poly films than any other tape they have used in the past. They also love that they go through only 1 roll of the [tape]…to get the job done versus 3 rolls of the competitor’s brand.” —Lori Wetzel, Construction Yard Manager

We love it when we can make a contractor’s job easier! To learn more about The Albert M. Highley Co. you can visit them at their website. To learn more about the right tape for your project needs, contact the ECHOtape team today.