Building on innovation

By Emma Peterson. 

Innovation might have put Polyglass on the map, but it’s their dedication to continuing to improve their products that has made them an industry leader. 

In this episode of Roofing Road Trips®, Karen Edwards sat down with Marco Sieber and Elliott Wood of Polyglass to talk about the company’s past, present and future relationship with innovation. Polyglass was one of the earlier pioneers of self-adhered technology when they introduced ADESO around two decades ago. Marco shared some of what he knows about that time, saying, “There was some resistance saying the technology sounded too good to be true because traditionally products had been installed with hot asphalt or roofing torches or cold apply had just kind of started back then. Self-adhering was a new concept that had been only used maybe in Europe.” 

And one of the struggles that was limiting self-adhered membranes’ potential was the fact that they were single-compound products. So, from the top, weathering surface to the bottom, adhesive surfaces, it was all the same compound. This meant that it struggled to perform as one compound was trying to do two distinctly different functions. That’s where Polyglass’ innovation came in. Marco explained, “We were able to develop technology where you had a dual compound, a distinct compound on the top, which is the weathering surface and another distinct compound on the bottom, which is your adhesive surface.”  This technology was called ADESO and established both Polyglass and self-adhered membranes’ roles in today’s industry. 

But Polyglass isn’t resting on their laurels, no they’re still working day-in and day-out to push the technology to be and perform better. For ADESO, that looks like adding features and enhancements like the FASTLap technology (which helps avoid leaks). For the larger company, that looks like the development of new products like Modifleece. Elliott explained, “Modifleece is the industry's first SBS modified fleece backed base sheet. It’s modified bitumen with a fleece on the bottom underside that would be foam adhered with the Polyglass LRFCR foam.” This is a new innovation for both Polyglass and the larger industry and is especially good at waterproofing semi-rough or irregular surfaces. It’s a great example of the constant innovation and improvement that keeps Polyglass at the forefront of the industry. 

Read the transcript or Listen to the entire conversation to learn more about Polyglass and their innovative products!