1. What is the need addressed by this website?
There is such a variety of adhesives and sealants on the market that do-it-yourself consumers, artisans and professionals alike are sometimes lost when looking for advice: nowadays most hardware stores have lost the competence to offer technical advice, or those that still exist are difficult to find. Many adhesives and sealants are advertised as multi-purpose, which is great if the job does not require the highest performance and if the product is to be used for different ends. For the most demanding jobs, however, it is generally preferable to use specialized adhesives or sealants (adhesive strength, resistance to humidity, rapid curing, etc.). It is hard to compare advice given by manufacturers. In addition, once a potentially suitable adhesive is identified, where can it be sourced?
The goal of this website is to provide to do-it-yourself consumers, artisans and professionals a convenient and fast way to identify a product that will fulfil their need for an adhesion solution.
This site does not contain information that may be directly relevant for industrial uses which are often protected by know-how and by customer/supplier confidentiality.
2. Why do you think this website is more attractive than other web-based glue guides?
This website’s owners have reviewed existing glue and sealant guides and have concluded that none meet the following criteria:
- Independent from manufacturers and retailers
- Query results (hardware stores) are tailored to a specific country
- For other countries links to online resellers can be used
- Multilingual (English and French initially)
- Includes sealants as well as adhesives
- Easy to use and fast
3. Do you claim listing all adhesives and sealants available in a given market?
For reasons of practicality and usefulness, the adhesives and sealants listed here are sold by the major country do-it-yourself retailers. While every effort will be made to be accurate by regularly checking the retailers’ current offering, it is always possible that a given adhesive or sealant will be temporarily out of stock, or that it is no longer carried. For this reason, when possible, the website query engine will list alternative brands and/or retailers.
4. Can retailers and manufacturers submit their adhesives/sealants listings to this website?
Listings from retailers and manufacturers will be gladly accepted and included in the website’s database. To be acceptable, a product technical data sheet and a (material) safety data sheet should be sent for each adhesive brand together with an Excel listing of the data entered in the respective columns:
- Manufacturer
- Brand Name
- Retailer Name
- Retailer Website URL
- Adhesive Category
- Based on Natural Polymers,
- Polymer Dispersion/Emulsion,
- Hot Melt, Solvent Based,
- Reactive Systems
- Epoxies (EP),
- Polyurethanes (including moisture-curing liquid and foaming types),
- Polyester, unsaturated (UP),
- Acrylates (including cyanoacrylate, dimethacrylate/anaerobics; methacrylate, SGA – second generation acrylics/structural acrylics),
- Silicones (1- and 2-part curing systems),
- Formaldehyde Condensates (phenolic, urea, melamine, resorcinol),
- Silane-Modified Polymers (1- and 2-part curing systems)],
- Adhesives Based on Water-Soluble Polymers,
- Other*.
- Sealant Category
- Oil-Base Caulks (includes polymer-modified versions),
- Acrylic (water-latex and solvent based, including “siliconized” versions),
- Vinyl Acetate (homo- and copolymers),
- Butyls (Polyisobutene),
- Solvent based PIB sealants,
- Preformed PIB strips
- Hot Applied PIB sealants,
- Gun-Dispensable and pumpable sealants,
- Reactive PIB sealants,
- Polysulfides (1- and 2-part systems),
- Polyurethanes (1- and 2-part systems, sealants and foams),
- Silicones (1- and 2-part systems)*.
- Packaging
- Price range (EUR/mL or USD/oz)
- Main Advertised Use
(* from the ASC-CATIA-FEICA Adhesives and Sealants Classification Manual, 2012 Ed.)
Similarly, the website owners will happily consider any additional information or corrections and updates submitted by manufacturers and/or retailers.
5. Do you plan to include self-adhesive tapes in your website?
Inclusion of self-adhesive tapes may be a later enhancement of this website.