GigaCrete is seeking many more nationwide installers for PlasterMax.  Ideal candidates are Plastering and EIFS applicators and skilled drywall installers familiar with plaster type coatings or renderings. EIFS trades find PlasterMax a breeze as the application process is identical to their first “base coat” process….with a skim coat + embedded fiberglass mesh and double back covering the mesh with the same material. “One coat double back” process, a one coat application and no need to come back with a finish coat.  No EIFS foam to install and half the labor of a two coat and a third the labor of a three coat system and no need to move scaffolding around for multiple coats.

IMPORTANT; drywall installers who have the finishing skills for smooth or textured finishes;  we are REPLACING drywall over ICF and we get approached regularly to help train this trade to become PlasterMax installers.  We enjoy cross training drywall installers and adding to their skill sets, you can do both! Some of our best finishers are ex-drywall tradesmen.  PlasterMax is paint ready faster than drywall!  Additionally, above ceilings where drywall can be time consuming to cut around ducts, sprinkler lines, conduits, trusses and other obstacles, PlasterMax is applied rapidly, no taping, no more joint compound, cutting wallboard and hoping to find something to screw into!!!  Contact us for training.

GigaCrete welcomes Derek Perlman as VP of Marketing and Business Development.  Derek will assist in analyzing the ICF markets for GigaCrete products, develop business relationships within the industry and help source recognized Architectural firms specializing in ICF/SIP’s building designs and materials specifications.  His main focus will be on institutional, medical, hospitality and military ICF applications.

The months of May and June has been very exciting at GigaCrete, with significant interests by the Military and companies providing design services to the Armed Services.  AECOM, ranked #1 in the world by ENR Magazine invited GigaCrete to present the products to senior team members within the company and educate them on applications for sustainable future projects.  Additional interests were showed by members from FEMA and the US Army who are developing a potential inexpensive tent replacement requiring GigaCrete’s high performance technologies.

GigaCrete has had a product under development for a long time called BallistiCrete, a Company registered trademark.  Ballistic resistant plaster or stucco is an unusual product to find but was actually one of the very first products to be developed by GigaCrete as a Hurricane resistant stucco when the Company was first founded.  Now the newer version is capable of stopping multiple shots of 9mm, .40 caliber, .357 magnum and rifle bullets up to AK-47 7.62 rounds at near point blank range.  BallistiCrete is mixed and applied on site like any normal plaster or stucco but is ceramic hard and capable of stopping deadly fire from most weaponry available in the marketplace.  The Military have showed great interest and demonstrations are planned in Virginia to show ease of installation and extreme performance characteristics.  Their interest includes protective coatings for our troops stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

On April 26th, GigaCrete completed a revolutionary fire test at Interteks testing facility in Coquitlam Vancouver in Canada.  PlasterMax had previously passed NFPA 286, a test proving equivalency and replacing gypsum board over ICF construction.  This test was for Plastermax Base Coat, 3/8″ thick, replacing 1/2″ and 5/8″ drywall, the only other means of fire rating ICF construction.  Now Plastermax-ICF Thin Coat has exceeded the performance of our previous coating but blown gypsum board out of the game at 1/8″ thick!  One fourth the thickness with higher performance in flame smoke and abrasion resistance.  The smoke registered in the test was 20, the allowable amount is 2000.  All who witnessed the event were amazed that 1/8″ could stop 1500 degrees F from igniting the EPS foam.  This is certainly a new Worlds first and very cost effective against drywall.  When the news was released, GigaCrete picked up immediate business from cost conscious clients waiting to see if we could pass the test.  “We expect to see commitments for a few hundred thousand square feet in the first month” says Andrew Dennis GigaCrete’s founder.

The Joseph Warren Middle and High School in Bowling Green Kentucky is one of the largest ICF installations in the USA at almost a half million square feet.  GigaCrete was invited to directly coat the main entrance and lobby ICF walls with PlasterMax-ICF in both a textured and smooth finish up to about 16 feet high.The lobby of a school is often expected to take a fair amount of abuse so gypsum board may not an ideal choice.  PlasterMax-ICF Base coat at 4,000 psi should perform well in this environment even without the extreme performance PlasterMax-ICF Finish coat.  We wish to thank Marvin Patterson and E&S Quality Exteriors, Inc. Doug, Claude and Kyle who were trained onsite and are now approved GigaCrete applicators for the region, hailing from Indiana.

Exterior Insulated Finishing Systems (EIFS) have not changed a great deal for some time and have some inherent weaknesses, mostly from impact.  GigaCrete PlasterMax is well known for its high strength, indent and impact resistance and a natural for the EIFS industry.  Typical EIFS coatings are thinner than regular stucco and consist of layers of acrylic polymer coats over a mesh.  The mesh does several things including adding tear strength to the finish and evening out the application thickness, desirable during the installation of the coatings.  Most EIFS finishes consist of a base coat applied over the substrate, then the mesh embedded followed by another base coat and then one or more finish coats containing the final textures and color.  GigaCrete is developing a super strong base coat with higher indent and impact resistance than competitors currently have in the marketplace that can then be coated with a final color/texture coat available from other EIFS coatings companies.   ASTM compressive strengths show in excess of 8,000 psi and thickness changes are made by utilizing different sized notched trowels in a one coat, two pass application.  The goal is to take a relatively damage prone EIFS coating and make it as tough as possible, keeping it Green in the GigaCrete style and improve the performance levels in the EIFS industry.  The new base coat may be offered to other EIFS coatings manufacturers under license.  This thin coat concept is also scheduled for fire testing over ICF interiors replacing gypsum board and getting the costs down below our current 3/8″ (9mm) one coat PlasterMax-ICF Base Coat, currently slightly higher than drywall costs installed.  If we can hit the same price as drywall installed, we will have the ICF market in our pocket says Andrew Dennis the founder of GigaCrete.  Gypsum board over ICF has been a problem for a lot of projects, some of which build with CMU blocks just to avoid using gypsum board.  Cost is always an issue so getting the installed coatings lowered is a major effort for the Company whilst maintaining our Green position and fire ratings.  Intertek will soon be testing the new thin coat applications.

GigaCrete joined with NextGen to showcase PlasterMax products inside this incredible new home built in time for the 2009 Consumer Electronics, International Builders and World of Concrete Expos in Las Vegas. PlasterMax –IND over gypsum board and PlasterMax-ICF over Nudura ICF greets the visitors and is getting remarkable responses.

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Almost everyone that walks into the new 2009 state of the art NextGen Home Experience in Las Vegas says “Wow, what’s that finish on the walls” and they go up to it and touch it. The new material is called PlasterMax-IND™ by GigaCrete Inc., a leader in “green” building materials technologies.

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By Staff Writers
Published in the December 2007 issue.

Every year BuilderNews honors select products that benefit builders and buyers alike in their annual Best Products Awards. GigaCrete’s PlasterMax was selected this year as a “Best Design Product”.

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