Air-Powered Sealant Sprayer
Though it comes with a fair learning curve, the Aerofixx Visconn dispenser is particularly useful for air-sealing hard-to-reach areas.
Air-sealing is tricky when we’re dealing with subs who might not fully understand the concept or when we’re retrofitting an existing building. Tapes, gaskets, and sealants can all stop air movement, but they also can be slow and difficult to install in tight areas. Pro Clima’s Aerofixx is a new air-powered sealant sprayer that dispenses Aerosana-brand air-sealing compound packed in standard sausage tubes. The compound is a waterborne acrylic caulk that’s available in two formulas: Visconn for gaps up to 1⁄8 in. and a reinforced version called Visconn Fibre for gaps up to 3⁄4 in. Pro Clima promises the system, which started out in Germany where the company is headquartered, makes air-sealing difficult areas faster, easier, and more reliable.
The Visconn tubes fit into the barrel of the applicator, a two-piece disposable nozzle screws on the end, and then the tool connects to a compressor for spraying. There are two adjustments—one controls air pressure and the other the spray pattern of the material, which can be set as a solid bead of sealant or a 2-3-in.-wide spray.
I found it difficult to achieve consistent results with the Aerofixx using the recommended pressures and settings. There were instances where the stars aligned and I was able to get a great seal around ductwork and penetrations, but more often it was difficult to get the applicator to deposit enough material without the airstream blowing the sealant back out of the hole. I may just need more practice, but there’s a fair learning curve here. I did find it very useful to use the Aerofixx to deposit material in hard-to-reach areas that I then fine-tuned with a chip brush. It requires very little—almost zero—cleaning; the mess is completely contained in the disposable nozzle and the packaging of the material. The only cleanup I found necessary was having a rag handy to wipe the errant smear.
In some instances, this tool really sped up what could have been a slow task. Even if it didn’t perform exactly as advertised, I consider it a win for hard-to-detail areas.
–Ben Bogie, project manager for BPC Green Builders of Wilton, Conn.
From Fine Homebuilding #302
