Finishing is an important part of the overall look and feel of your new or remodeled door. Choosing the appropriate trim and hardware can add a unique and personal feel to the job.Your choices are a reflection of your experience and your professional understanding of how the options contribute to the finished product. Many door manufacturers try to do it all, but it is important to have various sources with different specialties to consult.

Huttig

Huttig is one company that provides many varying options for doors and the associated finishing. Indoor, outdoor, and patio doors all have separate purposes and designs. It is vital to determine the type of door needed for a specific job and the purposes behind the distinctive designs. For garages, PDQ Doors provides specialized products that meet the needs of your new garage door. From wood to steel, different materials serve distinct functions.

Wholesale Doors Inc.

For commercial applications, Wholesale Doors Inc. has a range of products including bathroom stalls, pre-hung doors, partitions, and temporary doors. BCS Sales provides hardware and security options for these applications and others that prioritize security. Their doors are famous for their durability, and they can withstand the abuse many industrial and commercial doors receive.

BROSCO

BROSCO has countless options for inside the home. The available doors and moldings provide many original looks. Your choices in wood, molding, and trim allow for the freedom to create a truly delightful and unique home entry way. The heavier woods offer greater protection and energy efficiency.

Cendrex

Cendrex produces doors for security compartments and access ways. These doors are simpler in design, prioritizing security and material strength over fashion.Many are rated to withstand fire. They are often used for wall safes or for crawl spaces. Remember to verify with the manufacturer that the door is applicable to your environment. Steel doors, for example, have a brief life in coastal regions with a sea breeze. Salt corrodes them faster than other options. This problem isn't applicable to other climates.

Knowing what you need is only half of the battle. The other half is finding it. These companies provide dependable services to contractors. These companies are not only for contractors: Smart and enterprising individuals with a knack for do-it-yourself construction also take advantage of these resources.

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Photo credit: woodleywonderworks / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

Photo credit: kerinin / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)

This Spring, Buy Qualifying GAF Accessories and Get Unlimited Business Building Club Reward Bucks!

BUY GAF ACCESSORIES. GET REWARD BUCKS!

It?s easy. Just purchase qualifying GAF Accessories between April 15, 2015, and June 15, 2015. Redeem your Reward Bucks at GAFBusinessBuildingClub.com.

Go to GAFBusinessBuildingClub.com to view the qualifying accessories and their values in your area. Qualifying accessories and the number of Business Building Club Reward Bucks you can earn may vary by area.á

HOW TO GET YOUR REWARDS QUICKLY:

1. Purchase qualifying GAF accessories between April 15, 2015, and June 15, 2015.á

2. Log on to GAFBusinessBuildingClub.com using your email address and password that you created during registration. NOTE: Registration for the GAF Business Building Club is FREE, and you must be a member to participate in this promotion.á

3. Complete claim form and submit invoice(s) online.á

4. Redeem your Reward Bucks upon validation of claim by following instructions provided in the GAF Business Building Club Rewards Center. Allow up to 4?6 weeks from the time claim is received for validation. Allow 8?10 weeks from the time Reward Bucks are redeemed for shipment of merchandise.

OR, IF SUBMITTING BY POSTAL MAIL:

1. Log on to GAFBusinessBuildingClub.com. NOTE: Registration for the GAF Business Building Club is FREE, and you must be a member to participate in this promotion.

2. Download and fill out the claim form completely.

3. Include it and your invoice(s) in an envelope and send to: Corporate Rewards, Greeley Square Station, 4 East 27th Street, PO Box 20306, New York, NY 10001-9998. NOTE: Be sure to make copies of your invoice(s) and your claim form for your files.

4. Redeem your Reward Bucks upon validation of claim by following instructions provided in the GAF Business Building Club Rewards Center. Allow 8?10 weeks from the time claim is received for validation. Allow 8?10 weeks from the time Reward Bucks are redeemed for shipment of merchandise.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Whether submitting online or by mail, submissions must be received by July 15, 2015, and invoices must be dated between April 15 and June 15, 2015.

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You can call it sulphate of lime, or even use the technical term of calcium sulphate dihydroxide.á Either way, you?re talking about gypsum. Gypsum is a mineral compound that's increasingly being used as a component in interior drywall boards, and with very good reason. Interior gypsum panels have a number of ideal uses, and they consistently outscore traditional drywall boards in all of them.

Standard Gypsum Panels

Gypsum panels come in a variety of different types to suit individual needs. Standard panels are typically the least expensive choice, and their features are found in all gypsum panels across the board. Features include:

• Resistance to mold, moisture and mildew
• Resistance to fire and heat
• Durable yet easy to cut without elaborate, heavy-duty tools
• Easy to install and finish
• GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certified: Many gypsum panels carry GREENGUARD certification, which means they meet the strict chemical emissions limits required for indoor use. This can contribute to a healthier, safer air quality in the home or business.

Gypsum boards? resistance to moisture makes them particularly well-suited for bathrooms, kitchen sink areas and damp environments. Their ability to resist fire and heat help them serve as a buffer between a room?s interior and the structure?s wooden framework behind the walls. If you're used to working with traditional drywall, you'll find gypsum panels just as easy to cut, install and finish. You'll also be helping to maintain a healthier interior without the risk of the panels emitting high levels of harmful chemicals.

Specialized Gypsum Panels

Sometimes your clients may have specialized needs for specific areas of the home or business, which is where other types of gypsum panels come in. In addition to enjoying all the benefits of the standard panels, specialized panels come with an array of additional features.

Sound Control

Rooms which are either particularly noisy or need to be kept quiet can benefit from gypsum boards designed to control sound. Such boards can reduce the amount of noise that filters in and out of the room.

Residential uses can include bedrooms or nurseries to keep sound out. They also work well in game rooms or family rooms to keep noise from penetrating to other areas of the home. Using a sound control board on specific walls, such as one between a bedroom and the family room?s wall-mounted TV set, is another ideal option. Commercial applications for sound control boards can include yoga and meditation studios, broadcasting and recording studios, classrooms and areas used for band or choir practice.

Resistance to Heavy Abuse and Impact

Two more types of panels include those designed to withstand heavy abuse and others that stand up to high impacts. While the two types are similar, heavy impact boards have an additional layer of durability over panels designed for heavy abuse.

Heavy abuse panels feature a high-density gypsum core encased in abrasion-resistant paper. This gives them to power to stand up to scraping, scuffing, abrasions and slight indentations that may otherwise mar the standard board. Residential uses can include hallways, game rooms or children?s play areas. Commercial uses run the gamut from schools to hospitals, day-care centers to office corridors.

Heavy impact boards are for areas likely to be subjected to impact from hard objects. Even more durable than the high-abuse boards, heavy impact panels are designed to resist impact and penetration through the drywall. The garage is an ideal place for heavy impact boards, especially in areas where tools or gardening implements are stored. They also work well in weight rooms, kickboxing studios or other areas where potential impacts from hard objects may otherwise make a hole in standard drywall.

Outfitting a home or business with several different types of interior gypsum panels can ensure specific needs are met while keeping projects economical. Even the standard gypsum panels give you an edge over traditional drywall, helping to ensure high quality, performance and customer satisfaction rates.

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Sources:

http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-gypsum.htm

http://nationalgypsum.com/resources/faqs/xp.htm#a3

Fire is always a concern, causing drastic damage every year. In 2014 alone, the National Fire Protection Association estimated that there were 1,298,000 fires reported in the United States, responsible for 3,275 deaths, 15,775 injuries and approximately $11.6 billion in damage. Nearly half a million of those fires were structural, accounting for the large majority of deaths, injuries and damage. But how do you stop a fire in its tracks, either in a new construction or a retrofit? Hilti has been working on the answer with their Firestop products. Let's take a look at the available products and solutions.

Hilti's Firestop Solutions

Hilti provides a range of solutions for specifiers and other design and construction professionals. These resources include one of the most comprehensive research and resource libraries in existence, allowing you to search and filter for the exact situation you're dealing with. They also have available a team of highly-qualified fire protection engineers to work with developing a plan of action for projects that fall outside of their existing library of options. They have a range of continuing education opportunities in addition to their Hilti Accredited Firestop Specialty Contractor program. From curtain walls to cable management, Hilti has looked at potential fire situations and developed exceptionally well thought out solutions.

Obviously, the people at Hilti have spent a lot of time developing exceptional specifications and options for a variety of situations. But beyond that, they've also developed a wide range of products to be incorporated in a new construction or retrofit job. Here are a few of their more popular products.

Cast-In and Sleeve Devices

Whether you need to penetrate a concrete slab or work cables through an existing wall, these devices make it easy to pass cables and other penetrating items through a wall while still providing smoke and moisture barriers, helping prevent the spread of smoke and water damage following a fire.

Sealants and Sprays

These fire-stopping materials can be worked into cracks and crevices, sealing the bottom of a wall, spraying into joints and self-leveling sealant to get into retrofit areas that would otherwise be difficult to impossible to seal. They do a great job of sealing out water, smoke and fire, preventing the fire and related damage from spreading outside of a contained area.

Collars, Wraps and Bandages

Because it can be really difficult to seal around pipes, conduit and other perforations through your perimeter, Hilti has developed a line of collars and wraps to help seal these hard to seal areas. Their collars wrap around cables, pipes and similar materials, providing a ready solution to fire protection right out of the box, while the wrap can be used around oddly-shaped protrusions.

Mortars

Unlike the sleeve devices, collars and wraps, which may hit an end of life point where they no longer provide protection against fire, Hilti's mortar provides a permanent solution to cable, pipe and conduit openings that may otherwise pass fire, smoke and moisture from one part of the structure to another. It can be placed by using a trowel, pumping or pouring it exactly where it needs to be.

Putties

If you need to maintain a certain amount of flexibility in your system, such as the expansion and contraction of water pipes as the temperature changes within, the range of putties available from Hilti provides a great option. Available in rolls, discs, patches and sticks, the putty shapes to any oddly-shaped materials that need to perforate the wall.

Block & Plug Systems

When you're undertaking a retrofit, sometimes the easiest way to seal a perforation that is no longer needed is by blocking it off or plugging it. Hilti provides blocks, plugs, boards and rolls of material that will help seal up outdated pass-through locations.

Hilit Firestop Video

Stopping a fire will help prevent the dramatic losses that may otherwise occur, easily paying for itself when it stops the first blaze. If you need more information about firestopping products, please download our free product guide below.

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Hilti

Hilti is well known for its high quality. It manufactures both direct fasteners as well as anchor fasteners, but tends to be more multi-purpose or general that some fastener brands. If you need extreme data and documentation, Hilti supplies some of the best in the business, with over 600 pages of information on their fasteners alone.

ITW

When it comes to fastening sheathing, foam board, roofing or hanging items on drywall, ITW provides an excellent assortment of plastic-based fasteners to prevent wind shear damage to large, thin, lightweight materials. Much like Star Sales, they don't provide a lot of technical information, but if you need these types of fasteners to get the job done, you probably already know a great deal about them and how they're used.

Scorpion

Scorpion is another company that provides fasteners for a few specific needs, specifically drywall, decking and acoustical products. With a range of products developed over the past 40 years, they offer an exceptional selection of fasteners for virtually any fastening task within the industries they serve. They feature an assortment of Phillips, square and star drive heads, which can make them much easier to drive without stripping.

Ramset

When you need to get a job done quickly, Ramset provides exceptional options with its powder and gas tool options. Recent additions to their line include insulation, concrete and hollow block fasteners, while their other fasteners include angle clips, ceiling clips, collated fasteners and their line of single shot fasteners to help keep the job siteámoving along efficiently. The powder-actuated fasteners work well for high-strength material when you need to drive a great number of fasteners in a day.

Star Sales

With over 85 years in the industry, Star Sales provides a great selection of general construction fasteners at a good price point. They don't provide the kind of information Hilti does, but does a good job of generally meeting construction needs with good quality fasteners for decking, drywall and wood, as well as producing fasteners that meet the requirements of other specialty manufacturers or tool companies, such as DeWalt and Ramset.

Grabber

Framing, sheathing, drywall and acoustical fasteners are the specialties that Grabber has built its name around. They've also spent a great deal of time developing fasteners to deal with specific problems in each of those industries, including their Scavanger drywall screw that spreads out the fastener's pressure further to prevent paper burrs, Vector point screws for faster fastening of metal framing, their Lox Drive system that prevents stripping and similar developments.

GEMCO

Gemco is another specialty fastening company, providing insulation fastening products that are designed specifically for that purpose. They provide a wide range of options for different types of foam board, blanket or batt insulation and fastening surfaces. From washer head nails and adhesives to weld pins and washers for sheet foam and lacing anchors and quilting pins for fiberglass and other soft blanket or batt insulation, Gemco has a product to meet virtually any need.

As you can see, there is actually a significant difference between these brands and how the fasteners will perform on the job. If you need more information about a particular brand of fasteners, please download our fasteners product guide below.

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