Sika Decothane Celebrating 35 Years of Liquid Roofing Membrane
Celebrating Decothane: 35 years of Performance and Development for the UK’s leading Liquid Roofing Membrane.
Alex Coward, R&D Manager at Sika, discusses the continuous development that has kept Decothane at the forefront of liquid applied membrane specification for 35 years.
Decothane 35 Years
When it was first launched 35 years ago, Decothane was a significant innovation for the UK roofing sector, setting the benchmark for high-performance liquid-applied membranes for flat roofing applications. Since then, specification of cold-applied liquid roofing systems has grown year-on-year, and specifiers have a broad array of brands and products to choose from. Decothane has remained at the forefront of the sector, however, by continuing to drive innovation in performance, service life, safety and environmental compliance.
Alex Coward: Decothane
From the outset, the versatility and performance of the Decothane system made it a popular choice for specifiers and contractors alike. The proven technology behind the Decothane range of systems has remained the same at the core of the product for the past 35 years, enabling ambitious designs and providing a robust solution, backed by a range of Sika guarantees. Thanks to Sika’s in-house research and development capabilities in the UK and across the world, however, the Decothane range has stayed a step ahead of roofing technologies, regulatory changes and environmental considerations with an array of updates and enhancements.
The performance of the Decothane system has been a key driver for continuous R&D input over the past 35 years, which has included refinements to the core system and the addition of new products to the range, including low-odour Decothane Ultra, which is suitable for both exposed and hidden flat roof applications. Decothane Ultra was developed as a result of Sika’s R&D work on i-cure technology, which enabled the formulation of a low-odour system; an important addition to the range that allows roofing projects to take place in occupied buildings, including schools and hospitals.
Along with pioneering performance enhancements, the R&D team at Sika has also been focused on improving the safety and environmental profile of the range for the past 35 years, without losing any of Decothane’s performance characteristics. The R&D ethos has been centred around a commitment to staying a step ahead of legislation on banned substances and environmental compliance, to ensure that specifiers can always be confident of both excellent performance and responsible, sustainable specification from Decothane.
The result is a cleaner and safer solution as compared to other cold-applied liquid membranes, with all safety and chemical data clearly labelled on the data sheet. A huge vast amount of R&D know-how has also been focused on reducing the solvents and VOCs in Decothane membranes, drawing on R&D resources and ingredients from across Sika’s global network. This means that Decothane is easier to store for contractors and poses no contamination threat for watercourses, while providing a clean labelled product that answers end users’ environmental and sustainability priorities.
Decothane has already created a rich legacy on projects across the UK and beyond. At 35 years old, the Decothane range is still growing and developing, providing compliance, safety and performance for a huge variety of roofs.