As the world continues to navigate challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, maintaining social distance on a construction site is an important way to keep workers safe and ensure work remains on schedule. Yet when projects require more than one set of hands it can often be difficult to maintain proper distance.
Thankfully, working apart doesn’t have to hamper productivity. A number of innovating framing and finishing products from ClarkDietrich help to streamline installation and to achieve superior results with fewer people, making it easier to safely distance without impacting project schedules. Here are a few examples of ClarkDietrich products that are helping contractors remain apart while remaining productive:
- BlazeFrame® Fire Stop Products
BlazeFrame is an innovative steel framing firestop system. An intumescent strip affixed to steel profiles simultaneously frames and firestops seals both dynamic and static joints. Because they eliminate the need to apply caulks or sealants to the framing member, BlazeFrame products naturally contribute to social distancing by requiring fewer people on site at any given time.
- RedHeader PRO® Rough Opening System
RedHeader PRO is designed to replace conventional boxed headers and built-up jambs and provide better results in half the time. One-piece headers and jambs eliminate the additional studs, track and screws required to frame conventional rough openings. Headers and jambs are also pre-cut to specified lengths to eliminate field cutting.
Fewer parts and pieces means less personnel needed at the job site for framing rough openings.
- TRAKLOC® Drywall Framing System
Unlike traditional steel studs, which are cut to length for varying jobsite conditions, TRAKLOC allows contractors to order one length member and “adjust” the length accordingly to make up for variances in the slab. The TRAKLOC Stud and TRAKLOC Track systems consists of a traditional-style framing member combined with an interlocking adjustable component, which eliminates the need to screw studs into the track. The adjustable portion allows for telescopic length adjustments and can accommodate variances in the slab, minor wall heights per floor, etc.
- Danback® Flexible Wood Backing system
Danback can take a job that once required two workers and make it a one-man job, further promoting social distance. Featuring fire-retardant treated wood, Danback reduces steel stud backing installation time by up to 90 percent by eliminating cutting, notching, ripping and routing.
- Easy Embedment System™
Comprised of Structa Wire and E-Flange™ Casing Beads and Control Joints, the ClarkDietrich Easy Embedment System makes it possible to achieve expert exterior stucco installations without a crew of experts. Structa Wire comes in rolls, not sheets, which are rolled out continuously across the wall with no vertical seams and no stapling or wire-tying required on the horizontal laps. It provides superior stucco embedment to traditional diamond lath products, with up to 80% greater embedment using the same application techniques as standard lath sheets. In addition to achieving greater embedment, the raised flanges of the E-Flange profiles also allow for easier tying of accessories to the lath, further simplifying a complex job and making master-level exterior finish jobs possible from a smaller, socially-distanced crew.