'Burping' a Smooth Move for Caulking Tubes

The self-burping tube, a new standard in caulking tubes, saves on flaws, time and money for painting contractors

You could insist on buying a car without ABS brakes, or an analog radio with vacuum tubes – but why would you? The same question now applies to caulking tubes: You could buy them without the "self-burping" control innovation, but why make it tougher to lay down a smooth bead and get it right the first time?

"Even if you are an experienced painter, an air burst from a caulking tube can present unexpected trouble," says Wayne Pulman, sales manager with Research Plastic Inc. (Windsor, Ont. Canada), a manufacturer of injection-molded plastic caulking tubes used throughout the sealant and adhesives industries. "Once the caulking gun hits an air pocket in the tube, you get a splatter or gap in a bead that is virtually impossible to fix without wiping it clean and starting over again."

Leading Manufacturers

Such re-dos cost labor time and money as well as materials, or worse, flawed workmanship. Those are problems that Pulman’s firm takes to heart. Although Research Plastic does not make or sell caulking products, they are a leading manufacturer of the plastic tubes that are virtually universal containers of caulking products today. Theirs are the plastic 10.5oz (300ML) tubes with an integral 3-inch nozzle.

The culprit that often causes gaps, splatters and other applicator irregularities is air in the caulking tube, air pockets that were created when the tubes were loaded, much to the dismay of caulking manufacturers. Despite concerted efforts throughout the adhesives and sealants industries, the avoidance of troublesome air pockets that accompanied the filling of caulking tubes was a costly nuisance – until Plastic Research developed a self-burping" plastic caulking tube that allows air to escape the caulking tubes during the filling process, thereby virtually eliminating the air pocket problem. This patented process not only eliminates expensive caulking application errors, but also overcomes messy and disruptive mishaps at caulking manufacturing plants.

You can identify self-burping caulking tubes, now available in major brands of silicones, acrylic latex, polyurethane and other fillers and adhesives by looking for four 1.25-inch ridges located on the back of plastic caulking tubes. Those ridges are actually self-sealing vents that allow the air to escape from the plastic tubes as they are filled with caulking materials.

Great for Repair Work

"The self-burping caulking tubes are great for repair work, too. I found them especially handy in getting a perfect bead between paint and marbelite or in filling crevices or repairing grout between tiles," says John Apgar, a retired tile setter and painter from Morristown, NJ. Apgar points out that, in addition to eliminating caulking problems, plastic tubes are a lot more reliable than their old cardboard counterparts. "You don’t have to worry about the plastic tubes leaking or bursting, even if they get tossed around on the job," Apgar says.

The self-burping plastic caulking tubes made by Plastic Research fit into any standard 11oz. caulking gun for applications in the automotive, construction, do-it-yourself and painting industries.

"Whether you’re a professional painter or just a handyman around the house, I think these self-burping tubes will save you mistakes that cost money and headaches," Apgar says. "The beautiful part is, they don’t cost any more and they are becoming the new standard of the caulking industry. So, if you ant to do a better job easier, just look for the 4 ridges on the bottom of the plastic caulking tube."

Great Solution

Research Plastic had been manufacturing regular plastic caulking tubes for some years when, in the 1990s, several caulking manufacturers starting coming to them with the problems they were having. "We had a number of our customers come to us and start talking about their problems with trying to keep air out of the tubes, and we decided to address the problem with research," says sales manager Wayne Pulman. "We developed the self-burping tube, and it has been a great solution for them."

Another important self-burping tube feature that benefit caulking manufacturers is a lead-in angle at the bottom of the tube that automatically lines up the plunger to insert easily into the tube, preventing the plunger from tilting and allowing it to sit correctly before it is pushed into the bottom of the tube. The plunger itself is also an improvement over older tubes—a larger plunger creates a better friction fit scraping the inside wall of the tube and ensuring that all caulking material is actually expelled.

For more information, please contact Wayne Pulman at (519)796-3023, or send an email to: wayne.pulman@researchplastic.com. For additional contact information, please go to our Contact page.