Wintertime Repairs and Being Prepared: A Conversation With Darci Kunard

By Cass Jacoby, RCS Reporter. 

Learn about the long performance history of Titebond® WeatherMaster™ Sealant and how you can offer superior winter maintenance. 

In an episode of Roofing Road Trips, Heidi Ellsworth interviews Darci Kunard, senior product manager of DuraMaster, about wintertime repairs. Specifically, they talk about Titebond WeatherMaster Sealant and strategies for roofing contractors to offer maintenance in all kinds of weather as well as how important it is as a contractor to have the right product at the right time. 

Darci Kunard has been in the sealant business for nearly ten years. She has been sealant product manager for Franklin International for almost three years. She “absolutely adores sealants...that's what keeps us safe, and dry, and free of pests and mold. I know it's rare to have someone who is very passionate about sealants but I am that person.” 

Titebond WeatherMaster Sealant is one of Darci’s favorite sealants due to its verastility. The high-performance, superior polymer formula sealant has offered protection over a decade. “Titebond is very well known for its glues. That's a staple that has been driving our product portfolio since the 1930s,” adds Darci. 

“One thing that makes Franklin [International] extremely unique is that we are a chemical company and produce our own polymers for our products,” says Darci. “That is one of the things that makes the WeatherMaster line unique as well. In addition to fantastic adhesion it also has extreme flexibility, so it will expand and contract up to 50% of the joint size, and that's throughout the entire WeatherMaster portfolio.” 

Darci notes that adding WeatherMaster products is an excellent strategy for roofing contractors to be able to offer superior winter maintenance in low temperatures without losing performance and flexibility. WeatherMaster products “have specific characteristics that make them that all-weather sealants, so you can apply in extreme weather conditions, whether it's zero degrees or 120 degrees outside. It'll stick to wet surfaces, damp surfaces, [it’s] UV resistant, of course; and then [there’s] that great strong adhesion and movement capability,” says Darci. 

Darci adds that having high-performance products like WeatherMaster sealant on hand “highlights that contractors are using top-of-the-line, unmatched performance products. And that is something that says to your clients ‘we're going to stand behind our work, we have products that back that up.’” 

In terms of saving time, especially in winter weather, having a sealant in which you have full confidence will perform outside and on a surface that doesn't have to be completely dry is a game changer. “If you're constantly reading the back of the tube and wondering, ’Is this actually going to work?’ with the WeatherMaster line you never have to wonder about that,” says Darci.   

Listen to the entire podcast to learn more about Franklin International, Titebond and WeatherMaster, and offering superior wintertime maintenance.