Inkster Park Millwork Ltd. had been building doorframes from solid fir material since its inception. By 1993 the Company could see of the emerging trend toward more maintenance free exteriors for window and door products. Extruded PVC profiles were now in use for vinyl windows. One company now offered hollow PVC profiles for doorframes.
At Inkster Park Millwork Ltd. we experimented with this hollow PVC profile door frame material, but found that we had to fill the hollow portions with wood to provide sufficient strength and stiffness. This was very time-consuming and expensive. If we were filling the hollow PVC profiles with wood anyway, maybe there was a better way.
At a key North American machinery show we discovered the evolving profile wrapping technology and contemplated the use of this technology, with a new adhesive technology, for our products. We performed extensive research and developed the idea of milling solid wood profiles, then forming, wrapping, and adhering a heavy gauge exterior vinyl surface onto the pre-milled wood door frame profiles.
Expensive, European, state-of-the-art machinery was required, along with extensive training, in addition to the newly developed adhesive technology. Thorough testing proved out our invention and the vinyl wrap door frame system was born. Other accessory profiles were also developed to complement the door frame systems. We were the first to market with this system. We trademarked our invention Ektacron®.
The vinyl surface of the Ektacron® profile is a heavy gauge, exterior grade, UV safe vinyl (PVC). The vinyl surface is intimately bonded to the structural wood core using Polyurethane Reactive Hot Melt (Cross-Linking) Adhesives, eliminating any possibility of moisture collection between the vinyl surface and the wood core.
Ektacron® profiles are designed to work in almost any climate. Service temperatures have ranged from a low of -49°F (-45°C) to over 100°F (38°C). The superior design and manufacture of the Ektacron® system does not allow the movement of the tough vinyl surface relative to the wood profile underneath.
Samples have also been tested in boiling water (212°F; 100°C). Even after six hours boiling time, there is no movement of the vinyl surface relative to the wood profile. Clearly this is a torture test that goes well beyond anything that Mother Nature can throw at it!
