Bestbath

• SnapJoints and SpringClips for efficient and durable assembly of composite showers. • Tile inset pockets for shower design customization. Jay reports that, most recently, the company has reached beyond tubs and showers and has utilized its knowledge of composite products to enter the area of exterior cladding, which functions as the protective “skin” of a building, protecting its interior and structural parts from different outside elements. “Composites have been around for a very long time,” he notes. “As an example, a commonly- known composite is concrete – cement and gravel. And then there are more advanced composites like the tires we drive on – rubber and steel. The oldest composite is adobe bricks – mud and straw. What we have are polyester resins coming together with glass fiber reinforcement that we use to make composite showers. The Corvette auto body was made out of fiberglass – it’s a very similar technology. Carbon-fiber airplanes are the exact same.” Up until recently, the problem with composite- based exterior cladding has been its potential fire hazard. According to Jay, it’s the reason that, heretofore, elaborate architectural structures made of composite materials, such as those seen at Disneyland or along the strip in Las Vegas, are never more than four stories tall – international fire codes restrict their height because if they ever do catch fire, the smoke that the materials emit would be toxic. So, although composites have no design limits, they have had limits on their application. But that has now changed. “Through industry progress, we’ve figured out how to solve the fire retardancy issue,” says Jay, “and we’ve partnered with Bill Kreysler, the designer of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, a seven- story structure that they did all with fiberglass and, with a bit of ingenuity, meets the international building code.” So far, Jay reports that Bestbath has provided its composite cladding solutions for four buildings. Zions Bank would like to congratulate FOR 50 YEARS IN BUSINESS. BESTBATH Zions Bank, a division of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. Member FDIC