Hacker Industries, Inc., supplier of Firm-Fill Sound Control Mats (SCM) and Firm-Fill Gypsum Concrete Underlayments (GCU), is excited to offer a new product in its continued effort to lead the underlayment industry in quality control. Hacker Reinforcement is used in conjunction with Firm-Fill SCM and Firm-Fill GCU for crack suppression and to reduce underlayment pour depth. Conditions such as potential movement of the subfloor, which can cause underlayments or hard surface floor goods to crack, have typically been handled by installing expensive and difficult-to-install metal lath prior to the underlayment pour. Hacker Reinforcement is a cost-efficient, reliable alternative to traditional metal lath.

Hacker Reinforcement is highly durable, yet light and easy to cut, reducing installation time over metal lath. Composed of a PVC-coated non-woven fiberglass grid, Hacker Reinforcement has no memory, remains dimensionally stable in hot weather, and does not become brittle in cold weather. Hacker Reinforcement, and its raw materials, are made right here in the United States.

“I am very familiar with the tensile strength of metal lath, so I was initially apprehensive that this fiberglass grid could replicate the same results,” Richard Barnhart, Vice President of Barnhart Specialty Contracting, Inc. said. “After using it once on a project, we found that it worked very, very well. The reinforcement bonded well with the Firm-Fill gypsum concrete and the subfloor and it allowed us to pour a ½” less in depth to achieve the desired results.”