Compton HS: ‘One-Step System’ Revamps Code Compliance

In Compton, Calif., there’s a high-tech new campus being built that will take high-school learning to a higher level. The Compton Unified School District placed considerable resources into the custom-designed campus — an estimated $200 million, including $10 million donated by legendary hip-hop producer Dr. Dre for the school’s new performing arts center — to really double down on unifying and elevating its students and educators.

For Swinerton, the builders behind the project, construction on this colossal project (including new academic buildings, a football field, track and aquatics center) would require embracing innovation on practically every level of their work; this was no time to rest on their laurels. One major area where modernization was desperately needed was in their code compliance. Their usual method of “stuff and spray” with mineral wool and fire/acoustical sealant was too messy, too time-consuming and not reliable enough.

They went searching for a better, faster way. And they found it in Trim-Tex’s Fire Gasket and Sound Gasket solutions. Watch the video below and read on to learn more about the Compton High School project and how we were able to help.

Fire & Sound Gasket: 'They love it. I love it. It goes fast.' | Compton High School Case Study

The project: ‘Connect. Unify. Elevate.’

Compton High School sits on the oldest high school campus in the Compton Unified School District. Despite a long, celebrated history of producing some of our brightest minds in a variety of fields, the school was showing its age, and wasn’t living up to its own high standards.

For the architects and builders behind this project, innovation was at the forefront of every decision they made, as was the motto: “Connect. Unify. Elevate.” As a result, the academic buildings were designed with a uniquely interconnected approach, with separate suites that can be linked together with moveable walls for collaborative learning. This will allow educators to customize their spaces and students to learn through a range of methods and environments. Meanwhile, the entire campus is unified around an “Academic Boulevard” stretching from the area’s civic center to its public park/bikeway. The goal of this boulevard is to not just create a unified school, but an entire unified community.

The solution: ‘One piece literally goes up in five seconds’

When we visited the Compton High School project, we spoke to all kinds of different tradespeople involved in different levels of the interior buildout, and they all said the same thing: we usually have to do “stuff and spray”-style code compliance, and we hate it.

“Stuff and spray” — stuffing a wall joint with mineral wool and spraying firestopping or acoustical foam sealant over top — is the most common way of outfitting fire and sound rated wall systems in many regions. So why do installers like the ones at Swinerton hate it so much? The mineral wool is cumbersome to jam behind the drywall and itchy to use, the spray foam is messy and, since the dosages are tricky to get right, neither is 100% reliable.

Meanwhile, the Fire Gasket and Sound Gasket solutions from Trim-Tex are the exact opposite — they are installed fast and easy by simply sticking them to the track pre-drywall; they are pre-formed methods of firestopping, ensuring a consistent level of firestopping and soundproofing capabilities wherever they’re installed; and they are built to stay flexible, strong and powerful for the life of the wall system. In short, for code compliance, Fire Gasket and Sound Gasket matched the forward-thinking mindset guiding the rest of the Compton High School project.

“The Sound Gasket and Fire Gasket is installed five times faster than traditional stuff and spray,” says Swinerton Foreman César Guzman. “Each stick of Trim-Tex has the self-adhesive in the back and you just stick it on. One piece literally goes up in five seconds. To stuff and spray, we'd have a taper in here for hours.”

“It's a one-step system — it goes on easily, it cuts easily,” adds Superintendent Doug Hernandez. “There's definitely no itch when you're stuffing it with mineral wool, so that's big for all the guys. They love it. I love it. It goes fast. It helps with production. We have, literally, thousands and thousands of linear feet of this product being installed on this project … Once it goes in, it's done. You walk away. The production alone, it's extremely fast.”

Trim-Tex Fire and Sound Gaskets ‘increase productivity and lower our costs overall’

Both Fire and Sound Gasket solutions are composed of a slab of high-quality PVC — colored pink and blue, respectively, to be easily identifiable to inspectors — equipped with a flexible bubble gasket at its apex that provides the wall with a certain degree of controlled structural movement (½” to 1 ½”, depending on the size of the bead selected). Both are, as mentioned by Guzman, installed by simply pressing the attached strip of adhesive foam into place on the framing member, ensuring the bubble gasket is compressed to the adjoining substrate and no gaps are left in the joint between pieces. (They may optionally be fastened to the framing using appropriate ½” screws through the adhesive foam on its lower leg).

Fire Gasket is additionally fitted with an innovative strip of intumescent tape (found on each member of Trim-Tex’s family of fire rated solutions) that, when exposed to intense heat, expands to 30 times its size to seal off the gap and prevent the spread of fire and smoke.

“The product itself is very easy to apply, which helps out on the labor because most of our cost is directly involved in the labor aspect of what we do,” says Senior Project Manager Paul Ortiz. “Being able to increase productivity and lower our costs overall, and speed up the install, really helped out on this project.”

Both Fire and Sound Gaskets are, essentially, unlike anything else in the interior code compliance field. They are rapidly becoming more popular in commercial construction because, like the folks at Swinerton, anyone who uses them quickly finds out just how much easier, faster and cleaner they are to use than traditional code compliance methods.

But, yes, especially where complex subjects like building codes are involved, embracing the new like those working on the new Compton High School project did can be difficult. This is where having a partner who can help step-by-step through the process can be instrumental.

“Change is difficult,” says Ortiz. “People like to not really change and step outside of what they're doing. A lot of times, when you introduce a new product or you introduce a new idea, there's a lot of hesitation to what the guys want to do in the field. Being able to have Trim-Tex support and having them come out and show us and walk us through the installation really helped put a lot of people's concerns at ease. It helped the senior guys and the more junior guys see the product, see how it gets put in place, and allow for people to accept the idea of moving forward with this product.”

Thank you to the team at Swinerton and the Compton Unified School District for allowing us to come out and see their excellent work for ourselves. The new Compton High School is expected to open in 2025. Want to get a closer look at Fire Gasket for yourself? Hit the button below to request a free sample.

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