The choice of cabinet base sealants is rarely the most visible part of a telecoms deployment. However, this product choice is one of the most essential practicalities due to an often overlooked factor: sealant cure time.
On high-volume telecoms rollout programmes, installers will often work to tight schedules. Take Virgin Media as just one example, with a network that reaches over 18.4m homes. Then consider just how many additional providers are out there. That’s a lot of street cabinets to seal for the teams on the job!
Installers, then, need solutions that are not only safe and easy to install, but rapidly hard-curing. That’s just where we can help.
Here’s a closer look at FILOform cabinet base sealants vs their alternatives.
Why are base sealants so important?
Without a reliable seal, street cabinets become vulnerable. This, in turn, leads to maintenance issues, equipment failure, and repeat site visits.
Cabinet base sealants create a much-needed barrier that protects telecoms infrastructure from:
- – Water ingress
- – Dust and debris
- – Pest intrusion
- – Corrosion risks
- – Long-term asset degradation
But, while sealing is essential, installation efficiency also matters.
Exploring common cabinet base sealing methods
Legacy method. Slow-curing, messy, and requires breaking out to add or maintain cables down the line. Not fit for purpose.
Aka, the quick improvisation method. Used as a quick-fix, but not designed for a lasting, compliant seal. Also not fit for purpose.
Usually require the use of cement dust in wet and damp conditions. This introduces long-term health risks to the respiratory system if inhaled. Better alternatives exist.
Offers safe chemistry and ease of re-entry. However, usually means a prolonged sealant cure time.
(Our established Virgin Media spec sealant.) Heavily specified due to proven performance and ease of installation. However, does also involve more heavily labelled materials.
The new solution from FILOform: a non-hazardous, re-enterable cabinet base sealant that cures within 20 minutes.
An evolving project landscape
During the early days, sealing was often somewhat of an afterthought in telecoms projects. (Hence, the use of concrete and foams!)
However, FILOform has grown to become a leader in this space. We’ve provided a portfolio of custom-designed sealants for telecom networks for over 60 years. Our existing Virgin Media spec cabinet base sealant, for example, has now dominated the UK market for a decade.
In recent years, though, we’ve seen increased appetite from asset owners for the most environmentally responsible product choices possible. This has led to the subsequent rise of (non-FILOform) one-component options due to their non-hazardous composition.
Unfortunately, the feedback we’re getting from the ground is that these one-component solutions can take weeks to set.
Deeper dive: the challenge of single-part cabinet base sealants
While one-component cabinet base sealants offer advantages, the simple truth of the matter is that they take a (very!) long time to set.
And, for teams on the ground, a seal that takes weeks to fully cure is not a practical solution.
A single shift will often cover multiple cabinet jobs for the installer on the move.
Here, a slow sealant cure time creates an obvious bottleneck:
- – Sealant poured
- – Sealant remains unset for a day, a week, or longer than a month in some recorded instances
- – Cabinet job cannot be completed until the sealant has eventually hardened
This waiting time obviously becomes all the more impactful when repeated across large deployment programmes.
Proof in point
To demonstrate this point, we poured out some one-part sealant and filmed its state of cure after 1 week, 3 weeks, and 6 weeks. You can see the results for yourself below.
Week 1…
(Not hardened)
Week 2…
(Not hardened)
Week 6…
(Still not hardened)
Why FILOform developed a new two-part solution
While cabinet base sealants like the above create extended working times, telecoms deployment demands exactly the opposite: fast installations with minimal waiting time.
Our fast-cure, re-enterable 2-part resin system answers this need. As we enter the new “Cabinet Base Sealant Plus” product to market, we’re already using it to actively support cabinet base sealant installations nationwide. (Alongside our well-established polyurethane option)
From what we’re seeing on site in these installations, our fast sealant cure time – coupled with ease of application – helps teams:
- – Reduce time on-site
- – Maintain installation momentum
- – Complete more cabinets per shift
- – Improve programme efficiency
And, beyond its rapid curing, our cabinet base sealant offers multiple additional advantages:
- – Easy to use and accurate filling process when pouring the resin
- – Effectively seals cable ducts against water and gas pressures
- – Prevents ingress of moisture, pests, and the intrusion of weeds, roots, and plants
- – Improves the climate inside street cabinets and transformer stations
- – Decreases interference of the equipment
- – Extends the life of the components
- – Quick and easy to apply
- – Good flow properties
- – Self-levelling characteristics
- – Good adhesion
- – Smooth and non-tacky surface
- – Suitable for telecom cabinets, feeder pillars, lighting columns, traffic control systems, and LV enclosures
- – Supported by an expert team with 60+ years’ experience in the field
Field insight: small improvement, large impact
Cabinet base sealants may seem like a small part of the installation process.
But when repeated across dozens – or hundreds – of installations, curing time becomes a significant factor in deployment efficiency.
Across the installations we’re supporting, faster curing is helping teams keep projects moving – reducing downtime and improving workflow.
Contact us for any sealing needs – we can seal 99% of openings or cable configurations in almost any environment.
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