MCA’s Ralph Townsend, one of MCA’s Sales Reps out of the Naperville store, is a modern day Renaissance man. You just don’t know it – yet.

He has one of the longest work histories of any of MCA’s employees. He’s been here over 20 years! After meeting one of MCA’s original owners, Jim Longfield and his wife, Kitty, through social contacts, Ralph hired on with MCA when he decided to leave his job as a sales manager at Rollaway Conveyor to a find better opportunity.

Before his job at Rollaway Conveyor, his career included working on high performance carburetion at Holley Carburetor, being a high school teacher and basketball coach, and owning a gas station.

Given Ralph’s philosophy that relationships are built on trust and that trust comes from repeated good experiences over time, his longevity with MCA and his own developed customer base come as no surprise. “I believe in growing together with my clients…I have their long term best interests at heart and that makes for a win-win situation for both of us,” says Townsend when asked about his secret for success.

But work isn’t the only thing that’s important to Ralph. Ralph’s second love is the game of golf. From spring to fall Ralph is out hitting that little white ball around many local courses. In the winter, he vacations in a warm climate just so he can get in more rounds and improve his game.

His first love is his family. He has two children and five grandchildren and they all live in the Chicago area. So, he gets to spend quality time spoiling the grandkids and then merrily returns them to his children as he heads back home. His significant other, Evy, has four grandchildren so Ralph has a total of nine to love and dote on.

And his home is another important and interesting part of Ralph’s life. He lives in a Kane County house that pre-dates the Civil War. After re-working the first floor himself a few years back, Ralph has recently hired on some contractors to help him gut and refinish the second floor of this dirt and stone foundation landmark. Tucked into the rafters, a doctor’s notebook was discovered by the contractors. The book logged in patient visits and fees. A doctor’s appointment cost only 25 cents back in 1846! “What a deal,” says Townsend.

To someone like Ralph who knows how important longevity and history is in all aspects of life, he simply wants to tell his customers thanks for their business and great relationships over the years.

A. MCA carries two great products from the Sonneborn® company for just this application - SL 1 caulking and backer-rod. The self-leveling SL 1 caulk forms a weather tight seal that withstands joint movement, abrasion, and punctures. Combine it with the backer-rod product and you now have an elastomeric seal that absorbs very low amounts of moisture, accepts joint movement and maintains the color integrity of sealants and substrates.

The backer-rod does three jobs, each one increasing the effectiveness of the joint and sealant.

1. It controls the depth of the sealant in proper relationship to the joint width,
2. It provides a backing against which the sealant is applied forcing the sealant to fill in to the sides of the joint, and
3. It prevents three-sided bonding to ensure that the joint sealant moves and functions properly.

Besides driveways this system works really well for dynamic joints in masonry, pre-cast panel joints, window and door frame perimeters, coping joints, glazing joints, and expansion joints of all kinds.

Be sure to substitute Sonneborn’s NP 1 for SL 1 in all vertical applications as it is not a self-leveling caulk. It’s just as easy to apply with a caulk gun as the SL 1 product. NP 1 comes in many assorted colors and SL 1 comes in grey and limestone.

Stop in we’ll show you how to use it!