DAP Products - History

History

DAP traces its roots back to 1865, when Robert H. Dicks and Elmer Wiggim began producing sealing wax for food canning out of Dicks’s garage in Dayton, Ohio. In those days before refrigeration and commercially prepared foods, canning was a general practice. In 1906, Dicks bought out Wiggim and joined with George Pontius, incorporating their partnership in 1913 as the Dicks-Pontius Company. When Robert Dicks died, his son John entered the business and expanded it to include putty and caulk manufacturing in bulk form.

In the 1940s and 1950s the Dicks-Pontius Company began selling caulks and sealants in disposable cartridges. Through the 1950s, the company grew through several acquisitions, including a merger with the Chicago-based Armstrong Company in 1957. The resulting entity was renamed Dicks-Armstrong-Pontius, which was eventually shortened to the brand name DAP.

In 1964, DAP developed the first latex caulking compounds followed with acrylic latex technology in 1970.

DAP began offering silicone sealants in the mid-1980s. In the 1990s, the Plastic Wood brand became DAP products. DAP acquired Phenoseal in 2004 and Custom Building Products ready-mix repair products in 2006.

DAP has five manufacturing or distribution facilities in the United States of America, Mexico and Canada that service North America and the world.