Rigid woodfibre boards, whether used as sheathing, roof sarking or underlay, are one of the fastest-growing wood products in Europe today. Their use in the UK is small, but growing, and the product seems well-placed to capitalise on the drive towards environmentally-friendly/energy efficient/ healthy homes.
The supply route has developed from one-man band “woolly hat” natural building product suppliers and specialist eco-merchants to include larger builders merchants such as Travis Perkins. So far in the wider timber merchant sector, Panel Agency, EH Smith and Elliotts are among the few to take up the baton, but producers say woodfibre boards do represent an opportunity for a broader spread of businesses.
There is a huge variety of woodfibre boards, mostly at lower densities than MDF and chipboard (typically 140-240kg/m³) depending on application, with the exception of the high density Paneline and Panelvent products (the latter is also a racking board).
Benefits
Attractions include availability in standard sizes, strong environmental credentials, good insulation with high heat storage capacity and low thermal conductivity.
Andy Moore, managing director of Steico Ltd, said woodfibre was already established in the underlay market, with Steico recently winning the Wickes contract and its underlay product capacity sold out for most of 2011.
“But we’re also seeing interest in other woodfibre products such as roof sarking and wall boards, with a lot of school projects,” he said. “The other emerging market has been breathable wall systems with render on woodfibre boards. ”
Mr Moore argues that timber product distributors should get on board as woodfibre combines well with sales of CLS, I-joists and OSB.
One barrier to take-up so far was knowledge transfer, as some woodfibre products have a wide range of specifications and applications, plus the UK emphasises air-tight houses as opposed to the breathable woodfibre model.
“On the Continent woodfibre boards are massive. You’ll find them in Castorama in France and it’s the same availability in northern Italy. One reason it’s slow here is our top 10 housebuilders build 70% of houses.”
Panel Agency Ltd supplies Steico products and owns the rights to Paneline and Panelvent.
“The merchants’ perception is that it’s an insulation product and you need to know about U-values and other insulation data,” said the company’s Mark Wilson. “They also stock on demand, not speculatively. Until it becomes mainstream and they are enabled with performance data it will remain the preserve of specialists like Burdens. But it will become mainstream. Demand will push it.”
Mr Wilson said it took 15 years for Germany to move from man-made insulation to natural. “Now natural insulation has significant market share.”
Media coverage
Panelvent and Paneline boards have attracted extensive media coverage, including on Channel 4’s Grand Designs, as their use in the TRADIS closed panel breathable wall system combines the benefits of water vapour open construction, racking strength, thermal performance and low embodied energy.
The boards were formally made to Panel Agency’s specification by Masonite AB, which closed in April. It has since identified alternative manufacturing partners and has taken delivery of its first replacement boards for testing.
“We expect to relaunch the boards in August, and we still have stock of the original Panelvent and Paneline,” said Mr Wilson.
EH Smith, meanwhile, has embraced woodfibre enthusiastically in its “sustainable products” category, stocking Steico, Gutex and Homatherm. Meyer Timber managing director Richard Lazenby said there was no reason why it wouldn’t in the future. He wondered whether manufacturers currently favoured an end user route to market but said perhaps the timber industry should look more closely at woodfibre boards.
