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Fiberboard insulating sheathing: definition, ingredients, history, use. This article describes and provides photographs that aid in identifying various insulating board sheathing materials used on building walls and roofs, such as Homasote, Celotex, Insulite, and Masonite insulating board sheathing products. Here we provide fiberboard product names and we describe the components, properties, and applications of various fiberboard, hardboard, and insulating board or sound deadening board products. We also answer questions such as do Celotex or Homasote or other fiberboard and insulating board products contain asbestos? fiberboard water resistance, fiberboard recycling. Green links show where you are. © Copyright 2013 InspectAPedia.com, All Rights Reserved. Author Daniel Friedman. Fiberboard Building Sheathing: Black board, grayboard, buffaloboard exterior sheathing
What is Fiberboard Insulating Sheathing?Fiberboard insulating sheathing board was used and continues in use as a structural wall sheathing board 15/32-inches thick (one board was 1/2") and with R-value of about 1.5. Fiberboard insulating sheathing was and continues to be made of plant cellulose such as wood fibers, combined with a binder, a water-resistive coating or component (such as paraffin and/or asphalt), and other treatments that we detail below. Structural properties and moisture resistance were confirmed by US FPL testing. Moisture uptake did not exceed 2.2%.[15] Readers should also see Sheathing, Gypsum board, and SHEATHING, OSB as well as Sheathing, Plywood for a discussion of these common building roof and wall sheathing products. At Plaster & Beaverboard & Drywall we discuss other interior sheathing boards that were used on interior walls and ceilings. At SIDING HARDBOARD we discuss hardboard exterior building siding such as sold under the Abatibi and Boise Cascade brands. At Mold on Fiberboard Insulating Sheathing we discuss mold growth on or in fiberboard sheathing. A History of Fiberboard Insulating SheathingIn addition to plywood, OSB, and gypsum board, impregnated fiberboard produced in 4 ft. widths and varying lengths up to 12-feet has been used as exterior building insulating sheathing in North America since at least 1909 (see our discussion of Homasote™, below and see Masonite™ and other hardboard Sheet and Siding Building Materials). Actually hardboard is older than that. According to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, fiberboard was first patented in 1858 and was produced by a number of manufacturers (listed below) and made of a variety of plant fibers (including bagasse from sugar cane) or wood chips, wood byproducts, and by one company waste paper and by another company flax shives [12][15] . Indeed it was Lyman's 1858 invention of a method for separating the fibers of wood, probably born from other work on improving the cotton gin, felting hat bodies, and making paper, that made these products possible.[13] Fiberboard wall sheathing (an example fiberboard product photograph is shown at above left), when intended for use on a building exterior is installed by nailing directly to the wall studs, most often with let-in diagonal bracing or plywood panel bracing at the building corners to assure building rigidity. A 1955 U.S. FPL report offers the early history of growth in the use of insulating fiberboard sheathing.
In earliest use, fiberboard sheathing material was sold as a means of insulating the home at little additional cost since it was used to replace the horizontal or diagonal tongue-and-groove board sheathing that was in wide practice up to the 1940's or 50's; but despite early claims (later dropped) that wood fiber sheathing was a structural material, in homes where fiberboard sheathing was used, additional framing was commonly constructed at the building corners as diagonal bracing to stiffen the building walls. Modern product literature for fiberboard insulation[2] and standards for products such SturdyBrace® Structural Fiberboard Sheathing [14] make clear that the product is produced and used as structural sheathing. Quoting:
Synonyms for Fiberboard Insulating SheathingSynonyms for fiberboard include: brown board or brownoard, insulating board, Celotex, Homasote, Insulite, "fibre-board (Br.); fibreboard (Br.); carton-fibre (Fr.); carton fort (Fr.); aglomerado de madeira (Port.); particle board; composition board; wallboard; hardboard; fiber board; high-density fiberboard (HDF); medium-density fiberboard (MDF); low-density fiberboard (LDF)[11] Additional fiberboard insulating sheathing product names appear throughout this article. Fiberboard Manufacturers & Product Brand Names
In the article below we provide additional details about fiberboard product names and we describe the components, properties, and applications of various fiberboard, hardboard, and insulating board or sound deadening board products. These product names include What is Fiberboard Insulating Sheathing Made Of?
Wood fiber is the most common material used in the manufacture of insulating fiberboard. Two large companies use bagasse, while another company's board is composed mostly of waste paper. Flax shives are used to some extent by one manufacturer.[15] There has been a variety of techniques to produce, bond, and give desirable properties (waterproofing, vermin proofing, rigidity, structural strength, sound and heat insulating properties) to fiberboard products, in general the boards are made from a mixture of ingredients that are pressed or rolled, and bonded using asphalt, clay, decxtrin, paraffin wax, plaster, urea formaldehyde resin, or other binders. Carbon black is used by some manufacturers in very small quantities (about 1%). Our photo (above left, provided by a reader) illustrates use of fiberboard sheathing beneath a brick veneer wall. The demolition was performed during building renovations. Fiberboard sheets or lumber have been produced in three densities for different applications:
There both non-structural and structural fiberboard panels that did not require this additional bracing have been produced. Some fiberboard sheathing products can claim adequate structural shear strength, particularly if the proper nails and nail pattern are used.
Fiberboard sheathing, also called black board, gray board, or buffalo board sheathing in some areas, is a fibrous material impregnated by (or in some cases coated with) a stabilizer and water repellant - asphalt on early versions of this material that we have found. While it's not easy to find and identify this material on a building wall unless indoor or outdoor demolition is being performed, you can spot the product in building attics on the gable-end walls. The R-value of fiberboard sheathing is higher than plywood, gypsum board, etc, and is rated at about R 2.4 per inch (or about R 1.2 in more typical half-inch thickness with which it is applied. The board also reduces sound transmission into buildings. r framing in North America continued until about 1920. (CF Reference due: Age of Barns, op.cit.). Importance of Protecting Fiberboard Insulating Sheathing from WaterQuestion: can you seal Celotex board in the attic? will sealants harm it?Can you seal the celotex board in the attic, does it have a negative affect on the Celotex - Steve 3/16/2012 Reply: sealing insulating fiberboard is not necessary - it is moisture resistant - but insulating fiberboard should be kept dry during construction and protected by a moisture barrier between wall siding and the sheathingSteve, if you are asking about painting Celotex or similar fiberboard products, you can do so, but with the caveat that unless you use a suitable paint, perhaps a lacquer primer/sealer such as BIN, you may get brown bleed-through of the material. Paint won't injure the board nor harm its insulating properties, though it might slightly affect its sound insulating properties.
From this and from our warning just below you will see that seal-coating an insulating fiberboard as a move to reduce moisture uptake is unnecessary in normal use as long as the material has been protected from soaking during construction and is installed with a proper wall-moisture barrier [housewrap] between the sheathing and finish wall siding. If your insulating board products are newer foil or kraft-faced foam board products, there is no reason to apply a moisture sealer to them, and where foil was used, I doubt that it would adhere well anyway. If the boards are exposed in an occupied space, fire codes will require that a fire resistant finish surface such as drywall be installed. Watch out: Keep insulating fiberboard dry during construction and protect it from wetting after installation. During building construction, insulating fiberboard sheathing should be protected from water (rain, melting snow) on the jobsite during construction before it is applied to the structure itself. The US FPL found that
Fiberboard Roof SheathingFiberboard products were also used for roof sheathing produced by several manufacturers. Watch out: OPINION-DF: where fiberboard roof sheathing was used alone to support roof shingles or other roof coverings, and noting that fiberboard products and their performance varies by manufacturer, application, and installation details, some fiberboard products may become fragile with age, traffic, or leaks, risking roof shingle blow-off, or worker fall injuries. On a roof replacement job one of our workers [DF] stepped onto an area where the roof decking had been damaged by leaks, and broke through to the attic below. Any significant or chronic water leakage in a roof whose shingles are supported by fiberboard insulating sheathing risks a roof surface collapse. According to Homasote[1], at least two important clarifications are in order:
Homasote® roofing products include
When stripping existing roof shingles to perform a shingle tear-off for re roofing, Homasote® and other fiberboard roof sheathed roofs require special precautions to avoid damaging the roof sheathing during shingle tear-off. Homasote® provides the following advice: [Quoting from "Roof Shingle Tear-Off Procedure for Homasote Products" available from Homasote ]. The removal of existing shingles to re-roof Homasote roof deck or nailbase roof insulation requires a change from the conventional tear-off method used to re-roof wood surfaces. To strip existing shingles from a Homasote roofing product, the following must be done:
Installation instructions, general requirements and the most up-to-date information on Homasote roofing products are available from Homasote.®. Fiberboard Sound InsulationFiberboard products are also used for sound insulation, such as Homasote's 440 SoundBarrier used on walls and over subflooring or in ceilings. According to Homasote this system is recognized in UL L500 Series Floor/Ceiling assemblies. Guide for Identifying Photographs of Homasote®, Celotex®, Insulite & Similar Fiberboard & Insulating Sheathing Board & Plasterboard Products
Homasote Co., the oldest manufacturer of building products from recycled materials in the United States, was founded by Eugenius Harvey Outerbridge as Agasote Millboard Company, and has been producing this material since 1909. In 1936 the company changed its name to its best known product, Homasote. Originally, Homasote® produced sanded "agasote" sheets used in the roofs of passenger railroad cars, moving, in 1915, to automobile roofs, and in 1916 to construction products. Homasote was widely used for military barracks in both WWI and WWII and is still promoted for sound resistant sheathing and other applications. Celotex®, Homasote®, Thermafiber®, and similar insulating building sheathing board products are still sold as a lower cost alternative to plywood or OSB for building sheathing. The product is used as structural paneling, insulation, concrete pouring forms, and expansion joints. How to Identify Celotex® Insulating Board and Fiberboard ProductsOur photographs below show Celotex® insulating board with an older Celotex fiberboard building sheathing board at left and a more recent Celotex insulating board product shown at below-right. Also see this closeup of an older Celotex insulating sheathing board product.
Components & Properties of Celotex Insulating LumberCelotex described their Celotex Insulating Lumber as an exterior sheathing product intended for use as a base beneath plaster or beneath a stucco building exterior as well as for roof insulation. Celotex insulating lumber was sold in 7/16" thicknesses (and possibly other thicknesses), in 4 foot width boards at lengths from 8 ft. to 12 ft. and weighing about 60 pounds per square (100 sq.ft.).
Celotex Insulating Lumber was a cellulose fiber board made from bagasse or sugar cane fiber using a felting process, and produced in Celotex's New Orleans LA plant. These fibers "each of which contains thousands of sealed air cells", were fabricated into "building lumber" using a patented press and bonding process. Several patents listed in the mid 1920's addressed the production of insulating, structural, and sound-absorbing board products for walls, roofs, and ceilings produced by Celotex.[10] In wood frame construction Celotex insulating lumber was used as a structural sheathing to replace horizontal or diagonal 3/4" thick board sheathing while adding insulating and sound-deadening properties. The company described the insulating value of this new product as "... equal, as insulation, to 3 1/3 inches of solid wood, 12 inches of solid plaster, 12 inches of solid brick, or 24 inches of solid concrete". We estimate, based on the wood comparison, that the R-value of this 7/16" thick board was about R-3. According to Celotex this insulating lumber product was waterproof, could be painted, and could be used itself as an exterior finish as well, though we have not seen any surviving examples of that application. Celotex's insulating lumber was also advertised for use as an interior finish, left natural, stained, painted, or stenciled. Celotex recommended its use also as a base for plaster walls or ceilings. From our own field inspections, we believe that Celotex insulating lumber or similar products were indeed left exposed as an interior finish most commonly in summer camps, cottages, and in commercial or farm buildings. According to one source the material was also used to construct insulated shipping boxes. [8] By 1925 Celotex had published "Celotex insulating Lumber Specifications and Details for Standard Building Board" and also offered "Your Home" a plan book of twenty-five ideal small homes. A review of the patents and product description for Celotex insulating lumber products shows that asbestos was not among the product's ingredients. Celotex Regular Insulation Sheathing Continues in Production as Blue Ridge™ Fiberboard & SturdyBrace® SheathingIn 1955 there were at least fourteen different insulation fiberboards examined by the US FPL. Today Celotex continues as a major producer of the product. [15] As of 2012 Celotex continued to produce a wide range of insulation products including PIR polyisocyanurate foam boards in various designs and for various applications. The company continues to produce Regular Insulation Sheathing as a 1/2-inch thick insulating board with an R-value of 1.2. Celotex Regular Insulation Sheathing is described in contemporary product literature as:
Celotex Blue Ridge™ Fiberboard, also referred to in its product literature as SturdyBrace® is a wood fiber product that is described by the company as:
Watch out:
Identifying Homasote® Brand FiberboardAccording to Homasote®,
Where structural shear strength is needed by using the company's recommended ring-shanked nails in a specified nailing pattern. Insulite, Another Cellulose Fiber Board Product useful for plasterboard
Insulite was described as having stronger structural properties than Celotex, the latter being superior for insulation and sound insulation while Insulite offered greater strength for other applications. Insulite was ... composed of large sliver-like particles often 1/16" to 1/32" in width and say one half an inch long. These sliver like fibers give great porosity to the mass but they render the binding together of the particles more difficult. [10] Insulite as a plaster board contained rabbeted grooves or "joints" in its surface to which plaster or other material could be applied. Insulite's name for this product was Lok-Joint Lath. (The same engineers later developed "Bildrite Sheathing" that was used to replace horizontal wood bracing in wood frame construction.) The product cost was as low as 5 cents per sq.ft.
Treadway B. Munroe, from Forest Glen, Maryland, was a prolific inventor who patented a variety of cellulosic board products assigned to companies including Dahlberg (St. Paul MN and Celotex, Chicago IL). One of his early patents U.S. No. 1,333,628, described a plaster-board of fibrous material intended to provide a less costly base for plaster walls and ceilings. This was the earliest citation of "Insulite" that we could find. It improved on the original "insulite" construction by including additional long fibers for strength combined with more short fibers to serve as filler for the mass, developing a board that was light weight, had adequate strength, and included entrained air for improved insulation. This invention, instead of impregnating the insulating board with a waterproofing compound, simply coated its surface. The result was a product [intended and claimed to be] well suited for use as plasterboard. Sound absorbing board for walls and ceilings", Patent No. 1,554,180, issued to W.S. Trader, September 15,1925, first disclosed a wallboard constructed from "Celotex", a felted mass of strong bagasse fibers, so compacted as to be capable of use as an artificial lumber in that it can be sawed and nailed, and has sufficient strength in many cases to be substituted for lumber. That same patent mentions "Insulite", a building board made from wood pulp tailings and which likewise has a porous fibrous body portion and which is possessed of considerable strength so that the same can be nailed, etc. Celotex was preferred as an insulating material because its internal cells produce a sound-deadening insulating effect. Also see Fiberboard insulating sheathing or board sheathing products and see Masonite® hardboard siding products. Other Insulite Product NamesWe found references to Insulite mastic as early as 1913. By 1940 we find the additional sheathing product names associated with Insulite, a Minneapolis MN company.
Masonite™ and other hardboard Sheet and Siding Building Materials
Unidentified Fiberboard Products
Our photos (above left and right) show close ups of fiberboard insulating building sheathing board products that are not Homasote™ brand, including a torn cross section showing the layered fibrous character of this material.
Is there Asbestos Content in Insulating Board Products such as Celotex, Homasote, Insulite?Question: What is Celotex Insulating Lumber? Do insulating board products contain asbestos?
Reply:Dan, Celotex, a Chicago company, has been a producer of a wide variety of insulating sheathing boards for a long time and the company continues to produce modern insulating board products as well. Celotex Insulating Lumber was introduced by the Celotex corporation in 1922, making it
Our illustration (left) shows Celotex insulating lumber on the exterior of a Lebanon PA home. Question: Does blackboard sheathing, fiberboard, Homasote, Celotex insulating board contain asbestos?We i am curious about the black board? Our house was built in 1962 and I need to drill through the black board to run electrical! Some of it is super brittle and falling apart anyway. Was any of that stuff made with asbestos? What are chances it has asbestos in it? - Brett 9/4/2011 I was tearing off parts an outside wall connected to the garage to add insulation to the wall, after removing the plywood and tar paper I ran into Celotex fiber/black board. Reply: Asbestos is not an ingredient in fiberboard insulating sheathing. See the product description & MSDS information aboveBrett and Jon: it's easy to drill through "black board" Homasote or Celotex type building insulating sheathing. Generally the product is made from wood fibers, not asbestos - See the insulating board MSDS data sheet quotations in the FAQ discussion just above. Reader comment: I only have to drill small hole to run wiring! Some of it's already crumbling and brittle! It's black on outside looks like wood inside. I too have not been able to find anything confirming or not confirming this concern! I'm stuck with new electrical to run and deciding if this is health issue or or not. Thank you again - Brett Reply: Sounds as if the risk is nil, Brett. In addition to the comment we made above (wood fibers are not asbestos), you can minimize dust release by moistening the drilling area a bit. It's unlikely that there would be a measurable hazard from drilling a single wire-sized hole. Too, if you have a generic objection to even small amounts of dust from any building material, you have the option of HEPA vacuuming during and after drilling to keep the dust out of the air. MSDS data for fiberboard insulating sheathing productsIn sum these are benign products for the most part, though wood dust particles from any wood material can be a potential hazard. For the specifics of your fiberboard siding you'll want to consult the MSDS of the particular product. For example:
Mold Growth & Wood Boring Insect Susceptibility of Fiberboard Building Insulating Sheathing ProductsWe do not usually find mold growth on fiberboard building insulating sheathing nor insect damage to this material. Possibly the resin binder and coating is unattractive to insects and the moisture resistance of some coatings also reduce the ease of mold growth on this material. However in sufficiently challenging conditions such as very wet conditions or prolonged exposure to water and moisture or insects, we have found both extensive mold growth on Homasote type insulating board (photo, below left, in a wet basement against a masonry wall) and evidence of insect damage to an interior wall fiberboard sheathing product, probably Beaver board or Upson board (in the attic of a leaky building, below right). See Mold on Fiberboard Insulating Sheathing our full article on mold growth on or in fiberboard sheathing. At Plaster & Beaverboard & Drywall we provide the history of Beaver board and Upson board, and we discuss other non-structural interior sheathing boards that were used on building interior walls and ceilings.
... Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about fiberboard sheathing or insulating products such as Celotex, Homasote, and InsuliteQuestion: can we dispose of fiberboard by using it as mulch?Is Celotex recyclable? We just removed some and I wondered if it could just be broken up on the ground like mulch or does it have chemicals in it. - Karen Bradshaw 7/25/11 Reply: fiberboard sheathing or insulating boards are not recommended as yard mulchKaren the recycle-ability of fiberboard sheathing products like Celotex or Homasote is an interesting one. These products that are made principally of wood fibers or other plant fibers and a binder and are usually disposed of as construction debris. The properties of insulating fiberboard sheathing were thoroughly described by the U.S. Forest Products Laboratory in a 1955 report[15] as well as in original and current manufacturer's product literature and MSDS sheets. But watch out: trying to break up any fiberboard product into small mulch like fragments risks creating an irritating or problematic dust hazard for eyes and respiration. I'm unsure how well the binder or coating chemicals are bonded to the material (some products used paraffin), but I wouldn't use this product for mulch in any case. Some newer insulating boards may contain plastics and some older ones appear to contain bituminous coatings or binders. You will find that the treatments used to make these insulating boards moisture resistant and to impart stiffness also mean that they will not break down or bio-degrade as a yard mulch. Question: Why do I only see fiberboard insulating sheathing on older homes? How do I deal with post-fire and smoke odors?I have a home that was damaged by smoke and water and has fiberboard wall sheathing. There is an issue as to the affect of smoke and water on this product. It seems to be porous and susceptible to the water and smoke. How would the front side of this product be cleaned and dried out. Why is this product not as popular as before.? I only see it on homes 30 years plus - Blaine Jelus 11/17/2011 Reply: Standard post-fire odor control sealantsBlaine, First it should be noted that bagasse (sugar cane) based insulating fiberboard sheathing continues to be produced in the U.S. at least by Celotex Inc., as you will read in our Celotex section of the article above. It appears that a common contemporary (2012) application of this product is in the construction of mobile homes. Product literature for Blue Ridge Fiberboard describes Celotex SturdyBrace® for use in wood frame construction as well.[2]. A 1955 U.S. FPL report offers the early history of growth in the use of insulating fiberboard sheathing and is quoted in the article above. By 1950 the product was used extensively in some areas of the U.S. I believe that rising energy costs that came in several waves after the 1950's and especially beginning in the Arab oil crisis in the 1970's led people to focus on much higher levels of building insulation in the attics and walls of typical wood frame residential buildings than the less than R-2 provided by 1/2-inch insulating fiberboard sheathing used alone (as it was at first). Blaine: Fiberboard insulating sheathing does not, in my field experience, pose more of an odor or smoke absorption problem than other wood-based building materials or even drywall. Regarding post-fire deodorizing of a building that used fiberboard wall sheathing, at fire jobs I've inspected, regardless of the building materials used to construct wood framed walls (plywood, OSB, wood studs, or wood fiberboard insulation) in areas of smoke and fire odor problems the contractors often conclude by coating the wall cavity with a paint intended as an odor sealant - this step prevents persistent odors that may linger and annoy building occupants after the finish surfaces have been replaced. Question: Is it OK to re-side a home with Homasote building sheathing on its walls?My home was built in the early 1940s and it was re-sided around 1994 (possibly a bit later but that's all the info we have). There are what we thought was sheetrock on the outside, but someone suggested it may be Homasote boards from when the house was originally built. Two questions, if they are these boards from 50 years ago (at the time the house was re-sided), was that ok to do based on housing codes? Could they contain asbestos? Thanks. - K 12/2/2011 Reply: YesI've not found any building code issue constraining the procedure of re-siding a home because of the type of exterior sheathing used on the structure. The asbestos question is addressed in earlier FAQs addressed above. Wood or plant fibers are not asbestos materials. Watch out: fiberboard sheathing should be protected from water that penetrates some building siding systems (such as aluminum or vinyl siding) by installing a water or moisture barrier - housewrap. See HOUSEWRAP AIR & VAPOR BARRIERS Question: Should I remove Georgia Pacific fiberboard sheathing when re-siding my home?Hello, I am having new vinyl siding put on my home. This GP Sheathing was underneath. Do you recommend leaving it and residing the house or pulling it off and putting newer material up? It was built in 1982. Thank you! - Robert 8/17/11 Reply: Why?I'm not sure why you'd need to remove old sheathing boards when installing siding, but if you did so you may find that you need to install plywood or OSB or another wall sheathing product in its place. Provided the original sheathing was un-damaged, you're not gaining anything that I can see. But you may need to install house wrap and use tape-flashing around windows and doors as part of your vinyl siding project. See VINYL SIDING INSTALLATION and HOUSEWRAP AIR & VAPOR BARRIERS for details. And see our housewrap warning note just above. Question: Is this a brown insulation board? I worry that it contains asbestos.
Reply:A competent onsite inspection by an expert usually finds additional clues that help accurately diagnose a problem - in the case of your photo it looks as if that area has been quite wet for some time - nice mushrooms growing - watch out for rotted ceiling joists or rafters. It appears that the original ceiling was a brown fiberboard product that was later covered by drywall - visible in the left side of your picture. Your home is an old one - the roof sheathing boards visible where the ceiling has collapsed in from leaks were cut with a machine-operated pit saw. Depending on the building's location, that could be a structure built before 1900. Fiberboard products have been around in the U.S. since about 1858, though they were not widely used until the 1940's. Question: how do I repair a small hole in fiberboard sheathingHow do I repair a 2 inch hole in celotex? - Jerry 7/30/12 Reply:Jerry, Question: how do I install flanged replacement windows on a fiberboard sheathed building?Can flanged replacement windows be installed over 1970's era fiber board sheathing? using the same general installation method that is used if the exterior were sheathed with plywood or OSB? - Walt 9/17/2012 Reply:Walt, it should be fine as long as there is framing to nail to on all sides, and flashed against leaks. If not you'll need to frame in or fir out a rough opening for your windows to fit the replacement unit. Question: fiberboard sheathing used behind brick veneer wall gets wet - is that OK?I have fiberboard installed behind the brick veener of my house. Both faces are black, but the middle of it has the natural fiberboard color. The fiberboard start at the top of the brick veener wall (1 1/2 inch air gap) and stop at the foundation in front of the sill plate. If some rain goes behind the brick, does the fiberboard will resist over the long term? I was surprised to realize that at a specific section of the sill plate, there were some signs of past water infiltrations. - Phillipe C. 10/31/12 Reply:Philipe, Question: Can I glue carpet on to Fir-tex carpet board underlayment?I have a floor underlaymet band name "fir-tex carpet board" can I glue down carpet to it? and if so what is the process? thank you - V. Tedesco 11/8/2012 Reply:V. tedesco, Question: can we identify this fiberboard sheathing from a 1975 home in New England?
I am trying to identify this wall sheathing material. It appears to be an asphalt impregnated fiberboard sheathing, but does not have a brand name. This photo was in the attic at the gable end behind the chimney. The entire garage also uses this product. The home is a two story colonial build in 1975 in New England. Thanks for any help. - Mike - home inspector - 11/09/2012 Reply:Mike, I agree that in your photos the sheathing material looks like fiberboard sheathing, and that branding can be difficult. Take a look at our article [above] on this material for some colors and other properties. Sorry I can't say more from just photos. But in any case fiberboard sheathing was not impregnated with asphalt but rather typically with a wax for water resistance. Some brands of fiberboard using a dark surface coating might fool you into thinking it was asphalt, but as you'll read in the common ingredients listed above, that's not so likely. Because the properties of these various products are similar across brands (varying in density, coatings, water resistance, nail-holding power) I'm not sure we need to know the brand to evaluate the material shown in your photos - it's water damaged, meaning that we ought to be looking for related insect damage or rot or mold on nearby building materials, and we ought to be finding and fixing the leaks. Thanks for the excellent photos - I'll post them here at InspectApedia to permit other professionals to comment. Reader Follow-Up: My client was very concerned about the water damaged materials. It appears that all of the viewable sheathing was in poor condition. There was evidence of a prior WDI treatment on the front porch where I noticed a series of drilled holes through the concrete slab. The basement is finished limiting the scope of my home inspection. - M.Q. Reply: Thanks for the follow-up M.
Indeed, to my surprise (as the materials were originally treated and sometimes even smelled waxy or like petroleum products) I've on occasion found insect infestation right in the fiberboard sheathing.
It is my OPINION that if there is no active infestation and no actionable structural damage, (you'd have pointed out obvious movement and warned about possible hidden damge not discoverable without demolition), no ongoing leaks, and if siding is nailed to studs not sheathing, then if there is no longer ongoing leakage, the impact of leaving the materials in place is minimal. The tough question is whether there is enough visible damage (or discovered damage by perhaps some gentle invasive investigation) to justify more extensive exploration for significant problems. Often, such as in some mold or IAQ investigations, we reach agreement with the client to stop cutting into the building by noting the absence of visible evidence of structural movement, damage, or infestation sufficient to justify, in our joint opinion, furher invasive inspection. That does not promise that there are no hidden concerns, but rather that we can't together find reason to justify continued hacking apart of the building. If the client wants further investigation, I'd pick the "most suspect" areas for hidden damage and start there, reasoning that if the most-suspect areas don't reveal actionable trouble, it would be reasonable to quit exploring.
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