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Insulating wood fibre panels (C) InspectApedia.com RobinWood Fibre Insulation
Identification, Properties, R-values, Sources of Coarse wood fiber insulating board

This article describes insulating panels made from wood fibre.

We include example photos to help identify wood-based fibrous insulating panels, discuss wood insulation R-values, list contemporary wood fibre panel sources and provide supporting research citations.

Page top photo of wood fiber insulating panels is provided courtesy of InspectApedia.com reader Robin.

InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

Identification & Properties of Coarse Wood Fiber Board & Batt Insulation

Fiberboard panel, random long fibers (C) InspectApedia.com CEWood fiber (or fibre) insulating board or panels and in some cases coarse wood fiber batt insulation are just that: made from wood, usually wood waste or wood chips or waste, typically shredded and bonded together to form panels of varying thickness, density, and R-values.

Depending on the individual wood fiber panel properties these are used for nail base, for building insulation, for acoustic insulation, and on occasion, often painted or coated, as a finished ceiling or other interior surface.

Here we focus specifically on large, or coarse wood fibre products used in board or batt insulation form.

In a basic form, wood fibers are combined with an inorganic cellular material, a flame retardant, and an organic binder, using heat and pressure to form a wood-based panel that has a wood-like texture, but lighter in weight than solid wood, and with sound absorption and insulating properties making the panels useful also as a wall or ceiling material. (Iwata 1995).

These wood fiber panels have found a wide range of use beyond construction including pallets, bins, boxes, shipping containers, cement forms, even furniture, caskets, and doors. (Owens 1999)

Note that there is a considerable variety of wood-fibre based panels that include products made combining wood fiber with other materials including plastics (Ayrilmis 2011) (Falk 1999) so too will the insulating, durability, and other properties of these products vary.

Panels have been made using a variety of additional materials such as sawdust (Savov 2019) and even ground tire waste (Xyu 2020).

Though wood fiber based panels are, with some justification, described as an eco-friendly product (making use of a renewable resource and making use of wood waste) still there has also been discussion of VOC offgassing from some wood panel products - an old topic that has been addressed in discussions of MDF and HDF and other wood products. (He 2012)

Separately other wood-product insulation materials are discussed at

Below we illustrate coarse wood fiber board products followed by a coarse wood fiber batt insulation, courtesy of a Vancouver CA reader.

Coarse Random-Oriented Wood Strand Fiberboard

Question: are these asbestos-based panels?

Fiberboard panel, random long fibers (C) InspectApedia.com CE ... Fiberboard panel, random long fibers (C) InspectApedia.com CE

I'm hoping you can tell me what these panels are and whether they have asbestos in them.

I just purchased them as a cheap way to put up a partition wall at the family cottage and the next day it hit me like a bolt that they might have asbestos!

The panels are 4' x 8' and heavy as all get out! The seller was an older gentleman who said his uncle gave them to him & that he's had them in his garage for over 40 years.

I've attached pictures. #143018 is a side view. #143034 is a corner that is damaged and gives a better view of the materials (shredded). They were originally white but someone painted them grey.

Thanks so much for your help! - Anonymous by private email 2018/02/15

Fiberboard panel, random long fibers (C) InspectApedia.com CE

Reply: not likely

Without a lab analysis I cannot say absolutely that an unknown product is asbestos-free, but your photos look to me like a relatively modern wood product, a coarse, random-oriented wood- strand fiberboard product.

If these panels are truly 40 years old that would have them produced in 1978 when asbestos was still used in some building products. But with a few exceptions, principally from cross-contamination, 100% cellulose, non-cementious, wood-based fiberboard products do not contain asbestos.

Watch out: if the binding material in your panels is cementious I think these are a cement fiberboard product such as the strand-reinforced cement board produced by Architonic and shown just below. Such cement products might indeed contain asbestos, depending on when and where they were produced.

Cement fiberboard by Architonic at InspectApedia.com

Above: wood fibre-reinforced cement board panels describe by the Architonic, a UK source of building products who insists on keeping the actual product manufacturer and identity a secret, Architonic ID: 1184351, prompting us to decline to cite the Archi tonic website directly.

Savolit wood fibre panel at InspectApedia.com

Other readers: see this similar-looking but light-weight panel product [shown above] found by our correspondent above: Savolit Wood Wool Building Panel | SKANDA Acoustics Ltd, https://www.savolit.co.uk/products/savolit Savolit, a lightweight wood wool building panel for external cladding, internal lining, base board for plastering, carrier board for render and internal partition walls.

These panels are listed by SKANDA Acoustics Ltd 67 Clywedog Road North, Wrexham Industrial Estate, Wrexham, LL13 9XN U.K., Tel: 01978 664255

You can see a catalog of these products by type and properties at DEFINITIONS, ENGINEERED WOOD HDF LDF LVL MDF MDO OSB

 

OSB panel structure, Lindquist patent 1995 at InspectApedia.comMore-modern coarse wood-strand or wood-fibre fiberboard products (popularly "OSB" or oriented strand board) use larger chips of wood either in a random pattern or oriented specifically for strength, and are seen in more-recent patents like

1968 stranded wood fibre roof sheathing in a 1968 bungalow (C) InspectApedia.com David Blevings

Photo above, courtesy of reader David Blevings, shows a coarse or stranded "fiberboard" wood-sheathing product observed in a 1968 detached bungalow, posted originally at SHEATHING, FIBERBOARD ASBESTOS CONTENT FAQs

Wood-based or cellulose-based fiberboard products are not asbestos-containing products (normally) and have been in use in the U.S. since the early 20th century, as you will see in

Examples & Sources of Other Wood Fibre Panels

Alphasorb acoustic panel of wood fiber cited & discussed at InspectApedia.com

Below: this Huber ZIP System® Insulated R-sheathing pops up on searches for wood fiber insulating board but is not a open wood fiber board product like the ones shown elsewhere on this page; more typically it's an OSB or similar wood panel laminated to foam insulation to form an insulated nail base widely used in new construction.

Huber ZIP System® Insulated R-sheathing at InspectApedia.com

Schneider Holz Bestwood Insulating Panels cited & discussed at InspectApedia.com

Question: 2020/11/13 Robin said

Insulating wood fibre panels (C) InspectApedia.com RobinHello ... I bought an older home and found insulating panels in the walls that look like wood fiber with a white coating. Can you please advise if it is safe or needs to be removed? Thank you.

Photo: coarse-grained paint-coated wood fiber insulation panel apparently installed between wall studs in a residential building.

[Click to enlarge any image]

This Q&A were posted originally at INSULATION INSPECTION & IMPROVEMENT

Moderator reply:

Robin: That looks like a wood fibre faced insulating panel; that would be wood or wood-derivative product.

So it's not likely to be an asbestos product but we cannot say with certainty from your photo alone.

More photos (you sent later by email and shown at page top) are helpful as well as would be a bit more information about the building where this insulation was found and its remodeling history.

Tell me:

1. what does the edge of the material look like (see photo at page top)

2. about the back side of it appears and any manufacturer's identification stamps, lot numbers, etc.

3. if it can be removed intact in panels in any case it's easy enough to remove and bag with low risk of stirring up dust as would be made by more aggressive methods like chopping or sawing.

Knowing more information like building age, location, remodeling history, can help make a smart guess about whether or not there is a reasonable chance that a building material contains asbestos. .

Beyond that, if you cannot inspect further and must make a dusty mess then treat the material as presumed to contain asbestos or have a sample tested.

See also


Research on Wood Fibre Panel R-Values, Applications, Properties

 

Coarse Wood Fiber Batt Insulation

Coarse wood fiber board or batt insulation (C) InspectApedia.com RobBHere, courtesy of a Canadian reader we illustrate coarse wood fiber insulation in batt form, found in a home constructed in 1949 in Vancouver, B.C.

Question: help me identify this insulating board or batt material?

I've been looking through your site but so far cannot find an image that can help me identify what insulating board I have in my suite, which is in a 3-storey residential building constructed in 1949 here in Vancouver, BC, Canada (see photos below).

There is no writing on it - perhaps the writing is on the other side, which I cannot access as that would mean disturbing the building's envelope.

There are some spots where the interior is revealed.

It has a black paper product on its exterior, and its interior appears to be linear wood shavings, kind of like linguini-shaped noodles, jumbled together with adhesive.

In one photo, you can see there's a narrow section where it seems the black paper does not entirely go to the edge, and the interior is exposed down the edge.

A City Building Inspector who saw it called it an insulation board, similar to Donnaconna.

I could take it to a nearby lab and have it tested for asbestos for $30 CAD - would that be useful to your website's body of knowledge?

We believe the wall assembly structure is as follows:

- Anonymous by private email 2021/05/27

Coarse wood fiber board or batt insulation (C) InspectApedia.com RobB

Moderator reply:

Thank you for the photos, Anon; Correct me if I'm mistaken but are we looking at coarse wood fiber boards like similar products shown above on this page, or is some of your insulation actually coarse wood fiber batts?

Your photo above appears to be a curved batt, perhaps a cover of asphalt-impregnated paper, sporting a tear that shows the coarse cellulose (wood) fibre interior.

To be clear, I'd call that a batt insulation, not an insulating board. Some insulating board products are shown above on this page and in some other links we cite at the end of this article.

If I'm mistaken perhaps another photo can sort this out.

Watch out: while it's not particularly friable, if that's asphalt-impregnated paper or "asphaltic felt paper" in your photo, that product, in a 1949 home, may contain asbestos.

Coarse wood fiber board or batt insulation (C) InspectApedia.com RobB


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WOOD FIBRE INSULATING PANELS at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.


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