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Low density fibreboard that may contain asbestos - SWA cited & discussed at InspectApedia.comPinex Fiberboard Identification, History, Ingredients

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Pinex fiberboard insulating sheathing identification guide.

In this article series 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 Pinex fiberboard and insulating board products contain asbestos? Pinex fiberboard water resistance, and Pinex fiberboard recycling.

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Guide to Identify Pinex Fiberboard & Insulating Sheathing Board & Plasterboard Products in New Zealand

Pinex Board advertisement, 1943 Gisborne Herald - at InspectApedia.comPinex fiberboard panels and others in the fiberboard family can trace their origin in the U.S. to Azel Storrs Lyman's 1858 patent for separating the fiber of wood and for the manufacture of paper and other purposes. (Jester 2014).

In the history of development of a broad range of Pinex type fiberboard products was W.E. Hale's patent for wallboard that described using fiberboard in construction (Hale 1870) and Cobb's patent for using a soft board made of straw in place of wood lath as a plaster base (Cobb 1871).

Pinex Fiberboard - Insulating Board "Softboard"

Image: This advertisement for PINEX BOARD appeared in the Gisborne Herald on November 2, 1943.

Pinex is a specific brand of soft wood-fibre based insulating board that, in New Zealand, is often used as a generic name" for low-density softboard or fibreboard.

Pinex and equivalents were widely used as an insulating sheathing in New Zealand between 1941 and 1960, and appears also as finished ceilings, sometimes coated with plaster or covered by wallpaper or occasionally painted.

Pinex was produced in New Zealand beginning in 1941 by New Zealand Forest Products Ltd. - Foreign Commerce Weekly 1942

A similar product, Adamo, was produced in Australia and imported into New Zealand in the 1920's and 1930s - before Pinex board was produced in New Zealand.

Pinex was claimed to be stronger than Adamo. (The Timber Frame: Building Boards - 2013)

According to some sources there was also a Pinex hardboard product. (NZFPL 1960)

Some similar products and names are given below.

See details at PINEX CEILING TILES from which we excerpt below:

Pinex was made from wood chips and cardboard. We are unsure of the precise composition of Pinex, but Chiladaki et als. describe the material:

Low-density fibreboard is used widely as insulating board and is commonly referred-to (in New Zealand) by its trade name Pinex. Over time some changes have occurred in the manufacture of the board, but generally it is the same. . ... [chipped or flaked] wood (Pinus radiata) ... further reduced to wood fibre with the aid of steam ... Starch adhesive as well as different additives are added before the board forming operation, depending on the final product. ...

Nowadays 96% of the final product is wood fibre, 2% starch that binds the fibres, 1% wax for moisture resistance. Alum is sometimes added. ... back in the 1940s the wood used would have been solely pine, and most likely no chemicals would have been used, but maize starch [corn starch]. - Chiliadaki 2006.

Don't be misled by the plethora of other users of the popular name "Pinex". That term is even applied to plastic laminate flooring (Shree Vinayak Plywoods and laminates in Bomikhal, Rasulgarth) and even to liquid cleaners and medicines.

Watch out: however as we cite below, some low density asbestos-containing fibreboard products were used in Australia and probably New Zealand.

Low density fibreboard that may contain asbestos - SWA cited & discussed at InspectApedia.com

[Click to enlarge any image]

Above: this is LDF or LDB - Low Density Asbestos FIbre Board - excerpted from Safe Work Australia (2005) - this is NOT Pinex.



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