Understanding the various building boards available is essential for the stockist.

Published in Builders' Merchant Journal Jan. 2010

Building boards have become commonplace in UK construction. Their versatility means they can be used as internal linings for ceilings, walls and even as floor coverings, as well as being cut to shape for infills, panelling or as strip materials.  They are simple and straight-forward to install as they don’t require wet trades and with many construction projects having an emphasis on ‘fast track’ they are popular with all types of public and private sector projects involving an element of off-site construction.

There is a plethora of building boards manufactured from many materials - all with different qualities and suitable for a wide variety of uses. As a merchant and stockist, understanding their differences is essential to allow you to be confident when advice is asked for. Equally, having a range of boards in stock covering the key applications is part of being a successful stockist. We supply a range of four durable boards that cover the main areas of use in the UK. Some of these boards have special performance ratings that bring them into line with certain Building Regulations, and working knowledge of these will help the stockist to give sensible recommendations to builders.

General-purpose

A great all-rounder, multipurpose board could be thought of as a more robust form of plasterboard. Equally easy to work - it can be easily marked, cut and sawn – it offers additional dimensional stability and durability over plasterboard. These additional qualities mean that as well as countless indoor uses, multipurpose board is also suitable for semi-exposed external applications such as eaves lining, partitions, gable ends, and bargeboards.

Fire-rated

Fire-rated board needs to perform under the most (potentially) demanding conditions possible. Requirements for fire rated boards range from 30 minutes to 120 minutes of fire resistance depending on the building use and occupancy levels. Manufactured from a mixture of cement, cellulose and mineral fillers in a dense matrix, these boards are formulated to ensure that they make the ‘A1 noncombustible internal lining board’ standard and can reach various resistance. In addition to being safe they also need to be durable enough to be used in partition walls, ceilings and floors, in high occupancy buildings with large volumes of foot traffic. Furthermore, if they can accept paint or wallpaper with a minimum of preparation, so much the better.

Water resistant

Ideal for use in bathrooms, kitchens, swimming pools and other damp and humid areas the main role of this type of board is as a backer or base board onto which ceramic tiles are adhered. These boards that have been specially designed for use in damp or high humidity situations and are specially formulated with a sealer both sides that acts as a moisture barrier. Generally these boards will have undergone intensive development to ensure they are not affected by water, and will not expand, rot or deteriorate.

Cement particle

Cement Particle Board is hard-wearing and well suited for heavy duty use. It can be used as a load bearing board and provides sound insulation, impact resistance and moisture resistance. For internal use it can be used as a high-impact lining board and also doubles as a good alternative to chipboard or plywood. It is however chiefly used as a sheething board i.e. the internal skin of a raincscreen cladding design.

Conclusions

The available range of building boards is huge, encompassing various alternative materials. The stockist/merchant has to make a trade off-between stock control and customer service. The key to good service and a happy customer, being able to supply every alternative from stock, is unrealistic. Having a basic range of boards to suit most common applications, produced from a tough reliable and well tried material will ease stock control and inventory investment whilst still being able to satisfy most requirements. Asking the right questions to get an idea of what the builder is working on and what product would be best suited to it, combined with a sensible range of fibre cement/cement particle boards of the sort offered by Cembrit should be sufficient to provide a business-like response.