Press Releases
ATLANTA, GA, May 9, 2011
Georgia-Pacific Gypsum ToughRock® Now Lighter and Stronger
Enhancements Include Lighter Weight and More Impact Resistance than Original ToughRock
Georgia-Pacific Gypsum - among the nation's leading manufacturers and suppliers of gypsum building materials - introduces an innovative upgrade to its ToughRock® line of paper-faced gypsum panels. Improved 1/2-inch ToughRock gypsum boards are up to 25 percent lighter than traditional 1/2-inch wall and ceiling drywall products and have increased impact resistance for greater durability than original 1/2-inch ToughRock. Improved 1/2-inch ToughRock gypsum boards are available through retail and distributor channels in Northern California and the Midwest.
"Installers and subcontractors told us they are eager for a lighter board but they made it clear the board has to perform as well as our traditional drywall. With this new ToughRock gypsum board, we deliver a product that addresses the demand for lighter weight and provides superior strength compared to other boards in the market," said Todd Kuykendall, director of Product Management, Georgia-Pacific Gypsum.
Due to the product's improved impact resistance, the boards are less subject to pre- and post-installation wear and tear. Among other attributes of the improved product are:
- Greater flexural strength, meaning the boards are less prone to breakage during handling and installation;
- Sag resistance for ceiling use, which means one product can be used on walls and ceilings. The board conforms to applicable ASTM C 1396 standards;
- Potential reduction in environmental impacts from transportation due to lighter weight products.
Both existing and improved 1/2-inch ToughRock gypsum boards are GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certified®, GREENGUARD Children & Schools(sm) Certified and listed in CHPS® High Performance Product Database as a low emitting product.
ToughRock boards may qualify for LEED® credit contribution in Materials and Resources-Recycled Content (MR4) and Materials and Resources-Regional Materials (MR 5.) Visit www.gpgypsum.com and click on the LEED Calculator link to determine credit contribution.
Unless otherwise noted, all trademarks are owned by or licensed to Georgia-Pacific Gypsum LLC. GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certified and GREENGUARD Children & Schools are registered certification marks used under license through the GREENGUARD Environmental Institute. CHIPS is a registered trademark of Collaborative for High Performance Schools, Inc. LEED is a trademark of the U.S. Green Building Council.
About ToughRock® Gypsum Boards
The family of ToughRock® Gypsum Boards includes paper-faced wallboard, ceiling board, soffit boards, abuse-resistant panels, mold-resistant panels, veneer plaster base systems and enhanced Type X (sometimes referred to as Type C) boards used in fire-rated assemblies.
Please visit www.gpgypsum.com for more information.
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About Georgia-Pacific
Headquartered at Atlanta, Georgia-Pacific is one of the world's leading manufacturers and marketers of building products, tissue, packaging, paper, cellulose and related chemicals.
The company employs more than 40,000 people at more than 300 locations in North America, South America and Europe. Georgia-Pacific creates long-term value by using resources efficiently to provide innovative products and solutions that meet the needs of customers and society, while operating in a manner that is environmentally and socially responsible and economically sound. The company has long been among the nation's leading manufacturers and suppliers of building products to lumber and building materials dealers and large do-it-yourself warehouse retailers, with brands such as Plytanium® plywood, DryPly® water repellent plywood, Ply-Bead® panels and Wood I Beam™ and XJ 85® joists offered by Georgia-Pacific Wood Products LLC. DensArmor Plus® interior panels, DensGlass® Sheathing and ToughRock® drywall are offered by Georgia-Pacific Gypsum LLC. The familiar consumer brands of Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products LP include Quilted Northern®, Angel Soft®, Brawny®, Sparkle®, Mardi Gras®
and Vanity Fair®. Dixie Consumer Products LLC, a Georgia-Pacific company, manufactures the Dixie® brand of tabletop products.
For more information, visit www.gp.com.
Unless otherwise noted, all trademarks are owned by or licensed to Georgia-Pacific Gypsum LLC. GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certified and GREENGUARD Children & Schools are registered certification marks used under license through the GREENGUARD Environmental Institute. CHPS is a registered trademark of Collaborative for High Performance Schools, Inc. LEED is a trademark of the U.S. Green Building Council.
Are You Ready for the Roofs of Tomorrow?
Specialty Roofing Systems Demand Stronger Cover Board Than Ever Before
Reinhard Schneider, Product Manager, DensDeck® Roof Boards
Roofing cover board has seen large growth rates over the past few decades that indicate contractors are looking for strong products. The demand for performance has gone beyond typical roof installations. Vegetative roofs saw a 16.1 percent growth rate in 2009, despite the economic downturn according to industry group Green Roofs for Healthy Cities. Solar roofing has also seen positive growth, and the trend has even manifested itself in a new promise to install solar panels on the White House in 2011. The rise of solar and vegetative roofing systems has called for exceptionally durable roofing systems.
One of the key reasons solar and vegetative roofs need additional strength is increased foot traffic over the lifetime of the roof. Property owners have known for a long time that keeping HVAC or other equipment on the roof, where it's more difficult to vandalize and decreases the building footprint, is a good option. The systems traditionally kept on rooftops, however, required less traffic on the roof related to upkeep.
With solar roofing systems, building owners can expect the bulk of extra foot traffic primarily during the installation phase. Vegetative systems can also expect extra traffic during installation but may also have more ongoing foot traffic. While many vegetative roofs are designed to be self-sustaining, they may require occasional maintenance and quite frankly, people are more interested in looking at them. Take Chicago's Millennium Park: considered to be one of the largest vegetative roofs in the United States, three million people visited the park in 2005. That's a lot of extra foot traffic!
Almost all roofing manufacturers require the use of cover board to protect the membrane and insulation. The DensDeck® family of products is the most architecturally specified cover board product on the market. For most special roofing systems, 1/4" or 1/2" thick DensDeck® Prime roof board is an excellent choice for maximum impact resistance.
Impact protection will help ensure that no damage is done to the roof while installing solar or vegetative systems from the inevitability of having multiple installers on the roof to the unexpected, such as dropped equipment or surprise hail.
The main focus for roofing in the future will be to improve the energy efficiency and sustainability. Reflective "Cool" roofing will continue to grow and the use of the roof area as a platform for alternative energy use, such as photovoltaic systems and wind turbines will increase. This will require a more durable roofing system, which can tolerate the additional installation and maintenance traffic.
Reinhard Schneider is the Technical & Product Development Manager Commercial Roofing with Georgia-Pacific Gypsum LLC, a leading manufacturer of gypsum wallboard products in North America. A graduate of Kent State University's School of Architecture in Kent, Ohio, he practiced architecture internationally and in Ohio for 15 years before focusing his efforts on commercial roofing. For more than 20 years he has been involved in the development, manufacturing, testing and marketing of commercial roofing systems. He joined the Goodyear/Versico roofing division in Akron, Ohio as Marketing Manager and had responsibilities for product development and contractor training. Hundreds of contractors attended his comprehensive, hands-on training courses each year. Reinhard then took a position as National Sales and Marketing Manager for Clements National Corp. / Cadillac Products in Chicago, IL, working with a number of major membrane manufacturers to design and manufacture modified bitumen and thermoplastic welding equipment. For the last eleven years Reinhard has been heading up the Technical Development of DensDeck at the Georgia Pacific Corp. He has written several articles on roofing technology that have been published in RCI Interface, Architectural Roofing and Waterproofing and Roofing Contractor Magazine. He is a member of RCI, AIA, RICOWI and SPRI, where he is currently a member of the Executive Board. In recent years, he has conducted numerous symposiums throughout the United States and Canada addressing thousands of architects, consultants and building officials.
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With billions of square feet installed in a complete range of roofing systems and climate extremes, DensDeck Roof Boards have proven their toughness and versatility.
The unique construction has been shown to withstand delamination, deterioration, warping and job site damage far more effectively than paper-faced gypsum board and other conventional roofing products such as wood fiberboard and perlite. Among DensDeck product lines' features:- • Treated gypsum core for moisture resistance and sound insulation
- • Fire, rot and hail resistant
- • Holds up well under foot traffic while stiffening and stabilizing roof decks
- • Easy to install in all types of commercial roof systems
- • Ideal product for direct membrane application
Please visit www.gpgypsum.com for more information on our other products.