TIMBER IF YOU NEED A SOLUTION,
FIND ONE YOURSELF BMJ talks to a timber merchant who, fed up with increasing problems with plywood delamination, set out to find a solution.
T
here has long been an issue in the industry of delamination of some imported plywood, usually caused by a lack of quality control at some of the factories in China. This eventually led to a point- of-sale recommendation that plywoods from Chinese factories, as opposed to those from Indonesian producers, should be edge sealed” if the product is to give any reasonable life and performance. Phil McCormick, managing director of Nicks Timber in Gloucester says that this has been the advice given at point of sale by all merchants for a number of years. “However, it was usually met with the response, with what? from the end user,” he says.
In an effort to bring some control to the supply of Marine Plywood from China into the UK, the Timber Trade Federation UK started to insist that TTF members only buy from factories which had been TTF visited and audited. However, McCormick points out that, while this did create some controls, they only applied to member companies. “This meant that non-member companies could still trade in ‘questionable grades’ at lower prices so the problem continued.”
He continues: “As I was a board member of TTF at the time I talked to some of the major sealant manufacturers to see if they could make a product fit for purpose that we could recommend to our customers to help solve the problem of delamination from water incursion through the core gaps. However, I couldn’t get anyone to take an interest, even though around 27million sheets are sold a year.” In the end, McCormick says the company decided to do it themselves. “We took on the challenge of developing a product in partnership with Protek an independent sealant and stain manufacturer in the South West,” he says. Nicks re-launched The Gloucester Timber Company Ltd brand to separate this from the core merchant business, while Protek made a Panel Edge Seal and a Timber End Seal which they branded as ESP: Edge Seal Panel and End Seal Protect (Timber). The trading company is Protek ESP.
He says that the company is now encouraging the major merchant groups to stock and promote good site practice now that they have two products they can recommend by trade name: ESP Panel ESP Timber.
“We carried out tests at both Nicks and Protek for six months, and then followed that up with BM Trada tests; we then got the green light on performance when using plywood that had failed the grade test so in effect substandard.” An added bonus discovered during the testing at Protek, was that the product is also a glue that forms a water tight joint, ideal for all roofing and hoarding applications. The product changes colour as it dries from light to dark red, enabling the contractor to see when a joint will work and when goods are safe to handle. “When BM Trada were sent the plywood sheets to run the tests, they first tested the plywood to make sure it was to external grade. These were purchased from an accredited manufacturer in China but failed the test, not on the glue line, but on the fibre itself,” McCormick says, explaining that there really is still an issue with imported quality, despite all the tests. “BM Trada then asked us to supply alternative stock, so we ordered sheets from a local national builder’s merchant chain, who believe that they only sell plywood that is absolutely to grade. It also failed. That just proves the point that, despite best efforts, the UK and Europe has a problem with the quality of external plywood being imported.”
However, McCormick says that they decided to test their product on the supplied plywood. “We thought that if it could work on the sub- standard product, it would work on anything. We were delighted to say that it passed, and ensured that sub-grade plywood could be made to perform to grade by using this sealant.”
December 2022
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net
He says: “We are recommending this goes on all invoices where Panel and Pre-Treated timber is supplied. Effectively, we are saying that, in order to obtain performance and longevity, ESP should be used on all panel edges and all cut ends of pre-treated timber. On larger contracts, we are recommending they price and supply the product as part of the job.”
McCormick says that distribution to merchants will be direct from the new company ESP Protek. “We are also hoping that the major panel importers will sell and distribute this along with their panel supply to the independent merchants and manufacturing sector as they do with D4 glue and P5 Chipboard. A DIY version will be coming out once we have created the right applicator packaging for the DIY market.” He adds that, for some time now, architects have been over specifying plywood, putting in Marine Grade, where exterior would normally do. “This is as a direct result of the problems and lack of confidence in the performance of exterior plywood in recent years,” he says. “The ESP product can reverse this trend if specified and as long as good site practice is undertaken.
“We know education on this will be key to its success, and that means from architects to trade counter staff and the builder. With China unlikely to up its grade, at least we can have confidence in this new product to perform. Plus, longer life-span of the plywood from using this product is also better environmentally.” BMJ
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