FiberBond Gypsum Wallboard

FiberBond, made by Louisiana Pacific Corp., and a similar but now discontinued product, Gypsonite, (which was made by Highland American Corporation), have received a lot of attention among green builders because of their use of recycled cellulose fiber. They have been widely used in environmental demonstration homes, including ReCraft 90 (Missoula, MT), the Here Today House (Portland, OR), and NAHB’s Resource Conservation House (Bowie, MD). With Gypsonite now gone, we’re down to only the FiberBond product. Does it live up to its environmental image? How does it compare with conventional drywall?

Unlike conventional drywall, which has paper facings surrounding a core of pure gypsum, FiberBond has cellulose fiber uniformly distributed in a matrix of gypsum and perlite. The cellulose content is about 15% by weight, according to Dave McGinnis, a chemist at LP’s FiberBond plant in Nova Scotia, Canada. Because the fibers weigh less than the gypsum, McGinnis estimates that the percent fiber by volume might be 30% or more. One hundred percent of that cellulose fiber is recycled. So far, so good.