Weyerhaeuser Introduces New Insulating Wall Board

A new insulating wallboard and plaster base, named Nu-Wood, is being introduced to the building trades through established retail lumber channels by the Wood Conversion Company of Cloquet, Minn., as a companion product to Balsam-'Woo1, the flexible insulating blanket put out by this organization, which is the by-products division of the Weyerhaeuser-affiliated companies.

According to E. W. Davis, general manager of the Wood Conversion Company, this is the first time any insulation manufacturer has offered both the flexible and the rigid types of insulating material. Since both Balsam-Wool and Nu-Wood are purely wood products, Mr. Davis points out, the lumber dealer who carries them will be able to supply all demands for insulation which has been partly diverted to non-lumber specialties.

"These two products aie not at all competitive, and with widespread forest conservation program which the Weyerhaeuser-affiliated companies have carried on for years. Nu-Wood is made only from that part of genuine white pine and other coniferous trees which cannot be used fot lumber, but contains fresh, sound wood fibres. Formerly most of these slabs, edgings and trimmings were burned.

In making Nu-Wood this waste is first reduced to chips, from which the dirt and bark are screened. The chips are cooked under pressure to soften the fibres. Next they are run through mechanical disintegrators, which subject them to an action similar to that of rolling a match under one's foot. This separates the fibres without fracturing them.

The resulting pulp is sized to make the fibres waterproof. Next it goes to a specially designed flow-box, which lays down a uniform layer of fibres on a bronze them we are able to offer the lumber trade a complete service covering all of the insulation requirements of modern building practice,". Mr. Davis said.

"The new product, Nu-Wood, will be advocated as a many-purpose board. Dealers will not find it necessary to carry more than one product of this type or more than one grade in stock to supply their customers with insulating board, wallboard, plaster base and roof deck insula' tion. Nu-Wood serves all these purPoses equally well, permitting the dealer to reduce his investment in stock and lo increase his profits and net turnover.

"We will encourage dealers to carry moderate stocks of the new board. No second-grade board will be put on the market to disturb the prices established on first-grade material. Nu-Wood is essentially a lumber-yard product, i,made from wood, for lumbermen, by lumbermen. We shall hontinue on our basis of'one price, one product and one policy'."

, The manufacture of Nu-Wood is another step in the screen, the wet slab being somewhat more than four feet wide and seventeen feet long. This screen conveys the mass to an hydraulic press, weighing more than 20O tons, which rids it of the excess water under a pressure of moge than 2,00O,000 pounds, and leaves it a homogeneous board with fibres running in every direction-lengthwise, crosswise and at all angles. This method of fibre arrangement makes the finished board surprisingly rigid and minimizes any tendency to warp, buckle or swell in the presence of moisture.

From the press the board goes to the dryers, where it passes between steam-heated steel plates. These dry out the remaining moisture, leaving the board exactly onehalf inch thick and absolutely flat. Next the Nu-Wood panels aie sawed into lengths of 6, 7, 8,9,10 and 12 f.eet, stacked in packages of six pieces each, and wrapped in heavy paper that insures its delivery at the dealer's warehouse as fresh and usable as wfien it leaves the mill. This

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