Gib Board Alternatives

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t0ny

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#296069 18-May-2022 10:28

Saw another article on the shortage of gib boards (Builders forced to the wall as Gib shortage becomes critical | Stuff.co.nz) and how it is affecting the industry. I did not see any mention of cost effective alternatives or do they not exist?

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#2915492 18-May-2022 11:03

Nope, no cost effective substitutes:

t0ny

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#2915494 18-May-2022 11:13

Changed title to reflect the direction for this thread :)

wellygary

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#2915499 18-May-2022 11:26

t0ny:

Saw another article on the shortage of gib boards (Builders forced to the wall as Gib shortage becomes critical | Stuff.co.nz) and how it is affecting the industry. I did not see any mention of cost effective alternatives or do they not exist?

They may exist (Elephant board etc), but the consenting process makes them difficult/impossible to use,

NZ is quite unique in that GIB is used as a structural element in house construction, the specs and strengths of GIB are well known, but the others have not been used as much and their physical qualities are have not been tested to meet NZ standards,

If GIB is spec'd in the construction plans ( as it is 99% of the time) Council's wont sign off on using an alternatives

gzt

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#2915502 18-May-2022 11:27

Ply is the obvious alternative. There are some pros and a few cons although not as many cons as sometimes thought. Unlike gib it's a renewable material. This article covers some of the points around specification:

https://i.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/decor/101317414/the-pros-and-cons-of-a-plylined-interior

MikeAqua

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#2915505 18-May-2022 11:32

Fully coloured MDF isn't widely available in NZ, but it's a durable and attractive panel product, that can be used for interior cladding. Available in water proof and fire proof ratings.

Mike

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#2915516 18-May-2022 12:04

I really feel for the small builders, a lot of the big companies have stock piled it as been know for months it will reach this point. The challenge with an alternative is getting sign off to use an alternative product. Building consents have to be amended in most cases , more costs for the customer as well. Doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.

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eracode

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#2915528 18-May-2022 12:28

These Triboard products are another possible alternative:

https://www.jnl.co.nz/product/triboard-tgv/

https://www.jnl.co.nz/product/triboard/

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eracode

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#2915535 18-May-2022 12:44

mdf:

Nope, no cost effective substitutes:

{YouTube video: "Would you use plastic rubbish to line your walls?"}

Somewhat strange video. Starts off talking about alternatives for wall linings but doesn't come to a conclusion before going on to something unrelated. The question posed in the title isn't really answered. Also the title question is potentially misleading - I took it mean something disparaging but I think he probably meant 'recycled plastic' rather than his words which might be interpreted as a 'rubbish product'.

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mdf

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#2915542 18-May-2022 12:53

eracode:

Somewhat strange video. Starts off talking about alternatives for wall linings but doesn't come to a conclusion before going on to something unrelated. The question posed in the title isn't really answered. Also the title question is potentially misleading - I took it mean something disparaging but I think he probably meant 'recycled plastic' rather than his words which might be interpreted as a 'rubbish product'.

Some of the comments are interesting, particularly the overseas experience of the Magnesium Oxide board. But I took the conclusion to be "neither of these is a gib replacement".

IME, quite a few Youtube video titles are clickbaity at best, and misleading at worst. But it would appear that they work...

t0ny

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#2915546 18-May-2022 12:57

Saw this statement from BRANZ:

"Where a specific plasterboard product has been specified, the building consent application very often uses the manufacturer’s proprietary bracing calculation system as evidence that it provides the required bracing. For locally manufactured product, those systems are tailored to New Zealand conditions and apply only to the manufacturer’s products and recommended construction/installation practices. An unapproved substitution of an alternative plasterboard product may mean that the bracing calculations in the building consent application and accepted by the building consent authority no longer apply. In some cases, the bracing installation itself is unlikely to comply with the New Zealand Building Code. These factors present the builder, architect/designer and building owner with a serious problem if the proper process hasn’t been followed"

Seems like if we stopped bracing using interior sheet linings, more options can open up.

t0ny

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#2915549 18-May-2022 13:01

Also, found this with respect to market share:

The five or so percent of the market not in the hands of Fletcher Building is shared between:

- Elephant Plasterboard, which imports product from Thailand and has perhaps 3 percent of the market,

- ProRoc, which imports a small amount of product from French multinational Saint-Gobain and sells through Bunnings, and

- Youngman Supply Group, set up by Nick Youngman in September last year when USG Boral (now Knauf) pulled the plug on its New Zealand import operations after four years. The market had presented “several significant challenges” to a new market entrant, Youngman said at the time.

- A handful of small Chinese importers.

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eracode

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#2915551 18-May-2022 13:02

IANA builder/engineer but have put up a lot of Gib and my gut feel is that a lot of other possible non-gypsum alternatives (ply, Triboard etc) would have higher bracing value than Gib.

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richms

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#2915553 18-May-2022 13:05

t0ny:

Saw this statement from BRANZ:

"Where a specific plasterboard product has been specified, the building consent application very often uses the manufacturer’s proprietary bracing calculation system as evidence that it provides the required bracing. For locally manufactured product, those systems are tailored to New Zealand conditions and apply only to the manufacturer’s products and recommended construction/installation practices. An unapproved substitution of an alternative plasterboard product may mean that the bracing calculations in the building consent application and accepted by the building consent authority no longer apply. In some cases, the bracing installation itself is unlikely to comply with the New Zealand Building Code. These factors present the builder, architect/designer and building owner with a serious problem if the proper process hasn’t been followed"

Seems like if we stopped bracing using interior sheet linings, more options can open up.

Wouldnt expect any less from those scammers. Still annoyed that branz hasnt been pinned as the source of high cost of building in NZ.

Richard rich.ms

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#2915982 19-May-2022 14:33

Triboard/Ecoply offer a higher bracing rating than GIB, which is nice, but generally doesn't mean you can get away less material e.g. if you've designed your house to use ecoply on the exterior for bracing, you're going to cover the whole exterior with plywood regardless of whether you only need a few sporadic bits of ply to meet minimum bracing.

Right now, you could build a house with ply on the exterior (and perhaps a few select interior walls) to meet your bracing requirement, then throw up whatever non-GIB plasterboard as you want. You could even use GIB's EzyBrace calculator to demonstrate to council that your ply will be sufficient for bracing. It would be more expensive than GIB and a flexible wrap, but might mean that you can get the job finished quicker (assuming you can get your hands on the right materials).

There's also an argument that sheet bracing, whether it be plasterboard or ply, is prone to 'slotting' in a major earthquake, where the nail/screw basically wiggles itself a larger hole in the sheet under repeated movement cycles. While GIB is more prone to this than ply (hence the lower bracing unit rating), after a big earthquake you want to be able to inspect and replace damaged sheets, whether GIB or ply. If you're bracing is ply hidden underneath some other exterior cladding, it's more disruptive to inspect and repair than internal plasterboard. Just part of the pros and cons consideration.

That said, I'm not sure if there are any imported options for structural-rated ply, and if everyone flocks to ecoply then we'll have the same product shortages plaguing GIB. Really, the bigger story here is a rapid growth in construction activity which exceeds manufacturing capacity at a time when global logistics is toast. GIB shortages are one symptom of this. If it wasn't GIB, then it would be structural timber, prenail frames, labour, etc.

Re: BRANZ, there are alternative testing agencies, both in NZ and overseas which can be used to test and certify building products against NZ standards. GIB does a lot of its bracing testing in house. So BRANZ isn't the huge handbrake that it may appear.

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#2917094 22-May-2022 14:46

A friend of ours designed a small house for his son and built it on part of his section. They were about to put the wall linings on when I was there last. He specified ply, it's going to look really neat.

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