Overall Moisture Control

No matter what interior lining material is used attention is needed to moisture management during all stages of the construction cycle. Moisture needs to be controlled through effective design, good construction practice, and ongoing maintenance. This will include:

• Protection of Fiberock from water during transportation to ensure dry delivery to site.
• Use of water-protected site storage, with linings laid flat, and elevated from the floor.
• Installation to building structure when full weather protection (roof, exterior cladding, windows etc) is in place.
• Maintaining ventilation when moisture is introduced to the job site such as through wet cement or drying paint.
• Treating water infiltration from any source with urgency. Stopping leaks as soon as they appear.
• Creating building exteriors (roof, cladding, doors and windows) with multiple barriers to water intrusion, and providing drainage and drying to avoid trapping moisture.

USG Powerscape Fiberock linings resist toxic mould and mildew formation through a combination of high resistance to water absorption and other unique mechanisms. They achieve the maximum grade 10 in the demanding ASTM D3273 test for mould resistance.

Use in conjunction with good wet area wall design principles for effective performance.

 

Literature Wet Area Steel Frame Details Wet Area Timber Frame Details

Impact Performance

Fiberock outperforms other tested interior linings when used in timber or steel frame wall systems. Performance was examined from both soft and hard body impacts. The impact is repeated with increasing energy levels until failure is noted. Two failure points are important:

• First surface cracking – at which time visual damage to the wall was evident and the performance of the linings would likely have been impaired in terms of resisting further impact. Repair would be necessary at this point.
• Penetration – at which time the lining material was fully penetrated by the impact object. For impacts of this magnitude, where penetration occurs, repairs would typically become more complex and expensive.

Soft Body Impact

Soft body testing was completed to BS 5234:1999, and involves a 50kg bag filled with glass beads swung on a rope. The test simulates human body impact. The following graphs show the lowest recorded impact energy for each lining type for tests undertaken with a minimum sample size of three specimens of each lining.

Typical energy exerted by the shoulder of an adult male when impacting a wall at speed is up to 120 joules.

Hard Body Impact

The test involves a 5.44 kg steel hammer swung on a 3.0m axis against the wall surface with increasing levels of energy. This test replicated the effect of various in-use exposures to either intentional or accidental damage from a large hard object. Again first surface cracking and full penetration were the two points of failure noted. Hard body testing was completed to the draft 2002 ASTM standard specification for abuse resistant interior panels.

An example of hard body impact is an intentional solid kick on the wall with a boot, which will result in an impact energy of around 50 or 60 joules.

Ease of Repair - Lower Maintenance Costs

Fiberock interior linings have important features that make repair, if and when needed, generally a straight-forward localised task.

• Fiberock interior linings have no surface paper to scuff, tear or delaminate.
• Fiberock, when it finally fractures under severe impact, typically fails locally. This means that standard drywall repair techniques can be utilised. Unless the impact is extreme, the failure region still maintains its integrity behind the plane of the wall, meaning that there is a reliable surface against which to fill, to complete the repair operation.

In this test programme, none of the test specimens of Fiberock demonstrated any tendency to fracture vertically or to distort the sheet surface. Some other lining materials have this tendency usually resulting in the need to replace a complete sheet along with associated trim materials.

The following graphs show the lowest recorded impact energy for each lining type for tests undertaken with a minimum sample size of 3 specimens of each lining.

Soft Body
Hard Body

Enhanced Acoustic Performance

Fiberock is very effective at reducing sound transmission, as it combines high mass with very high stiffness. This means for instance that:

• A medical, education, or office facility, or residence seeking enhanced acoustic privacy, whilst sticking with simple single steel studs and a single lining layer each side, can now achieve Rw 48 using Fiberock 13mm linings with R1.8 cavity insulation.
• A typical apartment intertenancy or corridor wall requiring Rw + Ctr of 50, (and fire -/60/60), simply utilises a single layer of Fiberock 16mm on each side of 76mm double steel studs, and regular R2.0 insulation; whereas plasterboard solutions typically have either more layers of linings, or an extra wide cavity, or both, to reach this high acoustic performance level.
• An aged care occupancy steel stud separation wall requiring Rw 45 minimum, simply utilises single steel 92mm studs, and one layer of Fiberock 13mm lining each side with regular insulation to achieve Rw48.
• An aged care occupancy timber stud separation wall requiring Rw 45, simply utilises 90mm single timber studs with three layers of linings; 1 x 13mm on one side, and 1 x 6.5mm and 1 x 13mm on the other side with regular insulation to achieve Rw46.

Because all USG Fiberock linings are suited to both dry and wet areas, there is no need to change lining type specification in wet areas, or to add a layer of fibre cement as is done in other competing systems. Less complexity means less product cost, less stock on site, less chance for site mistakes, and less rework.

USG Powerscape Acoustic wall system designs:

• USG Timber Frame Acoustic and Fire Systems
• USG Steel Frame Acoustic and Fire Systems

Enhanced Fire Safety

Fiberock provides excellent fire safety. The absence of a paper surface combined with the mineral core means that it has leading surface fire resistance properties, as well as being an effective room to room fire barrier. Tested performance is as follows:

Surface Properties

The Building Code of Australia Section 96 specification C1.10a requires that a material used as a finish, surface, lining or attachment to a wall or ceiling must be a Group 1, 2 or 3 material. In addition buildings not fitted with a sprinkler system must have a smoke growth rate index of not more than 100, or an average specific extinction area less than 250 m2/kg. Fiberock is a Group 1 material. The average specific extinction area in independent testing was reported at 32 m2/kg, which is clearly well under the 250m2/kg limit. BRANZ report FAR2265 details these results. For reference, under the previous regulations, Fiberock had ignitability, spread of flame and heat evolved indexes of 0, and a smoke developed index of 0-1.

Fire Resistance

Most Fiberock wall specifications in the following downloads have a minimum of 30 minutes of fire resistance for the protection of occupants and structure.

All systems have been independently certified to the relevant Australian and New Zealand Standards by either BRANZ or CSIRO.

• USG Timber Frame Acoustic and Fire Systems
• USG Steel Frame Acoustic and Fire Systems

 

CSIRO Testing

Photos from the testing of our -/120/120 system to AS/NZ 1530:4

The Creative Edge

Fiberock offers entirely new possibilities for edge finishing and display. Once again, its uniquely workable properties render the essentially two-dimensional limitations of plasterboard or fibre cement obsolete by adding a third dimension of depth.

Because of plasterboard’s make up, exposing the edge is not normally feasible due to roughness in the interfaces between the paper surfaces and the gypsum core. The lack of reinforcement throughout the brittle core also prevents the edge being profiled. This is not the case with Fiberock which can be worked with normal woodworking tools on site. A number of distinctive profiles can be achieved using either routers or planes, opening up many creative possibilities for layered wall and ceiling effects. Edge detailing requires precision machining, and extra attention during finishing.

Fiberock can be adhesively bonded to itself to form contiguous voids or internal windows, with the edge being profiled or left square achieving the look desired.		Negative edge details for ceilings, or ceiling elements are formed accurately, with either square, diagonal or curved edge treatment to complement other detailing in the room.		Alcoves become easy to form accurately with Fiberock for all components. Bond the edges and the back of the alcove to the reverse face of the wall lining, and then rout (using the sides as guide) out the front lining to accurately form the desired corner profile.

3D Surface Detailing Fiberock allows interior designers to explore a new realm of 3D (three dimensional) surface treatments. No longer are walls rigidly flat; with this new material, walls can feature new details that were previously too difficult to achieve or simply not possible. For example: A simple site formed surface detail groove at dado height or higher on the wall, can capture the eye and bring focus without spoiling an overall minimalist look. Surface profiling applied more expansively, with vertical grooves formed in the wall and moving closer together towards a doorway or void can create movement. Patterns or curves can create distinctive personal design statements, create special visual effects, or even align with a brand logo. Surface profiles can visually integrate places together, and separate others. And, when it is time for a change, the existing profile can be filled and left flat, or be replaced with a fresh surface treatment. Surface detailing requires precision machining, and extra attention during finishing.

Hang Wall Fixtures in Exactly the Right Place
		Gone are the days of knocking on walls or ceilings to locate studs or something of substance to hang pictures, light fittings and other wall furniture. Gone also, are the days of having to hang art in a slightly off centre position because that happens to be where the stud is located. With Fiberock there is no need for hammer drills to make holes in concrete or brick, and no unsightly chunks of concrete or brick breaking out through imprecise workmanship. Simply screw picture hooks and wall furniture directly into the lining, regardless of where the studs are. Powerscape 13mm linings can take loads of up to 15kg per screw at the screw head, (16mm 16kg, 10mm 10kg).