Awesome Green Sheetrock: EcoRock

Posted by Kelly Smith Mar 30, 2009

I posted an article yesterday about the new EcoRock, a green drywall product. It comes from Serious Materials, the same company that brought us QuietRock, the soundproof drywall. Great stuff for home theaters.

Anyhow, EcoRock is 80% post-industrial waste material. Mucho green. The problem I have is the price; about $17 per sheet is the rumor. Of course I know it's a new product and there's R&D costs to recover.

It is actually cheaper to produce than gypsum board. After all, not only is it made of scrap that was going to be thrown away, but unlike regular drywall, it doesn't have to be cooked in monster ovens. All things seem to point to a less expensive product; but no.

Even though it's got a "glass mat finish" rather than the paper that Sheetrock does, they say the drywall taping and floating is just the same.

They also claim it's "Tile backer board qualified". Does thay mean it can be used in lieu of fiber cement backer board? It's unclear, but that would be a good thing. I hate working with that stuff. It just sucks all the moisture out of your hands.

I hung a lot of it a few years ago when I scored a contract at a new T.G.I. Friday. I had a boatload of tile baseboard installation to take care of, so that made for cutting a lot of Hardiplank.

So EcoRock is just coming on-line here in summer 2009 (four plants in production) so I await the industry verdict. I love the fact that it's a sustainable and green building product, but if they're not careful, they'll price themselves out of the market.