Our involvement in wood composites began in 1993 in the Netherlands. Dick van Dijk, the founder and inventor of Tech-Wood, was building a replica of a sea going, fishing and sailing boat from the late nineteenth century, a so-called "lugger". Dick's goal was to replicate the vessel, traditionally made out of oak, according to its original specs, but with one major improvement. Instead of oak, he wanted to create his "dreamboat" with a material that would have the beautiful look and "feel" of oak, but with the superior durability, elasticity and malleability of a polymer. Although many ships had been built in reliable wood/epoxy-systems since the late sixties, this technology lacked the desired requirements of sustainability, environmental impact and ecological footprint... aspects of increasing importance for products in the building trade. Dick had experience with polymers via the plastic pipe business in which he had been active for most of his life.
Dick's challenge was to make use of a fast growing, non-durable wood species (either virgin or scrap) and transform it into a more durable wood composite by merging it with an Eco-friendly, recyclable thermoplastic. His diligence soon revealed that there were even more uses for his wood composite idea. His goal thus became to use this "nouveau" technology for the manufacture of products suitable for both indoor and outdoor use requiring minimum or low maintenance, a mass comparable to wood, a minimum of creep deformation and a durability that exceeded wood. Furthermore, he deemed the new product should be paintable, recyclable, environmentally friendly in its use as well as in its production, and competitively priced.
During the first three years of the development, numerous formulations were tested along with various extrusion techniques, fastener designs, dies, and methods for fiber drying and orientation. The latter aspect proved to be of great importance, as it became clear that only specially oriented fibers could fulfill the objectives of firmness and strength.
The development process took longer than expected as Dick's standards for strength and durability proved more difficult to achieve. Then in 1996, after three years of crucial scientific development and testing, the potential for success became apparent and the "mother" plant opened her doors. It would take another three years for technological improvements and an additional two of field testing before commencing production on a commercial scale.
The year was 2002. Wood
® was born!
Recent Press Releases
Wood® awaiting shipment from our 120,000 sq. ft. facility on 65 acres in Greenwood, SC, USA. We ship our products to all of North America from this state-of-the-art facility.
The market for WFC (wood/fiber/composite) products is fast growing and the potential for Wood® applications is immense. Tech-Wood® has chosen to focus on the exceptional value and durability inherent in our Wood® products where "natural wood" has served as the traditional solution for centuries. Wood® has virtually all the positive characteristics of "natural wood" and few, if any, of the negative ones.
Wood® is durable and can be used outdoors untreated.
Wood® has high bending stiffness and impact resistance.
Wood® is dimensionally stable, uniform & knot-free.
Wood® does not warp, crack, split or splinter.
Wood® does not rot, decay or propagate mold or mildew.
Wood® is impervious to termites and carpenter bees.
Wood® lasts 50+ years in residential applications.
But, just like its natural predecessor, a.k.a. "Wood":
Wood® has the feel and mass of wood.
Wood® untreated takes on a natural gray color over time.
Wood® can be painted or stained with oil or latex.
Wood® can be cut, routed, drilled, nailed and sanded.
Wood® is not brittle and can be lifted and installed solo.
Wood® is 100% chemical and preservative free.
Wood® is installed with conventional wood working tools.
Wood® is long lasting, recyclable and thermally efficient.
Tech-Wood products are used by the building industry in search of custom-specific profiles for applications in Siding, Decking, Railing and Water Retention.
Tech-Wood Siding available in several different cladding profiles, including channel, lap, cove and custom profile systems.
Tech-Wood Decking Systems available in profiles suitable for homes, terraces, pontoons, boat docks, balconies, patios, galleries, bridges (pedestrian), roof-terraces, marinas and swimming pools.
Tech-Wood Rail & Fencing Systems available in several different profiles suitable for indoor, outdoor, residential and commercial applications.
Tech-Wood Retaining Wall Systems available in a "Sheet-Pile" profile offering ecologically friendly solutions for water retention, flood defense, marinas, golf course management and other applications where water or waterways have to be controlled and/or contained.
All Tech-Wood products are from sustainable forest management and non-recycled, 100% virgin polymers.
Tech-Wood is one of the leading manufacturers of high quality Wood Polymer Composite products worldwide.
Tech-Wood products are the result of the highest standard WPC production technology combined with the highest quality wood-fibers and virgin polypropylene and have proven themselves in numerous applications.
Tech-Wood takes great pride in development and production of the industry's top rated WPC products. We believe that our state-of-the-art technology, environmental sustainability and superior product profile is a giant leap ahead of the competition. It is in this spirit that we promise to always provide the greatest possible product at the greatest possible value while leaving the least possible 'footprint' on our planet.
Wood® is a revolutionary combination of 75% virgin wood fibers and 25% virgin thermoplastic polymer or polypropylene. Wood® profiles are produced by extrusion and injection molding techniques, unique to Tech-Wood.
Our wood fibers are produced from 100% renewable and locally grown "trees". The proprietary process involves removing up to 99% of the moisture from the wood before processing it in to "mini-toothpick" like particles. This procedure is what gives Wood® its superior "wood-like" character when compared to other WPC products. The "mini-toothpicks" are now ready for their next evolution.
Enter polypropylene. (C3H6)x.
Polypropylene is the most "Eco-friendly" of all polymers. When ignited, polypropylene turns into water and carbon-dioxide. However, when mixed in precise proportions with our "mini-toothpicks" using our patented process (and other devious, yet natural machinations which we are not at liberty to discuss), it becomes the "doh " that is Wood® in its primordial, embryonic stage.
This primordial mix is then processed through various stages of heating and cooling until it reaches the proper malleability to be extruded in our state-of-the-art proprietary extruders. If you're currently conjuring up images of building "Play-Doh" houses as a kid, you're pretty much on target.
Using our patented "Pushfusion" technology ensures profiles with excellent mechanical characteristics, uniform quality and durability, meeting the very highest standards for our Tech-Wood products. Each profile requires a precision made and highly specialized "die tool" manufactured to exacting specifications utilizing the newest technological and scientific advances imaginable. But unlike your "Play-Doh Factory," these machines cost lots of moolah.
The end-result of this highly specialized and creative process is what we call Wood®...or wood to the next power!
All of Tech-Wood's products are virtually maintenance-free. No protective or chemical treatment is required to guarantee Wood®'s durability and no sawdust, wood "flour," recycled wood or cardboard is ever harmed in the making of Wood®. Promise.
As a result of our patented Wood Fiber technology, Tech-Wood profiles are much stiffer and stronger than WPC profiles, which typically consist of wood dust (or flour) and a higher percentage (sometimes 50% or more) of polymer. Wood®'s proprietary blend features the customization and maintenance of plastic with the strength, look, feel, mass and texture of natural wood.
Tech-Wood's line of enhanced Wood® products combine superior durability, technological innovation and ease of installation to make Wood® the natural choice for environmentally and quality conscious builders and consumers.
More about the process here.
TECH-WOOD NORTH AMERICA LAUNCHES TECH-PLANK™, A REVOLUTIONARY SIDING2.0 PRODUCT
December 2nd, 2009
GREENWOOD, SC (December 1, 2009) – Tech-Wood North America, the premier manufacturer of second generation material technology, launches Tech-Plank, a new siding material for the residential construction market in North America that is stronger, lighter and more cost effective than fiber cement siding. Tech-Plank will be unveiled at the 2010 International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas on January 19, 2010. Tech-Plank is the first true innovation in siding in over fifteen-years. From delivery, installation, trimming and finishing, Tech-Plank is the more cost-effective alternative to fiber cement siding from start to finish for the homebuilder / homeowner.
Read the Full Press Release here.
Piedmont Tech
November 27th, 2008
Tech-Wood Expands Profile Production
Plastic News
November 12th, 2008
By Matt Griswold
GREENWOOD, S.C. (Nov. 12, 3:40 p.m. ET) -- Tech-Wood USA is producing commercially at its 120,000-square-foot extrusion facility and is in the midst of building two other plants on the 65-acre site where company officials plan to establish its wood alternative building products business.
Tech-Wood manufactures exterior cladding, decking, railing and retaining wall systems by reinforcing pine strands with polypropylene. The products are about 75 percent wood, and 25 percent PP.
Unlike many wood-plastic composite building products made from wood flour and polyethylene, Tech-Wood products truly look and act like wood because they are mostly wood, officials say.
The Tech-Wood technology was developed by Tech-Wood International BV of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Tech-Wood USA is its own legal entity, and not a subsidiary of the European firm.
The company in May 2006 was to be acquired by Woodbridge, Ontario-based Royal Group, but the deal fell through during the due diligence process in which time Royal was acquired by Atlanta-based resin and aromatics maker Georgia Gulf Corp.
Tech-Wood officials expect to employ 125 within the next 18 months, said Peter Kotiadis, Tech-Wood’s president and chief executive officer, in a Nov. 12 telephone interview.
Tech-Wood is focused on siding and being able to offer a complete system, including corners, soffit and fascia boards, Kotiadis said. The company is also developing window and door profiles, he said.
“It’s about four times the stiffness of regular wood-plastic composites,” he said. “Physically, it looks like wood, but structurally, it lasts 35-50 years.
“We believe we’re the strongest composite material that exists without reinforcement.”
The Greenwood County Council gets firsthand look at what is produced at Tech-Wood
Click Here to View the PDF Article
Slo-Boat Construction Goes High Tech, Green with New Siding Product
Click Here to View the PDF Article
Announcing Tech-Wood's participation in the International Builders Show 2009
Jan 20-23 in Las Vegas, NV.! Please stop by and say hello. We will be in Booth N1345 with information and news regarding Wood...Wood to the Next Power! Look forward to seeing you there!
Tech-Wood Product Poised to Seize Siding Industry’s Middle Market
DRAFT RELEASE
Greenwood, South Carolina
Tech-Wood announced a new line of hybrid siding material that will revolutionize the North American residential siding industry. Designed to have the beauty and mass of expensive wood siding and the durability of inexpensive vinyl siding, Tech-Wood Siding is the perfect combination of appearance, durability and cost for the majority of home-building projects.
Popular in Europe for years and now available in North America, Tech-Wood Siding is the first true siding innovation since the introduction of Hardie cementacious siding over twenty years ago. Hardie attempted to fill the wide market gap between the beauty and mass of expensive wood siding and the ease of installation, durability and lower cost of vinyl siding. Cement gave Hardie siding the dimensions of wood siding, but it is also brittle, and its weight requires extra installation labor and special installation tools.
Tech-Wood Siding looks like wood and, because it is 75% wood, has the weight of wood, can be cut, routed, drilled, nailed or sanded like wood and requires no special tools or delicate handling. It can be stained or painted using standard latex or oil coatings, or, if left untreated, Tech-Wood Siding takes on a natural grey color, like Western Red Cedar. Unlike wood, it does not decay, rot, propagate mold, splinter, split or crack. Every piece from every bundle is dimensionally correct and knot-free, eliminating the “selecting” process. Tech-Wood siding features high dimensional strength, but unlike Hardie board is not brittle and can be lifted and installed by a single person in standard length form. As a result, less installation labor is needed with Tech-Wood, so siding projects will cost less yet last over 50 years.
And, unlike other recent siding announcements, Tech-Wood is a “real” product, not just speculation: with eight years of projects and refinements in Europe and now with multiple live sites in America, Tech-Wood siding joins a full line of Tech-Wood building products, including cladding, decking, railing and retaining wall systems Tech-Wood USA currently manufactures at its headquarters plant in Greenwood, SC.
Tech-Wood Siding is a green alternative to Western Red Cedar or tropical hardwoods. Manufactured using patented technology, Tech-Wood Siding is preservative free and produced of 75% unwanted pine thinning from managed/sustainable Southern Pine forests and 25% polypropylene.
For additional information, please contact Peter Kotiadis at (864) 223-0650 or John Lowery at (864) 992-4085. www.techwood.com.
Tech-Wood Up and Running in Greenwood
DRAFT RELEASE
Greenwood, South Carolina
After two years of research and development, tooling and market testing, Tech-Wood is in full production at its Greenwood headquarters plant on Emerald Road.
Using patented technology, Tech-Wood offers the most complete line of enhanced wood building products, including cladding, decking, railing and retaining wall systems in use in the North American market. Tech-Wood has been in use in Europe for eight years. In the past two years, Tech-Wood has provided it products for numerous home building projects in the southeastern United States to rave reviews from builders. The company is already committed to two years of production on one of its lines and has signed sales and marketing agreements with one of the industry’s leading distributors.
Leading the company’s product line is a new line of enhanced wood siding material developed in Greenwood that will revolutionize the North American residential siding industry. Designed to have the beauty and mass of expensive wood siding and the durability of inexpensive vinyl siding, Tech-Wood Siding is the perfect combination of appearance, durability and cost for the majority of home-building projects.
Tech-Wood products looks like wood and, because they are 75% wood, have the weight of wood, can be cut, routed, drilled, nailed or sanded like wood and require no special tools or delicate handling. Tech-Wood can be stained or painted using standard latex or oil coatings, or, if left untreated, takes on a natural grey color, like Western Red Cedar. Unlike wood, it does not decay, rot, propagate mold, splinter, split or crack. Every piece from every bundle is dimensionally correct and knot-free, eliminating the “selecting” process.
Tech-Wood Siding is a green alternative to Western Red Cedar or tropical hardwoods. Manufactured using patented technology, Tech-Wood siding is preservative free and produced of 75% unwanted pine thinning from managed/sustainable Southern Pine forests and 25% polypropylene.
For additional information, please contactPeter Kotiadis at (864) 223-0650 or John Lowery at (864) 992-4085. www.TechWood.com.