In a short video launched by West Fraser, trading as Norbord, the panel product specialist demonstrates how its sturdy CaberFloor is made at the huge Cowie facility near Stirling, Scotland. The video is available on West Fraser’s YouTube channel.
The 95-second, virtual ‘factory tour’ enables the viewer to appreciate the processes required to produce the versatile particleboard flooring panels.
The company has provided the following description of the process:
At Cowie, CaberFloor begins life as a series of raw wood streams, carefully sieved and graded to the loadbearing panels’ precise specifications, while the fibres are dried to regulate their residual moisture content. Minutely regulated chemical treatments are used to facilitate the panels’ formation in layers on the production line and pressure applied to achieve the exact thickness.
Next, the panel blanks are cooled and cured on a slowly rotating carrier system, enhancing their long-term performance and durability, prior to them being mechanically sanded and precision cut to size. CaberFloor also features a machined tongue and groove interlock around all four sides to provide stability and minimise the need to support joints.
While the finished CaberFloor panels are carefully checked and labelled by experienced operators for distribution to merchant stockists and other customers, housebuilders and specifiers across the construction industry can be confident in the consistency of a precision made, fit-for-purpose product.
