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Humabuilt Wheatcore Doors

11_26_2007-humabuilt.jpgSolid-core doors say quality. Whenever we consult on a design project, we recommend an investment in solid-core interior doors: there's something about the solidity and heft that just says quality.

Typical solid-core doors are built over a chipboard core that is often bound by formaldehyde adhesive. Now, there's an alternative: Humacore Wheatcore Doors.

Even better? They're made out of wheat!

 
 

11_26_2007-door.jpgOK, Humacore Doors are not 100% wheat. They are made by layering wood veneer over wheatboard cores. But wheatboard, which is made by binding wheat chaff together with adhesive, is a near-ideal material for a door; it's dimensionally stable and highly resistant to moisture, while also being lighter in weight than traditional wood composites like MDF or chipboard.

Bonus: wheat chaff is considered industrial waste from the mass production of grain. It is typically burned.

More resources:

• This blog has more on wheatboard. Note that Dow no longer manufactures wheatboard in sheets: the company now making the doors bought the factory from Dow.
• The greenest solid core door? A salvaged one. Here's how to find one.
• The door we spied at Portland's Environmental Building Supplies (soon to be ecohaus) was finished with OSMO Polyx Oil... read about that and other natural finishes here.

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Comments (1)

Another company that's "Green" is Panelite. Their structural, translucent cast polymer panels can be used in place of wood doors or drywall to create a light, open, "green" space. Bonus: Certain types of their resin panels are made up of 80% post-consumer recycled PET materials!


Panelite
www.T-Concepts.com

posted by amitman on March 5th 2008 at 12:03pm
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