If this product can replace roofing boards (usually plywood), would that mean no more need for shingles either? A close join with good caulking seems to me a reasonable roofing material. Other similar uses seem to exist in places where plywood is traditionally used but rots away relatively quikly. Could this also be used in lieu of pressboard for cheap furnishings?
My big question tho is how much energy does this process use? Is it energy efficient enough to offset the wood/glue/manufacturing of plywood stuff?
As someone who's done a fair bit of roofing, I would never in a million years butt two surfaces next to each other, caulk them, and call it a roof.
Water is insidious. Things move and degrade with age, with the seasons, and with the weather.
Two things keep a roof tight:
1) using gravity to help you
2) using multiple lines of defense
On the gravity point, what I mean is that water rolls down hill. The great thing about conventional shingles is that they overlap by 50% of their length. For water to infiltrate it needs to get under a shingle and then wick up. Water doesn't tend to do this.
On the multiple lines of defense point, a good roof has two layers of shingle at any given point (row n and row n+1), as well as tar paper (or better yet, a polymer sheeting like "Ice & Water Shield".
Fair enough, shingles + tarpaper (or polymer) seem to work as a pretty good waterproof layer, supported by plywood. I guess it seems to me that the polymer/tarpaper layer is more for keeping moisture away from the wood than keeping water out. The shingles seem to be for water.... so if the support layer doesnt need the protection, and instead offers an impervious barrier, why not use this plastic sheet in an overlapping manner (think roof slats for lincoln logs). It essentially becomes shingles + board all rolled up into one.
Edit: it also seems that metal roofing does not follow the same set of constraings that shingle roofs do, which suggests to me that this plastic roofing could be very viable.
Plywood can't be recycled because it has nails and paint, but plastic can?
The reason that folks don't recycle plywood is that it's part of construction debris. When you gut a place, you end up with dumpsters full of random crap: sheetrock, plywood, studs, pipes, etc. The labor to pick this apart isn't available at a reasonable price.
I don't see that replacing plywood with plastic changes the economics here.
...which is not to say that plastic sheeting is a bad idea.
Most plywood is rotted and worthless by the time a building is torn down. However, the wiring, most metal, and even the concrete are often recycled. Perhaps the plastic will be as well if it becomes economically viable.
Right now I'm guessing they're using plastic already separated out by residents as part of a community recycling program. What I want to know is how they deal with dirty plastic? No one will want these plastic sheets if they smell like sour milk.
My big question tho is how much energy does this process use? Is it energy efficient enough to offset the wood/glue/manufacturing of plywood stuff?