Innovation born of wholesome tradition – for over 80 years. True to our faith in the quality of our local resources, acting with a deeply-felt responsibility to protect nature, plants, animals and the future of our children, that’s what you get in every wood fibre insulation product that leaves our plant. Black Forest quality, the quality that produces wholesome living spaces.
Home is a retreat; the place where we can rest and recuperate from stress we encounter during the day. It’s the place where we should feel safe and comfortable any time of the day or year. This is possible only if the places where we reside are healthy, free of hazardous substances and if they have a pleasant climate.
If you build using GUTEX products, you’re in great hands when it comes to wholesome living. Proof for the biological safeness and sustainability of the insulation products manufactured by GUTEX may be found in our natureplus seal of quality and listing in the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) registry. Further evidence is the “very good” score received from ÖKO-TEST, a consumer magazine for ecological products.
Wood permits diffusion. Since GUTEX fibreboards are wood they also allow diffusion and they regulate the interior relative humidity by virtue of their ability to absorb and release up to 15 % of their weight in moisture – without the loss of insulation capacity. The humidity regulating mechanism inherent to wood naturally prevents mould and mildew, a decisive prerequisite for a having healthy indoor environment.
Read the article “A Pleasant Indoor Climate” to learn more about how wood fibreboards’ moisture regulating capability creates the ideal indoor climate for your living pleasure.
Relentless heat, bone-chilling cold, raging storms – when outdoors, the weather is throwing the worst it can offer at you, you’ll appreciate the wholesome, natural quality of the climate in your living quarters that only natural wood fibreboard, thanks to its perfect insulation properties, provides.
Many insulation products are capable of retaining houses’ heat. GUTEX’s wood fibreboard insulation, however, delivers significantly more, effectively exploiting to the fullest wood’s unique insulating properties in every season, giving you exhaustive protection year round.
Of all building materials, wood has the greatest thermal storage capacity. GUTEX insulation, being made from wood, has this feature and for this reason contributes greatly to creating a pleasant indoor climate in summer when it’s hot outdoors. GUTEX wood fibre insulation absorbs more heat and better dampens the flow of warmth to the interior areas, allowing less heat to reach these areas. For a more in-depth explanation, read our article “Protection against Summer’s Heat”.
Thanks to their low thermal conductivity, GUTEX wood fibre insulation boards provide excellent protection against the cold in winter, delaying the movement of thermal energy, both warm and cold, in undesirable directions. Interior living areas remain warm and everyone benefits: house residents enjoy lower heating costs and landlords see their properties gain in value thanks to their improved energy efficiency. Finally, the environment benefits thanks to the smaller carbon footprint.
To feel really comfortable in our houses, we need peace and quiet. Thus, effective acoustic insulation is indispensable. Building elements must dampen the transmission of noise originating from both inside and outside buildings. GUTEX insulation boards possess high density, minimum stiffness, and high porosity – exactly the dampening attributes required for effective soundproofing against airborne and impact noise that originates from within or without.
Building responsibly means acting with prudence to prepare effectively for unforeseen circumstances, such as sudden severe weather. Whether architect, tradesperson or homeowner, it’s reassuring to know that you can depend on GUTEX’s product quality -- for a building’s lifetime.
Whether sudden heavy rainfall, hail or hurricane, the occurrence of severe weather is steadily on the rise. Climate change is to blame. With this in mind, it’s easy to understand why having a durable weather-resistant building envelope is more important than ever.
Completely insulating buildings, from top to bottom, with GUTEX wood fibreboard gives them excellent protection against the elements. Besides being rain-tight, GUTEX roof sarking boards are capable of withstanding severe hail. TÜV Rheinland, a globally active and an independent test facility in Germany, tested GUTEX products’ toughness against hail and verified their superb performance. In addition, GUTEX impact-resistant wall insulation boards are designed and manufactured to withstand severe winds and driving rain.
What about in the event of a fire? How long can wood fibreboards withstand fire? Something no one who considers using wood fibre insulation, of course, wishes to experience first-hand, but nevertheless, something that requires an answer.
Let us reassure you, we design and manufacture GUTEX wood fibreboards so they perform without problem in structures with F90-B or REI 90 fire resistant ratings.
For further information, please read our article “Fire Protection”.
Whether biological safety, product reliability or protecting buildings, numerous certificates and approvals, performed by independent institutes on wood fibreboard insulation used in diverse building elements, confirm that you can depend 100% on the quality of GUTEX’s products.
Nature provides us with a wonderful raw material that has superb thermal and climate-regulating qualities. Out of gratitude, we see ourselves indebted to treat nature and the environment with utmost respect while preserving them so we can pass them and their benefits on to our next generations.
The raw materials for every GUTEX wood fibreboard comes solely from wood harvested and grown using sustainable forestry management practices as per PEFC and FSC standards. GUTEX uses exclusively untreated spruce and fir chips and shavings that are by-products produced by other timber manufacturing processes. Moreover, the sawmills from which GUTEX obtains its chips and shavings are all located near our plant in the southern Black Forest town of Waldshut-Tiengen.
The use of renewable natural raw materials such as wood is very beneficial to people and the environment, as it conserves our natural resources and the Earth’s animal and plant kingdoms. But perhaps most significant might be its contribution to climate protection by reducing our carbon footprint. During their lifespans, trees assimilate and process the same amount of CO2 they release back into the atmosphere at the end of their lifespans. GUTEX fibreboards are made from wood chips, which, of course, contain the CO2 assimilated by the tress from which they come. When the insulation reaches the end of its lifecycle and it is used as fuel or just allowed to decompose, no additional CO2 discharges into the atmosphere – just the amount assimilated, meaning it is carbon neutral, unlike products made using fossil fuels or synthetic materials!
GUTEX’s new dry manufacturing line utilises an innovative, environment-friendly technology that requires 40% less energy pro manufactured metric tonne than the conventional wet process! Both processes use an absolute minimum on additives.
Since all GUTEX insulation boards contain absolutely no harmful additives, they are biologically safe and are completely recyclable and, provided wood preservatives have not contaminated them, can be disposed of at the nearest recovery centre. What little material "waste" occurs during manufacturing is recycled back into the manufacture of new insulation. Thus, GUTEX fibreboards are part of a permanent, unbroken ecological cycle.
GUTEX has called the southern Black Forest home since our beginning over 80 years ago. The combination of excellent locally sourced raw materials, traditional skills, innovation, precision and partnerships with merchandising businesses and the trades, has propelled us to the forefront in Germany, earning us a reputation as an innovation and quality leader for insulation solutions. Straight from the Black Forest.
How and what we began when we were the first in Europe to manufacture wood fibreboard insulation back in 1932, we are today continuing: GUTEX combines that typical Black Forest idea of quality, the infatuation with new ideas and ways of doing things, and the drive to answer the future’s needs today. This mix breeds innovative insulation solutions made from Black Forest wood; for example, the world’s first dry manufactured single-ply homogeneous insulation fibreboard. Used since 2006, this process doesn’t just deliver better quality and workability. It cuts CO2 emissions and energy usage by 40%. That’s an enormous step for the environment, humankind and nature. Made by GUTEX.
Quality assurance means for GUTEX taking environmental and social responsibilities seriously as well as delivering on our promises to satisfy the needs of our business partners, customers and employees. GUTEX is committed to the design and manufacture of modern, technically mature and ecological insulation products at our production facility in Waldshut-Tiengen in the southern Black Forest. The ISO 9001/14001 integrated quality and environmental management system, in practice at GUTEX since 1995, and the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS II) show that at GUTEX quality and environment-friendly manufacture are inseparable. GUTEX products are manufactured in accordance with the valid DIN EN 13171 and, in addition, comply with biological safety standards, which is verified by the natureplus seal of quality we received.
