Frequently Asked Questions

What makes PaperStone® so earth-friendly?

PaperStone® is a sustainable composite made from 100% post-consumer recycled paper and PetroFree™ non-petroleum based phenolic resins. PaperStone® is VOC-free, including formaldehyde, and emits no radon gases, the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. It has been certified ‘food safe’ by NSF, the public health and safety company. PaperStone® is extremely rigid and dense. It is the greenest composite material available to designers and architects for many applications including: countertops, bathroom vanities, conference tabletops, signs and plaques, window sills, cutting boards, furniture, restroom partitions, cabinets, indoor and outdoor wall cladding (RainStone™) and more.

PaperStone® is one of the few architectural solid surface material certified by the Smartwood program of the Rainforest Alliance to FSC standards for using 100% post-consumer recycled paper. Accordingly, PaperStone® plays a role in enabling a building project to acquire LEED points toward certification.

What is LEED?

The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System© is a voluntary standard for developing environmentally responsible, low emission, high performance, sustainable buildings. It was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy.

How is PaperStone® made?

Recycled paper is saturated with our proprietary PetroFree™ phenolic resins and selected natural pigments on our treater lines. Resin-saturated sheets are stacked together and moved into a press where they are consolidated under heat and pressure. The number of paper sheets pressed determines the finished panel thickness.

How does PaperStone® compare with
other solid surface materials?

PaperStone® is the greenest sustainable composite material available on the market today. It is priced to compete with other solid surface products, but the ease of workability can equate to savings on installation. Experienced woodworkers with carbide–tipped woodworking tools may even install PaperStone® themselves. PaperStone® comes in natural earth-tone colors that are soft to the touch and offer a warm, distinctive ambience to any room, unlike the cold feeling of granite, marble or other solid surfaces and laminates. PaperStone’s non-porous surface provides a lifetime of stain resistance and the product absorbs virtually no water. Surface cuts or mars may be sanded or rubbed out with a Scotch-Brite™ pad and treated with PaperStone® Finish or other quality hardwood finish products. PaperStone® contains no petroleum-based chemicals such as Polyester, acrylic or bauxite (coal) fillers. PaperStone’s superior strength allows innovative, cantilevered design capability and up to 18” unsupported overhang with 3/4” material. And, unlike some granites, PaperStone® emits no radon gases. It is heat resistant to 350°F and has been certified ‘food safe’ by NSF, the public health and safety company.

What is RainStone™?

RainStone™ cladding applies PaperStone’s technology to exterior solutions. RainStone™ panels are treated with a special UV protective coating, which allows panels to be used outside while minimizing UV degradation. When RainStone is installed using a rainscreen bracket system it creates a uniquely beautiful, long-lasting, water-resistant exterior rainscreen system.

How long has Paneltech Products, Inc. been in business?

Our company was founded in 1996. Today we are a growing, forward-thinking company, providing environmentally responsible leadership in the manufacture of green products for home, business, industry and education, as well as materials for life and property protection. Paneltech is located in Hoquiam, Washington at the edge of the Olympic Rainforest. Our manufacturing complex includes a treating facility, a resin development lab and resin plant, a press operation, and multiple warehouses.

Where is that exactly?

The city of Hoquiam, adjacent to Aberdeen in Grays Harbor County, is situated south of the Olympic Rainforest and Olympic National Park in northwest Washington State along the beautifully rugged Pacific coast.

You produce PaperStone® and also Fortrex™ ballistic materials. Those products seem like polar-opposites. How are they connected?

Sustainability is the common theme among our products. Fortrex,™ a division of Paneltech Products, Inc., focuses on life and property protection and is a key supply chain partner to leading manufacturers of composite ballistic armor. We’re very proud of our ongoing role in helping protect the lives of our nation’s service men and women from Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), Explosively Formed Projectiles (EFPs), and other threats. The same equipment used in saturating paper for PaperStone® is used to saturate aramid and high performance glass fabric webs for Fortrex™.

Manufacturing materials for life and property protection is consistent with our core values of creating products that are good for people and good for the earth.

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