Lite-Rock, a revolutionary lightweight strengthened wallboard
that its manufacturers predict will vastly improve standard gypsum drywall, is
taking the country by storm, company President Don McCoy Monday
announced.
 
     According to McCoy, Lite-Rock Drywall Corp. is now in full
production and has back orders of more than 250 million square feet of
product. During a test production run at a high speed manufacturing plant, the
company's formulated patented drywall was produced at 400 linear feet per
minute.
 
     McCoy, who spent 36 years managing wallboard plants for U.S.
Gypsum Corp., said the production run on a high speed line met all
expectations and proves Lite-Rock can be produced economically anywhere in the
country.
 
     "The plant foreman was very impressed with Lite-Rock's
hardness," added McCoy. "We have agreements to manufacture Lite-Rock
at several plants, and are licensing two other plants to make our patented
product in order to meet the global demand for a better wallboard." The
rapidly growing company has offices in Kingman, Ariz., Irvine, Calif., Tulsa,
Okla., Silver Spring, Md. and Toronto.
 
     McCoy defined the new product as
a "low-cost, lighter weight wallboard that is superior to standard gypsum
wallboard in weight, moisture resistance, strength and ease of handling. It's
also acoustically superior."
     The remarkable wallboard was created
after years of research by Joseph Luongo, 43, a civil engineer and inventor
who developed the product in a northern Arizona laboratory.
     He used a
mixture of the best of the old gypsum wallboard with the best low-cost
adhesive polymers and other raw materials to make a strengthened wallboard
that is 25 percent lighter in weight than the standard gypsum product.
    
McCoy said Lite-Rock is also easier to score, cut and handle, while meeting or
exceeding ASTM standards. Because of its patented strength and hardness, it
improves acoustics in any building where it is hung and reduces sound
transmission, he added.
     "We have back orders for 250 million square
feet of our new wallboard and new orders are coming in every day largely
through word-of-mouth advertising and some articles that have appeared in
trade journals and newspapers, including Automated Builder, a prestigious
construction magazine," said McCoy, 69, who came out of retirement to
join the company.
     He headed USG's Shoals, Ind. facility, which industry
stalwarts have called "the best wallboard manufacturing plant in
America."
     Drywall, also known as wallboard, gypsum board or
sheetrock, replaced plaster board in the 1940s as the material of choice for
finishing interior walls and ceilings.
     McCoy said, "I didn't think
anybody could talk me out of retirement, but Luongo did. This product is
significantly better than its cousin, gypsum wallboard, plus it's so strong
that we are confident a half-inch wallboard can replace five-eighth inch
wallboard using two feet on center trusses with minimal sag on ceilings.
    
"Other wallboard manufacturers have tried for years to make a lighter
weight, strengthened affordable wallboard with only limited success. It took a
civil engineer who lab tested different formulas to discover a combination of
mineral core ingredients to get the job done."
     The company has
sufficient raw materials to produce Lite-Rock for the global construction
industry for the next 400 years, he said, adding, "Our patent-protected
technology is being made available under production licensing agreements with
other major wallboard manufacturers. We expect to be a long time major player
in this $4 billion industry."
     (For more information on Lite-Rock,
its prices and shipment schedules, click on the company's website,
DirectBuild.com, or call 520/681-1111.)
 
 
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 	   CONTACT:
DirectBuild.com
 	            Geno Lawrenzi, 520/681-1111