For timber construction applications, elka supplies the esb Plus premium board, a wood-based material designed for healthy building and living environments. It is the first board on the German market to comply with the stricter Blue Angel guidelines (version 1.1.2017) and, since 2016, the first and only wood-based board to be listed as a low-emission product in the Sentinel Haus Portal. It has also received the Iconic Award 2017 (Winner) and the Material Award 2018 in the Ecology category.

esb Plus meets the requirements of the MVVTB (Model Administrative Regulation on Technical Building Rules) for wood-based materials and was the first board to receive certification from DIBt (German Institute for Construction Technology).

A further development is the option to process the material as a tongue-and-groove sarking board (N+F) for roofing applications in accordance with the ZVDH/Cologne guidelines, which expands its range of possible uses. The esb product family, produced exclusively by elka, became the first climate-neutral certified wood-based boards on the German market in 2021. Compared to OSB, it offers a range of technical and ecological advantages and is manufactured in Germany as a sustainable construction product.

Technological advantages

• Flexural strength and E-modulus the same in both directions
• Higher transverse tensile strength than OSB (approx. 40% higher)
• Lower swelling than OSB
• Can be used as a sarking board N+F according to ZVDH/Cologne

Application advantages

• Very bright surface and excellent optics
• Native fresh wood without odour emission
• Complies with IPPC standard ISPM No. 15 for wooden packaging
• Ground surface and, therefore:
• Application of adhesives, paints and varnishes possible
• Largely open to diffusion
• Almost closed surface
• Natural wood character
• High accuracy of fit