Reports on a wood products firm based in Calgary piqued my interest. Rapidly grown to $120 million in revenue, the company DIRTT makes  MDF panels, but positions them uniquely: as a substitute for plaster-filled drywall in conventional construction.

DIRRT (the company name stands for Do it Right This Time) has established all the green credentials for its manufacturing process, which is formaldehyde free and surface finished with low-VOC decorative sheets. The 600-employee company also keeps its carbon footprint low by establishing panel converting factories close to point of use.

All woodwork is produced at the 122,419-square-foot Calgary facility, while metal and glass components for the walls are tailored at an 81,000-square-foot plant in Savannah, GA, and in a 71,855-square-foot facility in Phoenix. 

Now combine that DIRTT wall with a WoodTrac ceiling system by Sauder, and any type of wood floor, and you have yourself a wood room that's a wood cocoon.

If you haven't run across WoodTrac ceilings yet, they are a prefabricated paneled wood ceiling manufactured by Sauder. This wood products giant suggests them as a preferable alternative to drywall ceilings.

Drywall comes with a major drawback that anyone doing home improvement will recognize: electrical, utility pipe or ductwork repairs and maintenance often means cutting “exploration holes” to find out where the mechanical systems run. 

Then you have to repatch and repair. Unforeseen  pipe leaks can ruin an entire drywall ceiling overnight. We've had a series of mishaps from a condo resident above us: water heater breakdown, frozen pipe, washing machine overflow. That ran into our ceiling, and repairs are costly: market research shows the average cost to repair an 800 square foot ceiling is $4,400. 

Sauder's WoodTrac wood panel coffered ceiling allows access to mechanicals without damage.

“Allowing easy utility access with removable ceiling panels," says Jonathan Zublena, product manager of Sauder Woodworking, WoodTrac means "that their newly upgraded ceiling will not be damaged during routine maintenance.”

WoodTrac ceilings  come with   clips that snap on to a track system over a suspended grid. The set is warranteed as well.