Construction boards with coated facers

Abstract

A construction board comprising of a foam body, said foam body having first and second planar sides; and a facer affixed to said first or second planar surface, said facer including a cellulosic substrate and a water-resistant coating layer, said cellulosic layer having first and second planar sides, where said first planar side of said cellulosic substrate is affixed to said foam body and said second planar side carries said coating, where said cellulosic substrate is substantially devoid of fiberglass, where said water-resistant coating layer has a thickness of less than 1.5 mm, and where said water-resistant coating layer includes a polymeric binder and a filler dispersed throughout the binder.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A construction board comprising:
 (i) a foam body, said foam body having first and second planar sides; and   (ii) a facer affixed to said first or second planar surface, said facer including a cellulosic substrate and a water-resistant coating layer, said cellulosic layer having first and second planar sides, where said first planar side of said cellulosic substrate is affixed to said foam body and said second planar side carries said coating, where said cellulosic substrate is substantially devoid of fiberglass, where said water-resistant coating layer has a thickness of less than 1.5 mm, and where said water-resistant coating layer includes a polymeric binder and a filler dispersed throughout the binder.   
     
     
         2 . The construction board of  claim 1 , where said foam body is characterized by a foam density of less than 2.5 pounds per cubic foot. 
     
     
         3 . The construction board of  claim 2 , where the foam body is characterized by an ISO index of at least 180. 
     
     
         4 . The construction board of  claim 1 , where said foam body is characterized by a foam density of greater than 2.5 pounds per cubic foot. 
     
     
         5 . The construction board of  claim 4 , where the foam body is characterized by an ISO index of at least 220. 
     
     
         6 . The construction board of  claim 1 , where the cellulosic substrate is devoid of fiberglass. 
     
     
         7 . The construction board of  claim 1 , where the water-resistant coating layer includes a synthetic latex as a binder. 
     
     
         8 . The construction board of  claim 1 , where the water-resistant coating layer has a thickness of less than 1.0 mm. 
     
     
         9 . The construction board of  claim 1 , where the water-resistant coating layer has a thickness of less than 0.7 mm. 
     
     
         10 . The construction board of  claim 9 , where the cellulosic substrate is characterized by a density of at least 400 kg/m 3 , a thickness of at least 5 mils and less than 25 mils, and a basis weight of at least 45 pounds per 1000 square feet. 
     
     
         11 . A foam composite comprising:
 (i) a foam body having first and second planar surfaces;   (ii) a cellulosic substrate, said cellulosic substrate having first and second planar surfaces, where said first planar surface of said cellulosic substrate is affixed to said first planar surface of said foam body, said cellulosic substrate being characterized by a density of at least 500 kg/m 3 , a thickness of from about 5 mils to about 12 mils, a basis weight of at least 35, and including less than 1% weight percent non-cellulosic materials; and   (iii) a layer of water-resistant polymer layer disposed on said second planar surface of said cellulosic substrate, where said water-resistant polymer layer has a thickness of less than 1.5 mm.   
     
     
         12 . The foam composite of  claim 11 , where said water-resistant polymer layer has a thickness of less than 0.7 mm. 
     
     
         13 . The foam composite of  claim 11 , where said water-resistant polymer layer includes a latex. 
     
     
         14 . The foam composite of  claim 11 , where the cellulosic substrate is characterized by a density of at least 750 kg/m 3 , a thickness of from about 7 mils to about 10 mils, and is substantially devoid of fiberglass. 
     
     
         15 . The foam composite of  claim 11 , where the cellulosic substrate is characterized by a burst strength of at least 150 kPa, and a machine direction tensile strength of at least 7.5 kn/m. 
     
     
         16 . The foam composite of  claim 15 , where the cellulosic substrate includes cellulosic fibers that derive from conifers. 
     
     
         17 . A method for preparing a foam composite, the method comprising:
 (i) providing cellulosic substrate having first and second planar surfaces, where the first planar surfaces carries a water-repellant polymeric coating having a thickness of less than 1.5 mm, where said cellulosic substrate is characterized by a density of at least 500 kg/m 3 , a thickness of from about 5 mils to about 12 mils, a basis weight of at least 35, and is substantially devoid of fiberglass; where said second planar surface is substantially devoid of said water-repellant polymeric coating;   (ii) mixing an isocyanate with a polyol to form a developing foam mixture;   (iii) depositing the developing foam mixture on said second planar surface of said cellulosic substrate; and   (iv) heating the combination of developing foam mixture and cellulosic substrate to form the foam composite.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , where said step of heating takes place within a laminator.