New Orleans, Louisiana
In 2008 and 2009 Eco-Panels was proud to be a part of the Make It Right Foundation’s efforts to rebuild the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck and devastated the community in 2005. While news articles have noted that most of the more than 100 homes built by the Foundation are no longer habitable or no longer exist, the Eco-Panels home is one of the few that still stands strong and proud. As recently as late 2023, the homeowners told Eco-Panels that they appreciate the comfort and security that the wall and roof panels provide them.
Ironically, Eco-Panels was not allowed to participate further in the Foundation’s efforts. We use only closed-cell organic based polyurethane foam in our panels, and the “Cradle to Cradle” program did not recognize the foam as recyclable. The program failed to recognize that the finished panels can be disassembled and re-used in different homes almost into perpetuity, which we believe is a sustainable alternative. More importantly, however, was that their selection of “recyclable” materials doomed the Foundation’s rebuilding efforts because many of the materials they insisted on were not durable and degraded very quickly in the harsh New Orleans climate. The blue skin you see on the panel sides denoted a zinc-borate coating on the sheathing which helps to protect against rot, mold and other types of water degradation as well as acting as a deterrence against termites. While that particular product is no longer on the market, Eco-Panels still occasionally uses zinc-borate infused siding materials when making our panels.
