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Located in the small Ontario town of Palmerston, Trusscore Inc is a young manufacturer of PVC products with big plans to take a bite out of the North American drywall market.

Trusscore, which says it is “changing the way the world builds interior walls and ceilings,” produces a range of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) products such as SlatWall, DockDeck, NorLock, RibCore, TempWall and Wall&CeilingBoard, its marquee product.

According to the company, which was founded in 2020, Wall&CeilingBoard, unlike drywall, is an integrated wall system that comes complete with made-to-measure trims that don’t require immediate painting or finishing after it’s been installed.

Panels click together and are held in place by invisible fasteners.

In addition, Wall&CeilingBoard integrates with another one of Trusscore’s products, SlatWall. Baskets, hooks and shelves click into place to create a wall storage facility.

Until two years ago, almost all of the company’s products were used in agriculture, as walls to separate pigs in farm buildings, says Trusscore CEO Dave Caputo.

But in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Trusscore realized its PVC walls could also be used to prevent the spread of the disease between humans.

The result was TempWall, 1⅜ inches thick, easy to assemble and mountable on feet to create barriers and enclaves. TempWall has been used by a number of Canadian hospitals and mass vaccination centres.

“Now more walls are being bought for use in garages, laundry rooms, closets and basements,” said Caputo.

PVC has several advantages over drywall, he says.

“PVC is durable and water-resistant and is four times faster than drywall to install,” said Caputo. “It takes just one person to install PVC; drywall, on the other hand, requires at least two skilled people. That makes PVC ideal for do-it-yourself home applications.”

PVC panels are 16 inches wide, weigh one pound per linear foot, and come in six different lengths from eight feet to 24 feet.

“They are shiny and white or gray in colour,” said Caputo. “But we can make the panels any colour if the project is large enough. For a large commercial project in Texas, we created panels the colour of Dallas Cowboys blue.”

Trusscore has been investing in scientific research and development and hiring product specialists in nanotechnology, chemistry and mechanical design, to improve the durability, cleanability and fire resistance of its boards.

“We are continuing to change our formulations, and to reduce the environmental footprint the building materials industry is leaving behind,” said Caputo.

In addition to its plant in Palmerston, the company has other manufacturing plants in Dayton, Ohio and Calgary and a marketing and R&D office in Waterloo. Trusscore sells its products across North America.

Caputo’s motivations are personal as well as business. He says he harbours a long-time grudge against drywall.

He dislikes the esthetic aspects of drywall, the nicks, nail pops and mis-set corner connections, as well as the wasted drywall that ends up in landfills.

“When I was young I had a friend who was a drywall installer,” said Caputo. “And when I picked him up at the end of the day I got drywall dust all over the inside of my parents’ car, and they made me vacuum it out. So I really don’t like drywall at all. We want to do to drywall what drywall did to plaster.”

Fitsum Tariku, director of the building science centre of excellence at BC Institute of Technology, says it’s unlikely PVC panels will replace drywall.

“Both products have advantages and disadvantages that make them suitable for different applications,” he said. “PVC panels have been coming more to the market, but not so much for residential applications.

“Although drywall is harder to install than PVC panels, it can be repaired if it gets damaged, but if a PVC panel is damaged, it needs to be replaced.”

Dave Sangha, president and general manager of Crown Building Supplies Ltd in Surrey, BC, also says he doesn’t believe PVC will replace drywall.

“PVC will continue to be a niche product,” says Sangha, whose company specializes in drywall, insulation, stucco and steel studs.

He says PVC panels have their best applications in small projects, do-it-yourself jobs or where there is a lot of moisture, such as health care and commercial food preparation facilities.

“PVC is easier to install, but it costs six or seven times as much as a drywall panel of the same area,” said Sangha.

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Typically, PVC and drywall have different applications, just as brick and vinyl siding do. Both have advantages and disadvantages. The correct application of these materials is critical for project success.

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