One Chemistry
for One Hemp-Based
Family of Products.
Hydrophobic-treated hemp hurd bound with lime, metakaolin, and rice hull ash, reinforced with hemp fiber — engineered as a single, density-graded system that replaces OSB, sheathing, and infill with one monolithic structure.
Three densities. One chemistry.
HD, MD, and LT are graded from the same base formulation rather than three separate products — set within a 10-inch offset timber frame to form a single floor-wall-ceiling structure, not a stack of assembled layers.
Why one chemistry
Most wall assemblies are a sandwich of unrelated materials — sheathing, house wrap, insulation, drywall — each with its own supply chain, failure mode, and end-of-life problem. Phyto-Board starts from a different premise: one bio-based chemistry, graded by density, doing the job of all of them.
The goal isn't to meet existing code minimums. It's to generate the field and lab data needed to make the case for a new framework — one built around monolithic construction, fast repairability, low material cost, and survivability in coastal wind and fire conditions.
The bond, not just the mix
Hemp hurd, crystalline silica, silanes, lime, and metakaolin don't just get combined — they react. Silanes bridge the organic hurd to the inorganic mineral phases, lime activates the pozzolanic reaction, and the resulting C-S-H / C-A-H gels grow through the matrix, encapsulating the hemp and densifying the structure from the inside out.
Performance targets
INTERNAL DOE PROGRAM — TARGET SPECIFICATIONSThree panels, one system
Each grade is optimized for where it sits in the structure, but shares the same underlying binder chemistry — so the whole envelope behaves as one material, not a collection of trades.
Exterior Armor
The structural skin. Carries the impact and fire-resistance load, with an oil-based water-resistance package built into the formulation for coastal exposure.
Interior Panel
Interior-facing panel grade, positioned as a direct structural sheathing alternative to conventional OSB2-class board.
Timber-Frame Infill
Fills the 10-inch offset timber frame cavity, tying the HD and MD faces into one monolithic floor-wall-ceiling assembly.
One load path, wall to ceiling to floor
The HD, MD, and LT grades aren't assembled — they react into a single structure. Offset lumber framing is fully binder-coated and encapsulated before the reactive hemp-hurd geopolymer infill goes in, bonding the treated skeleton to both the HD exterior skin and MD interior skin. Walls, ceiling, and floor act together as one monolithic composite, not separate assemblies fastened to each other.
One kit. Precut, numbered, ready for the field.
The 8' × 16' storm shelter is being made available as a self-build kit: a precut, numbered timber frame arrives fully binder-coated, paired with our pretreated hemp hurd and proprietary binder blend, pre-measured for the structure. Add water, blend, and pack the infill into the frame — no specialty equipment required.
Frame arrives precut & numbered
The offset timber skeleton ships fully binder-coated and labeled to the shelter's assembly drawings — no on-site cutting or coating.
Add water
Hemp hurd arrives pretreated with our hydrophobic pretreatment and pre-paired with the Phyto-Board binder blend, measured for the 8' × 16' build.
Blend & pack
Mix the infill on site and pack it directly into the numbered frame cavities — the same reactive geopolymer system used in the flagship structure.
Cures to one monolithic structure
The infill bonds to the binder-coated frame and skins in place, reacting into a single load-bearing shelter — not a fastened assembly.
Data before code
Phyto-Board's development isn't driven by chasing an existing ASTM checklist. It's built on FMEA-guided design of experiments, ISO 9001 documentation, and Lean Six Sigma methodology — generating the evidence base needed to eventually help rewrite building codes around materials like this one. The target: a 15% share of the OSB4 structural sheathing market within ten years.
Built on four decades in coatings and composites
Phyto-Board Global LLC is led by a polymer scientist (B.S. Polymer Science, University of Southern Mississippi, 1977; NASA Scholar) whose career runs through PPG Industries, Sherwin-Williams, Valspar's wood coatings division, FoamPartners, and Willamette Valley, where he served as Resident Senior Chemist supporting OSB and plywood customers directly.
That background — coatings chemistry, wood-panel manufacturing, and hands-on materials testing — is the foundation the hemp-lime binder system is built on.
Building the data set to change how we build.
Grant reviewers, investors, and manufacturing partners — request the technical data sheet or full corporate book.