The Hancock brothers began manufacturing plywood in 1935 and the company has been doing so ever since. Today, Boral Plywood is the country’s largest manufacturer of plywood panels, proudly made in Australia. With well over a century of experience, Boral plywood is produced at the company’s dedicated mill in Ipswich, Queensland.

Boral is the biggest name in the Australian building products industry with operations encompassing bricks, roofing, masonry, windows, plasterboard, cement, concrete, asphalt and timber, as well as significant building products businesses in Asia and North America.

Boral Plywood has Australian Forestry Standard (AFS) Chain of Custody (CoC) certification, the only timber certification scheme that has an Australian Standard (AS 4707-2006). This provides additional assurance that Boral’s fibre and log stocks are drawn from sustainably managed forest resources.

Chain of Custody tracks a forest or wood product from its origin in a certified forest through to its end use by the consumer. The Chain of Custody certification verifies that Boral Plywood products are produced from certified, legal and sustainable resources. As such, Chain of Custody is a tracking process that provides an environmental assurance standard for the sustainable use of Australia’s forest resources.

EzyShield Commercial EzyShield Commercial is used as a visual and noise barrier for freeways, commercial developments and housing estates. It is specifically designed for commercial applications, with a unique production process ensuring longterm durability. EzyShield Commercial is a robust panel machined with a weather-enduring profile and manufactured to AS/NZS 2269-2008. EzyShield Commercial has been pioneered and developed by Boral Plywood over the last 20 years and is part of some of the nation’s biggest infrastructure projects such as Melbourne’s Eastlink, the Pacific Highway from Brisbane to Surfers Paradise and many train corridors through Australia. The product is designed to meet the needs of shielding home owners and pedestrians from road or rail noise nuisances. It can be built over 6 metres high and being light, compared to stone or concrete, can be installed in difficult terrain or sensitive sites. As a modular system the EzyShield Commercial fence solution can be easily modified at minimal cost should the requirements for noise abatement change in particular installations.

EzyShield

Features and benefits

• Lightweight and easy to install with a tongue and groove joining system
• Very high acoustic performance: up to 30dB reduction, depending on sound generation conditions
• Available in CoreTreat or CCA treatment against termites and fungus to H3 or H4 Hazard Level
• Supplied with a 40 year warranty against glue failure
• Offers a broad design scope and can be used in conjunction with other building materials
• If train derailment occurs, emergence access is as simple and quick as cutting access holes in the EzyShield Commercial with chainsaws
• Offers up to STC 24 for 24mm and STC 28 for 33mm (NAL Report AFT480 and AFT481 respectively)

Sheet Sizes

EzyShield is available in the following sizes with other sizes available on request.

• Thickness: 24mm, 27mm and 33mm
• Width: 1200mm (cut to size 600mm / 400mm)·
• Length: 2400mm and 2700mm

Boral Plywood recommends consulting a fencing installer or suitable engineer to determine the correct thickness to use. A suitable soil report should also be obtained before designing the fence.

Enduring Profile

EzyShield is manufactured with a rippled profile designed to control climatic weathering that may occur over time. To increase the stability of the EzyShield Commercial fence, timber battens fixed in the middle of the sheets or bays are recommended.

Sound Transmission Class (STC)

The National Acoustic Laboratories measured the acoustic transmission loss of two thicknesses of EzyShield and obtained the ratings shown below

• EzyShield 24mm 14kg/m² - STC24*
• EzyShield 33mm 18kg/m² - STC28*·

*National Acoustic Laboratories Reports AFT480 and AFT481 respectively

Jointing

A tongue and groove joining system is used to couple panel edges, giving a strong, warp resistant structure.

Design Freedom

Steel, timber or concrete posts may be used. Panels are usually installed horizontally due to their cross dimensional stability therefore requiring fewer posts. It should be noted that fences over 2000mm in height should only be installed on steel posts (Galvanised UBs) using non-direct fixing method. Some popular design options combine glass or acrylic clear panels and steel, allowing highways, roads, pedestrian walkways and cycle ways to be safer with more light and less chance of vandalism.