Last week, a buyer from the UK emailed us seven questions before placing a trial order for XPS tile backer boards.
Good questions. The kind that separate a factory from a middleman, and a serious buyer from a browser.
Instead of answering in private and letting the thread die, here they are — answered in public, so the next buyer doesn’t have to wait for an email across time zones.
1. Is the XPS core 100% virgin material, or recycled?
Our export boards run a minimum of 80% virgin polystyrene — and we hold that ratio constant at the extruder, batch after batch.
Recycled XPS is cheaper, and for packaging it’s fine. But virgin content is what drives the numbers buyers actually care about: density, dimensional stability, closed-cell rate (which is what makes the board waterproof), and thermal conductivity. A recycled core drifts from batch to batch, and that drift is what shows up two years later as a floor that flexes under a loaded shower tray. We extrude our own core, so we control that number at the source.
2. Can you make the core to a specified density, say 35 kg/m³?
Yes — 35 kg/m³ is our standard core density. We extrude the XPS core ourselves, so density isn’t something we order from a supplier — it’s a parameter we set at the extruder.
Tell us the density your project specifies and it goes into the production plan as a checked value, not a hope. Every batch is density-tested, and the report ships with your documents.
3. Is the board coated on both sides with cement-based mortar and alkali-resistant fiberglass mesh?
Yes — both faces. The alkali-resistant mesh is embedded in the coating, not laid on top of it.
Mesh isn’t decoration. It’s what stops the cement skin from cracking at cut edges and board joints. If a sample you receive is coated on one side only, or the mesh sits loose under the surface, ask why before you ask the price.
4. Is the board fully waterproof — suitable for UK tile and wet room applications?
The XPS core is closed-cell, so it doesn’t absorb water. The cement coating gives tile adhesive something honest to grip.
But a wet room was never waterproofed by one board. It’s the system: boards, sealing tape, corner strips, pipe collars, fixing screws. A single untaped corner will leak more water than a cheap board ever will. Our wet room elements and accessories are all here.
5. Can you provide the TDS, density, water absorption and compressive strength test results?
Yes — all four, before you order a single board.
A factory answers this question in hours, not weeks, because the numbers come off our own testing equipment rather than out of a trading company’s filing cabinet. Ask, and they’re in your inbox.
6. What certifications do you hold?
Our facility is certified to ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018, and our product test reports are issued by independent third-party laboratories — including IAPMO PS 106 for tileable shower systems. Certificate copies and full reports are available on request. Get them from us — and get them from anyone else you evaluate, too.
7. Can you guarantee batch-to-batch consistency — thickness, density, board size and coating quality?
This is the question that matters most, and the hardest one for a trader to fake.
Consistency comes from controlling the extruder and the coating line yourself, from cutting every board on the same line to the same spec, and from checking numbers per batch instead of per container. Put your tolerances in the purchase order. A real factory signs them. A middleman changes the subject.
Your turn
Seven questions, one email, answers within a day. That’s the pace factory-direct is supposed to work at.
Send us your wall type, tile format, sizes and quantities and we’ll come back with board specifications, test reports and a quote. And if you want to know how to vet any supplier — including us — at a trade fair or over one video call, read our Canton Fair factory vetting guide.
Planning a wet room project?
Tell us your wall type, tile format and quantities — we will confirm the board specification and send you a project sample kit.
