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Flexible Special Texture Series · MBQSW
Aggregate Wood Board
Board-formed concrete, on a 4 mm sheet. The grain of the formwork, the tie holes, the shallow lines where two boards met — all of it, without the pour, the cure or the crane.
The pattern came off a stack of larch boards that had been used as shutters for years. You get the vertical grain, faint enough to read as texture rather than as a print, and the two rows of tie holes that sit where they do on a real wall — at 600 mm centres, in line with the board joints.
It is not concrete, and it does not pretend to carry anything. A 4 mm sheet weighs 6.5 kg per square metre, so a single person carries a whole panel up a stairwell. Knuckle it and the sound is hollow. That is the trade for not waiting 28 days.
The grain is the drawing
Every sheet repeats at 1200 mm. On a wall longer than that, plan the joints on the board lines and the repeat disappears; stagger them and it reads as a mistake. This is the one texture in the range where setting out matters more than the colour.
Where it earns its place
Shopfronts and café fit-outs, mostly. The wall behind a service counter takes a lot of damage from chairs and trolleys, and a grey board-formed panel hides all of it — there is nothing to chip and nothing to re-oil. The exterior shot below is a two-storey entrance where the client wanted the concrete look but had a timber frame behind.
Installed, aggregate wood
Good for
- Retail and hospitality interiors where the landlord forbids structural work
- Lift lobbies, stair cores and corridor walls that get trolley damage
- Facades over a steel or timber frame, where weight is the constraint
- Refurbishment straight over existing tile, with no strip-out
Not for
- Floors: a 4 mm sheet takes a point load badly
- Joints that need a 20 mm shadow reveal to look right
- Anywhere the drawing specifies a poured, structural concrete wall
Around a corner
Cold, by hand, to about a 200 mm radius. Which is how it gets round a column or into a window reveal without a trim piece. Warm it first if the weather is under 10 °C and let the adhesive hold the curve while it sets.
Bent by hand, no heat
Specification
Everything below applies to the Aggregate Wood as supplied. Samples and datasheets come with the first quote.
| Sheet size | 1200 × 3000 mm |
|---|---|
| Thickness | 4 mm ± 0.5 mm |
| Weight | 6.5 kg/m² ± 0.5 |
| Substrate | Mineral powder, sand and fibreglass, pressed in a steel mould |
| Fire | EN 13501-1 A2-s1,d0, on a non-combustible substrate |
| Fixing | Polymer adhesive, or mechanical fixings on a ventilated frame |
| MOQ | Stocked colours ship from stock, no minimum |
| Lead time | 3–5 days for stock, 20–25 days for production |
Fitting it
Four steps, and the third one is the one that goes wrong.
Questions we get asked
Can Aggregate Wood be used outdoors?
Yes, on a ventilated facade or a glued substrate that drains. It is UV stable and frost resistant, and the grey does not chalk the way real concrete does. Horizontal surfaces that hold water are the exception.
How do you stop the repeat showing?
Set out on the board joints. The pattern is 1200 mm wide with two tie-hole rows, so a 2400 mm wall takes two sheets with the joint landing on a board line, and nothing repeats visibly.
Does it feel like concrete?
No. It is warm to the touch and slightly flexible, which most people notice within a second of putting a hand on it. From a metre away the visual read is convincing.
What substrate does it need?
Render, plasterboard, fibre cement, OSB or existing tile, flat to 3 mm over 2 m and dry. Movement joints in the substrate have to be carried through the panel.
Can I get a sample before ordering?
Yes. An A4 offcut of MBQSW posts from Ningbo in about a week, free, and it comes with the current colour card.
Sample of Aggregate Wood
A4 offcut, posted from Ningbo, free. Ask for the colour card too — it has all seventeen textures in the series.
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