Sidetracked as being “not so durable”, these are finally “on board”. Now being moulded and remoulded into swanky cupboards, dining tables and dressers these are giving stiff competition to conventional wood. “The particleboard is here to stay,” says Anu Bansal of Comfort Sales, as he spreads out a collection in board, that looks exactly like wood. “Cheaper, denser and more uniform than conventional wood and plywood, it is a great substitute when strength is less important than cost,” adds Bansal. Whether it’s the furniture belt on Madhya Marg, furniture market in Sector 34 or the malls in Industrial Area, there’s quite a collection at hand.

Usually made appealing by paint or the use of wood veneers that are glued on to surfaces which are visible, its weightlessness makes it a popular choice amongst those who shift their house often. So much so that Lafarge Boral Gypsum India (LBGI) rolled out the LaGyp Hall of Fame campaign in Chandigarh through a workshop that talks about how gypsum boards can be used in buildings. “While the company will be organizing a series of workshops across various cities to share knowledge about the wide range of possibilities with gypsum board solutions for the interiors, it will also talk about how this particular board can help build faster, better, greener and cheaper buildings,” says Oliver Chaudet, CEO LBGI.

“Manufactured by mixing wood particles or flakes together with a resin and forming the mix into a sheet, its selling point is its availability in large flat sheets and its ability to be decorated with melamine based overlays,” tells a salesperson at Big Bazar, who shows us a children’s bed for as cheap as Rs 5,000 and gives us a quick tip, “fasteners should be designed specially for particleboard; ordinary screws and nails will not provide the correct holding power over time. Threads may strip, portions of the particleboard may blow out when subjected to extension stress,” he says that board is also prone to expansion and discoloration due to moisture, particularly when it is not covered with paint or another sealer. “So, it is rarely used outdoors, with the exception of bathrooms, kitchens and laundries, where it is commonly used as an underlayment beneath a continuous sheet of vinyl floor covering,” Kavita Sahni, an interior design student, tells us, in such installation the edges are properly covered upward against the wall and joints and non-covered edges are properly sealed against moisture penetration. Look out!