Hammered, do you have photos of the goo? Are there any labs there that can analyze it? It's pretty easy to check the ph of the goo... could find out if it is acidic, or alkaline a neutral ph could indicate it's a salt. It's disgusting to think about, but if it tastes sour it is acidic, or salty? A lot of old-school guys still do the taste/spit test.

If it's a stable gelatinous goo (doesn't dry out after a day or so when you spread it out an a dry surface), you may have a hydrocarbon which probably is entirely unrelated to the MGO or the aluminum, but with a sealant or something else.

But, knowing what the goo is may be your best bet for determining a course of action for remediation.

Steve I am also in Costa Rica and would love to know exactly where I find this warehouse that has all the MGO inventory. Can you please provide me with directions &/or phone number. If it is easier just call me 8503-9952. I will note not to use aluminum fasteners. Thanks for the post.

Not good in my opinion, tried MgO for first (and last) time for floor deck, it has absolutely no flex, it is brittle, too heavy, has inconsistent thickness, breaks when trying to fasten corners. Dust is an irritant to lungs, eyes and skin, ...................................................................... .............

Chris,
That is some of the worse looking board of any type I have ever seen.
The problem with MGO board is that every last one on the market today is made in China.
That is not to say that the Chinese cannot make a quality product in a consistent manner, they can and do
The problem comes when you add in the propensity of American builders to buy products ( that get covered up ) based solely on how much they can sell it for weighed against how much they can buy it for. They want to buy it for pennies and sell it for dollars.
Buy from a reputable supplier and pay a little more per board and you will not have problems.

That looks nothing like the MgO board we are using. Mine is very smooth, consistent thickness and somewhat flexible. The edges are somewhat brittle, but no worse than gypsum and not as bad as cement board. I got tapered sheets, and in hindsight I shouldn't have. We used CTS Wunderfixx as a joint compound, should have sanded that the same day.

What brand is your MgO board? But isn't all dust an irritant? For us the dust was not remarkable, just messy but that was from the Wunderfixx. In the close-up are the foot prints in the sheets of MgO?

You bought board from a broker..that has no skin in the game and has no ownership in the plant in China.. Magnum Board has no testing no QC programs or 3rd party Certifications they buy the board sight unseen and sell it off to the unsuspecting public..the next time you buy boards ask the supplier who the maufacturer is...if they wont tell you they are just a middle man ripping you off..you could buy it over the internet cheaper but unfortunately with the same result..you need to see testing a current 3rd party QC and a certified stamp on the board from an accredited lab..the pictures above are good compared to some of the boards Ive seen from them..you should call the Consumer Protection Agency for FRAUD that would stop their shady business practices... FYI it is a matter of public record on all shipments from China to the US a little homework and you can find out what factories the boards are coming from..you will find that most board comes in from one factory in China and it can't pass a structural test..that's why none of these brokers will show you a certifed test that has structural calcs..they can't pass one..they will show you a $300.00 fire test all day..all MgO Boards by nature are fire proof but all are not fit for Floors Walls or Roofs..buyer beware..it's a good technolgy we just have to get the bad apples out of the game and everybody will get what they pay for on a level playing field

Using the MgO board was tougher than gypsum, but the material is tougher. To paint it we have to use an adhesion promoting primer, because it is very smooth. But the quality of the three cargo containers I have seen has been very good

Posted By jusaxeme on 22 Dec 2011 11:07 PM
Chris,
That is some of the worse looking board of any type I have ever seen.
The problem with MGO board is that every last one on the market today is made in China.
That is not to say that the Chinese cannot make a quality product in a consistent manner, they can and do
The problem comes when you add in the propensity of American builders to buy products ( that get covered up ) based solely on how much they can sell it for weighed against how much they can buy it for. They want to buy it for pennies and sell it for dollars.
Buy from a reputable supplier and pay a little more per board and you will not have problems.

Cost is not an object on this project, it was not purchased by us, but rather by the owner for us to install, while the owner is happy with it, I would never recommend it!
Please explain..... "The problem comes when you add in the propensity of American builders to buy products ( that get covered up)"
Are there foreign buiders that are better buiders?
We buy quality, we typically pay more for it, the idea is to provide, a better sustainable product to our customers, we ar Not a "bottom line" driven company and I take offense to you statement, not only as a builder , but as an american.

Posted By ICFconstruction on 22 Dec 2011 11:32 PM
That looks nothing like the MgO board we are using. Mine is very smooth, consistent thickness and somewhat flexible. The edges are somewhat brittle, but no worse than gypsum and not as bad as cement board. I got tapered sheets, and in hindsight I shouldn't have. We used CTS Wunderfixx as a joint compound, should have sanded that the same day.

What brand is your MgO board? But isn't all dust an irritant? For us the dust was not remarkable, just messy but that was from the Wunderfixx. In the close-up are the foot prints in the sheets of MgO?

Brad;
If you read the MSDS for MgO it has most of the characteristics as an irritant as I stated, my men needed masks to cut it.
We did not personally buy it, the material was only installed by us, it is my understanding that it came from a well known MgO spplier in Tampa

Posted By ICFconstruction on 23 Dec 2011 12:22 AM
Using the MgO board was tougher than gypsum, but the material is tougher. To paint it we have to use an adhesion promoting primer, because it is very smooth. But the quality of the three cargo containers I have seen has been very good

Brad;
Why was the board stood up instead of horizontal?
Did your drywall hanger/finisher charge a premium, because of weight and being harder to cut that drywall?
What was the thickness of your board?
who was your supplier?

I hear claims of MgO board having many tests, but I don't know if any board has yet gone thru an ICC test accreditation?

With 8' ceilings the MgO board was put up vertically for less joints.

One of my concrete guys is an x-drywall guy so he has been doing it with our help, when not working on paying jobs. The cutting was not a problem, only very slightly tougher than gypsum. A carbide scoring tool, but often just a utility knife and score the smooth side, which cuts the mesh that is close to the surface and snap. For cutting we used carbide abrasive type blades for jig saw, reciprocating saw and/or rotozip. We did not cut the box openings and recessed cans out after the board was up, but that was more to do with the cheap boxes and cans and us being rusty of the "feel" of doing it that way. The difficult part happened in the tapping or really the sanding. My guy taped (fiberglass) and mudded (Wunderfixx) a bunch, three applications going for a very smooth finish and when he went to sand it the stuff was like concrete, because it pretty much is. He should have sanded asap after the last application. He has since done it that way and it sands easy like water soluble mud, it is in the timing.

I used 10mm on the ceiling and walls which is about the same weight as 5/8" gyp but much stronger. Gypsum drywall is the worst building material commonly used and I did not want it in my place.

I researched it and talked to all the US and a couple Chinese companies. I chose Magnum Board and glad I did. I decided to add it my small distribution company (Energy Wise Building Products) which sells mostly ICFs and related products.

I did not choose another importer, that posts here often, because all he did/does is say how everyone else is a crook selling garbage and how great he and his product is. Not the way to do business.

Brad we own our factory 100 % in China with our own North American management team in China we have an Intertek listing with an Intertek stamp on our boards a QC program and all the testing was done on wittnessed boards when they were made by Intertek in our factory sorry if you were offened I call a spade a spade..I remember talking to you ..you didn't want to pay a higher price for a better product..i guess you were margin motivated..I will send you samples if you would like ..you can tell just by eye balling it's a superior product..we designed the boards for our own internal MagWall SIP panels we are ..are own biggest customer and have testing on them as well..Magnum buys from a company Guandong Huajun Economic Development Co in Guanzhou it's a matter of public records and so can anybody with out the middle man mark up..they bring no IP or value added..it's all smoke and mirrors..do your homework and tell me if I'm out of line..shake your head and clear your mind all MgO boards are not the same..sooner or later the truth will come out as in any new industry..We have plenty of patients and have tried as a company to do it right and not cut any corners.. I can sleep at night..and I will put up the way we do business to the way they do business any day..call me and I will give you a crash course in MgO 101 if you really want to get the best product to your clients.I will tell you right now our boards are more expensive as everything in this world you get what you pay for..end of story

I usually post using my construction company name ICF Construction, but this has to do with my product distribution company.

Tim, I did not buy Mag Board because of your attitude, and what I felt was a lack of service, we did not get beyond that. I never saw your product never got pricing, you never sent me any samples. Now you liable me on a public forum, do you think that is a good idea? You don't know my motivation let alone my margin. In 2010 on at least six occasions I requested pricing and samples, never got either. I can prove it. I talked to Casey, nice guy, but he didn't send me pricing or samples. Then I talked to you, right then I decided I didn't want to do business with Mag Board.

Just because a product is made by the same company that markets it, does not make it better. Just because a company sub-contracts the manufacturing of their product does not make it worse. There is as many arguments that sub-contract manufacturing of a product is better than one done "in-house" as there is, that it isn't as good. Most ICFs are contract molded, the ones we sell are. I have used tens of thousand's of sf of each. Other products I sell and use are not, I believe it means little, end result is what counts. Feel free to send me samples, but don't ask my opinion if you don't want to hear it.

The quality of the Magnum Board MgO board I have gotten, used and sold has been excellent. Their service has been excellent and they are nice guys!

Merry Christmas!

All you have to do is look at the pictures Kavala posted..No testing no 3rd party QC and no certifications..and if you look at shipping records you will see that over the years they have purchased board from several different factories in China your playing Russian roulette..their factories mark it up..Magnum marks it up ..you mark it up..who loses..and if you think that if you don't control your production in a business like this your dead wrong we learned the hard way..and if you don't like me so be it..I can't make everybody happy..I'm not here to make friends just the best MgO Board on the planet..I will send you samples so you can see for yourself..I don't mind your opinions just make sure they are educated ones..I'm trying to help..I don't care if you buy my board but your customers might...just letting you know their are other quailified options.. Merry Christmas ! It's real simple Brad ask Magnum for their QC manual from an accredited lab as a distributor of their product they owe that to you ..let me know what they tell you....nobody has seen one yet..they say on their web site they have certified testing.. certified from who that is the 64,000 DOLLAR QUESTION they have done some testing on some board from somewhere and pawn that off as certified you be the judge it's your business not mine,but before you tell your customers what they tell you,maybe you should take a look at their paper work and if you get it I would like to see it..I have asked several times,we have it
and if they tell you UL does... all UL has done for them is witness 1 fire test 3 years ago and who knows where that board came from ...UL dosen't do structural, moisture movement.. nail pull through or anything else for that matter..I'm just trying to police our industry..Just because they are nice guys dosent mean you should stake your reputation on their board..ask them to prove all their claims..they will come up short..they have threatened to sue me on several occasions they won't because they know they can't prove what they are telling the consumer they would implicate them selves in a court of law..sorry to burst your bubble..and if you want to do a conference call with Ed and Dan bring ot on..they will decline they know what they are doing..they just don't care but then again either do most of the others selling MgO board here in the US..seem's everybody is long on claims short on proof..it's the nature of the beast in an unregulated technology..once the industry wises up only the ligitmate one's will survive..I can wait we have spent the money and do it right

Brad, Based on your post I am convinced you are truely a very proffesional person. The topic is whether MgO board is better than OSB. It appears the responding party may be using the forum to try and tear down his competition? I have talked to several companies that use MgO boards and they are overall impressed with the attributes versus OSB or gypsum boards. I believe they have used both Dragon Board and Magnum Board without any issues. I believe Dragon Board is sold primarily in the USA. Magnum Board is sold world wide and they offer a board that was production whitnessed by the ICC and tested by accredited test labs in the USA. In addition they offer a lower density product that they market as only in-house tested. When I contacted them they were right up front regarding the testing differences so I am not sure what this gentleman is talking about. I am not aware of any MgO boards that have an ESR yet from ICC-ES. In any case this forum should be used to state opinions regarding MgO board versus OSB and not a venue to be throw stones. I applaud your professionalism. I am not familiar with Mag Board so I can not intelligently offer an opinion.

Posted By MagDaddy on 23 Dec 2011 06:11 PM
All you have to do is look at the pictures Kavala posted..No testing no 3rd party QC and no certifications..

they do actually have a UL certification stamp

Their board and testing was not witnessed by ICC I called the ICC and sent them the web site they ( ICC compliance ) made them take that statement off there web site.. I called Radco they do not certify a MgO Board thats who did their structural testing..Take a look for yourself g2tech..6 months ago it was there now it is not..they made that claim amongst others and now they retracted it because it was bullshit..not throwing stones..just trying to educate the industry..most people who have used MgO have only seen one board and have nothing to compare it too..but when I see blantant lies I call it..subscribe to www.importgenius.com and you can see where all these brokers middlemen importers what ever you want to call them get there boards..it will tell you the manufacturer the consignee where it was shipped how much was sent.. who it is delivered to and you will also find you can buy the same board from them without the go between and a forum like this is all so used to educate potential users of a product in question and yes MgO is beter then OSB..I am not soliciting business or tearing down my competition ..I'm just getting the facts out in cyber space and who ever wants to to their due diligence can without a bunch of white noise and lip service and no we don't have an ICC evaluation report that will take more time and money but I know our product will pass the challenge we have applied

yes Chris..The UL stamp is for an E-119 fire test that they witnessed 3 years ago and charges for every stamp that goes on a board..they don't stamp for structural or anything else you might need the board to perform to..it's a little misleading I stated that in a previous post..the only test on building materials that UL does is fire tests nothing else..I talked to them as well..most MgO Boards will pass fire tests it's a non combustible material

I googled g2tech and Ed Gilbert's name came up ..he just happens to be the owner and broker of Magnum Board..enough said..he just gave himself a left handed commercial on this forum.. it looks a little misleading in my books..it makes you wonder ??