Norbord comes to the rescue of lifesaving club!

When the corrugated roof of Crantock Surf Lifesaving Club’s clubhouse finally gave up the ghost, the Club members put out their own emergency call for help.

With limited funds, the Club could only watch as increasing quantities of water and sand started finding their way into the ageing building, which nestles amongst the sand dunes at Crantock Bay, near Newquay, Cornwall.

The club’s SOS was answered by the Newquay branch of builders’ merchant Travis Perkins and wood panel products manufacturer, Norbord. Along with roof membrane manufacturer IKO, the companies donated material for a new roof while the club mobilised its members to provide labour and tools.

Norbord provided 60 sheets of its 18 mm Sterling OSB as the principal sheathing material for the pitched roof. Because of the location, which is exposed to high levels of salt-laden spray blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean, Norbord suggested its OSB 3 grade, a precision engineered board designed for use in humid conditions.

“All the materials were donated, which was a life-saver for us” says club member Lewis Timson, who co-ordinated the re-roofing project. “We held a number of fund-raising barbecues and other events to help pay for equipment hire and other services, but most of the labour was done by club members” he says.

The lack of ready funds meant the project had to be done over two winters, with the front pitch (the most badly affected) re-roofed in 2009/10 and the rear pitch completed in 2010/11. Re-roofing the rear of the building was complicated by the fact that the original roof was in two sections, the rear-most being almost flat.

“We had to rip all the timbers down and reconstruct it as a single pitch” explains Mr Timson.

Phil Fishwick, assistant manager with Travis Perkins in Newquay, says “Although the board was donated by Norbord, we were able to supply it from stock. As a Norbord distributor, we always have a good supply of Sterling OSB. It’s an important product line for us. In this instance, we supplied square-edged 18 mm OSB3 in two batches of 30 sheets.”

With the roof now completed, Crantock Surf Lifesaving Club has a clubhouse capable of withstanding the rigours of the Atlantic Coast and is looking forward to a successful 2011 season.