Jet Products LLC

Jet Products LLC (Jet) began a tradition of innovation in 2005 when the company was first established as a tile backer manufacturer, serving a partner business in Texas. For nearly a decade, the business has evolved.

After a few years, Jet diversified into sheathing products that are replacements for drywall, OSB and plywood. Soon, the company began to produce groundbreaking sheathing products through a continuing process of innovation.

Today, Jet is the sole manufacturer of JetBoard, a unique all-natural panel that can be used both as an alternative to drywall and as an exterior structural sheathing, as well as JetBacker, a floor underlayment and backer board cut from the same stock.

Jim Waumbaugh, president of Jet, began working with the company in 2005 as a consultant and joined the business fulltime in 2011. Waumbaugh works alongside a strong management team, including Cole Krueger, sales and marketing manager for Jet.

“There are no other products on the market with the qualities of JetBoard and Jetbacker,” Krueger says. “We take pride in the resilience of our product line, as well as our sustainable materials and process.”

“Our technology separates us from our competitors,” Waumbaugh adds. “For a long time, this type of material was only available in China, but with unpredictable quality and consistency. We were able to bring it out of China and significantly improve the production process and testing. We now sample random boards out of every shipment that we receive. We also have patent protection on the product here in the United States.”

Tough stuff

JetBoard and JetBacker do not mold, rot or swell, and have excellent fire protection capabilities. The production building is, as Krueger puts it, safe as a bakery, for both the environment and the workers. Made from natural materials, JetBoard and JetBacker are actually edible. Furthermore, the products also have a long life expectancy with an accompanying 20-year warranty to back it up.

Builders and remodelers choose these products for a number of reasons. First, moisture resistance makes JetBoard and JetBacker ideal for humid climates and flood-prone areas. As opposed to traditional materials, these products are resistant to mold and mildew. JetBoard and JetBacker are also easy to work with. Significantly lighter than many traditional products, these boards also produce no toxic dust, which puts installers and homeowners at risk. These products are also significantly greener than alternatives, with low energy input to process the raw materials, as well as to produce JetBoard and JetBacker.

Growing interest

One of the company’s largest and still-growing target markets consists of homeowners with chemical sensitivities. “We stumbled into this market without even looking for it,” says Krueger. “The board is 100 percent mineral-based and we guarantee there aren’t chemicals seeping out of it into homes. You can actually eat the product.”

“We have spoken to customers who feel better after our product is installed,” Waumbaugh adds. “Our customers are also happy with the performance of our product. We worked with a customer in South Carolina whose house had burnt down. He decided to rebuild using our product and he now has a one-hour fire protection wall.”

The company’s products have also been used in a net-positive energy home in Panama, which helps to demonstrate the JetBoard and JetBacker capabilities.

The crew attended the annual Greenbuild International Conference and Expo (Greenbuild) to promote Jet’s growing line. “One of the greatest advantages of attending the conference has been getting to make connections with other people in our industry,” Waumbaugh explains. “We get to speak with architects who tend to be more open to new products than contractors and developers. They were excited about the customization available with our weight, size and flexibility.”

The business recently received the Most Innovative Product Award at the International Trade Show in Las Vegas. Despite this recognition, Krueger says his team still struggles with getting the word out. With a product that seems too good to be true, distributors were initially hesitant to pick up the line. However, by showing potential customers what JetBoard and JetBacker can do, demand is steadily growing.

“As the market continues to recognize that only Jet can offer the unique combination of fire resistance, water and moisture immunity, mold/mildew/fungal resistance and structural performance in a single people and environmentally safe product, demand and uses for JetBoard and JetBacker will only continue to increase,” Krueger says with confidence.

Over the coming years, Jet plans to ramp up domestic production. The executive team is confident in the strong product line and the growth potential of both JetBoard and JetBacker. As sustainable building picks up steam, there are more and more opportunities for growth. Leveraging cutting-edge technology with guaranteed safety and sustainability, Jet Products LLC will continue to break new ground in green building science.