Celotex Corporation is a defunct American manufacturer of insulation and construction materials. It was the subject of a number of high-profile lawsuits over products containing asbestos in the 1980s, eventually declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1990. The company was founded in 1920 in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

as a subsidiary of Philip Carey Corporation, to manufacture its namesake product Celotex insulation board, often called simply ''Celotex''. Celotex is a fiberboard made from

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(sugar cane waste after extraction of the juice), first produced in a factory in

Marrero, Louisiana Marrero is a census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States. Marrero is on the south side (referred to as the "West Bank") of the Mississippi River, within the New Orleans– Metairie–Kenner metropolitan stat ...

, outside of

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. In 1932, Celotex Corporation was spun off as an independent company. In 1961, Jim Walter Corporation, a homebuilding company, acquired Celotex, moving the headquarters to

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

in 1965. Celotex moved again, to

Saint Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the ...

, in 2001.

Celotex Asbestos Settlement Trust

Celotex emerged from Chapter 11 in 1996. A $1.2 billion settlement trust was established in 1998 to settle claims arising from asbestos-containing products manufactured by both Celotex and Philip Carey. The wallboard business was sold to

BPB plc BPB Ltd (formerly BPB plc) (British Plaster Board) was a British building materials business. It once was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In 2005, the company was purchased by Saint-Gobain of France. The company subsidiary British Gypsum, ...

, its roofing products business to

CertainTeed CertainTeed is a North American manufacturer of building materials for both commercial and residential construction and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saint-Gobain SA, based in Paris. History The company was established in 1904 as the General Ro ...

in 2000, its fiberboard products division along with the Celotex brand to Knight Industries LLC in 2001, and its rigid foam insulation division to the Dow Chemical Company in 2001. In 2012,

Saint-Gobain Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A. () is a French multinational corporation, founded in 1665 in Paris and headquartered on the outskirts of Paris, at La Défense and in Courbevoie. Originally a mirror manufacturer, it now also produces a variety of ...

acquired the British manufacturing interests of Celotex. In 2017, a disastrous fire at the

Grenfell Tower Grenfell Tower is a derelict 24-storey residential tower block in North Kensington in London, England. The tower was completed in 1974 as part of the first phase of the Lancaster West Estate. The tower was named after Grenfell Road, which ran to ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

was blamed on exterior

cladding Cladding is an outer layer of material covering another. It may refer to the following: *Cladding (boiler), the layer of insulation and outer wrapping around a boiler shell *Cladding (construction), materials applied to the exterior of buildings ...

manufactured by Celotex-Saint-Gobain.

The future of Celotex

The brand name Celotex is currently owned by Saint-Gobain, which manufactures products under the Celotex brand. This includes products such as insulation boards and even insulated plasterboards. The product range offered by Celotex-Saint-Gobain continues to improve. The latest Celotex product is the Thermaclass range. It is said that this range will be the new standard of insulation for full-fill masonry cavity wall applications in Britain. Celotex insulation products remain very popular on the market despite previous damaging lawsuits. The buying behaviour of Celotex has evolved in the age of the internet. More people are buying insulation online rather than using older methods such as purchasing Celotex at a builders merchant. The lower overheads online mean that Celotex can be bought at a more affordable rate. Websites such as Trade Insulations are approved sellers of Celotex.

References

External links

Brochure: "Celotex Insulating Lumber"
(1923) 1920 establishments in Illinois Building materials companies Manufacturing companies based in Chicago Defunct manufacturing companies of the United States {{US-company-stub

Celotex Asbestos Settlement Trust

The future of Celotex

See also

References

External links