Blueboard replacement
KATEACK80
| Posted in Green Building Techniques on
I have severe MCS, so am allergic to just about everything.
I have a 3′ hole in my familyroom/kitchen ceiling that I need to repair. I know that it would usually be repaired with blueboard, but blueboard and it’s adhesives are toxic to me. Does anyone know how I would patch that hole in my ceiling?
Thanks so much for any input. I am like a “deer in headlights” over any home improvements, as it seems that I have had issues with everything that we have done in the past, and I cannot leave my home for much more than a week.
thanks, Kate
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Replies
Kate,
What's the ceiling made of?
If the ceiling is plaster, you can repair it with plaster.
If the ceiling is drywall, you can repair it with drywall and drywall compound.
You would be using the same materials that are already in your house. If you are able to tolerate your ceiling now, you should be able to tolerate your ceiling after it is patched, if you patch it with the same stuff that it is made of.
Thanks Martin. I wish it was that simple. The ceiling is drywall, and 15 yrs old. It had totally outgassed by the time we bought the house. All these materials are full of things that I am desperately allergic to when new; so I have to find more inert substitutes....no outgassing formeldehyde, etc
What materials can you tolerate when new?
A couple of questions:
1) What's above this ceiling? An attic, or a second floor of conditioned space?
2) Is new pine wood something you tolerate well?
If pine works, you could do a tongue and groove pine ceiling. If it's conditioned space above, there's no worry about air sealing that. It might look a little funny to have just that 3' section done with a different ceiling style, but that might be a minor issue, and if you have it sanded smooth and paint it white it wouldn't look very different. If there's a paint you tolerate, that is.
Edit: Ash, beech and maple have vastly lower VOC emissions than pine. I don't think anyone but you can accurately predict what you are sensitive to, but those might be better bets for wood species, unless you already know pine is OK.
Metal is also pretty inert. Bare metal probably doesn't look great, but metal painted with a powder coating off site and cured off site should be pretty inert and not outgas at all.
Or I suppose you could consider the proverbial glass ceiling. Extra credit if you do that and then break it.