Choosing drywall: Need help (and a PhD in chemistry)
I have been doing a ton of research into building a healthy home and one place I am stuck on is drywall. At first I was going to use MgO board, but I am having difficulty sourcing it. I have switched to wanting traditional drywall and wanted to know what of the ingredients it has should be a source of concern. I assume it is inert and as long as I am not breaking or cutting it and breathing in the dust there should be no issue. Is this a correct assumption?
I have two options for traditional drywall the first is by CertainTeed and contains Calcium sulfate (Gypsum), Cellulose (paper fiber), Silica fume, Continuous filament glass mat (Fiberglass mat), Calcium sulphate dihydrate a naturally occurring mineral, and concentration of crystalline silica as quartz is less than 0.025% (wt/wt %).
The other product I am considering is QuietRock and contains Gypsum or Calcium Sulfate Dihydrate, Acrylate Copolymer, Rosin Ester, Paraffin Wax,Boric Acid, Potassium Sulfate, Vermiculite, Fiberglass Scrim, Parrafin Oil, Sodium Carbonate, 2â€Propenoic acid, 2â€methylâ€, polymer with ethyl 2â€propenoate, 2â€Pyridinethiol, 1â€oxide, sodium salt
Thanks for any help you can provide!
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Mr. Dog,
My first question is, "Why are you concerned?"
Do you have any special medical issues that lead you to ask this question?
Almost every building in the U.S. includes drywall. Do you have medical symptoms when you enter most buildings?
I had a lung transplant and would like to live in house with the cleanest air possible.
Mr. Dog,
(By the way, if you want to tell us your name, I would be happy to use it instead of "Mr. Dog.")
Your desire for clean air is understandable and admirable. However, I think that you are focusing on the wrong issue. I don't think that there is any evidence that drywall causes problems for people with impaired lung function. Once the drywallers have completed their taping work and cleaned up, and the drywall is painted, the drywall should be innocuous.
For more information on this issue, see All About Indoor Air Quality.
Just agreeing with your assessment here. The venting below is more general.
So obviously mass-market industrial-scale paper-faced gypsum plus other stuff board is the ONLY wallboard solution worth discussing on Green Building Advisor. Such a relief so little discussion is had on this minor topic - and that folks keen to open discussion are shot down so elegantly. Only a bazillion pounds of this stuff is installed annually across the world - because it's the perfect interior wall solution! I wonder if 100 years in the future, somebody will revisit the topic on Green Building Advisor with an open mind; sort of the "end of history" in the meantime with gypsum plus other stuff board.
Egads, Gregg, chill out. This is a FORUM. Martin stepped in and gave a quick answer, as he often does, and referenced a much longer discussion on the topic. He rarely has the last word, nor does he ever expect to have the last word. If you've got a concern, state it! This is the perfect place to start a discussion.
If it were the first time, I'd be more chill Andy. It's a FORUM - except when it comes to wall boards as far as I can tell.
It concerns me to no end that this MASSIVE input - possibly the number one input - into buildings including homes today is subject to such limited review here and next to no alternatives in the marketplace. (Sure, study after scientific study says they're fine - I'm not really disputing these assertions.)
Sorry - I'm self-obsessed as usual and have a three year project that's (I hope) nearing the end of phase one and seek a fair review of all the options on the world marketplace for wallboards, as it's now time to move on the interior. Over the past few years, I've sought out such reviews and come up empty. Not only that - I see lots of "Why are you concerned?" type responses as if the perfect unassailable solution is already in front of us and no other options need enter the discussion let alone the marketplace.
Two obvious alternatives that get no play here (not that I've scoured the database but I've certainly taken hard looks over the years) are MgO boards and clay boards.
I've been taking a real liking to clay boards, which have been on the market in Germany for over 5 years and now in England, as well. As with most building technology, the Europeans are light years ahead of professionals in the states on the wall board front. Here it's all about cheap stuff that meets minimum scientific thresholds for safety per regulators and scientists, and most of it is fossil-fuel based. Folks seeking options - any options - are either limited or SOL, particularly with wall boards.
MgO boards are subject to lots of curiosity, as well. I've been shying away from them due to the finishes on the exterior of the boards and not quite understanding the issues there; nevertheless, they have some very laudable and winning qualities to them.
Such a tasty chill pill. Mmm. Thanks, Andy.
Gregg, thanks for elaborating. Definitely worth talking about, and educating ourselves. I'm sure I'm not the only one who had no idea what the hell the snark was all about.
You're not challenging the assertions that drywall is safe (setting aside the Chinese sulfur debacle.) Say more on what motivates you to look at alternatives. It's clearly one of the main inputs into our buildings.. but is that from a carbon footprint perspective? It's certainly one of the cheapest products, just made from stuff they dig up behind the factory. Is it the additives that are problematic? Why are the Europeans using other products?
Mr. Dog asked the question in a fashion which implied it was already a consensus that drywall is health hazard. Since that is not the case, it's a fair question to ask what his actual concern was.
Gregg I am new here but I understand your frustration on everyone immediately going to drywall as the end all in wall finishes. To point that nobody sees an issue with suggesting in order to update an older home let’s rip all the plaster out and replace it with wallboard. I to have looked into alternatives and seen so many people suggest just hang drywall what’s the big deal.
For people with lung issues it can be a big deal because it can become food and a breeding ground for molds and fungus very rapidly if conditions become ripe for it.
Gregg, I mean this respectfully, do the chemical names of the ingredients in conventional drywall intimidate you? If it's not clear, gypsum and calcium sulfate dihydrate are the same thing, just ground-up rocks, as are most of the other ingredients except cellulose, derived from trees. There is some concern for worker health and there may be a small amount of heavy metals that can leach out of drywall waste. QuietRock and other specialty drywall products have a lot more additives and I have heard reports of bad smells from some of them. I've also heard that MgO board has several drawbacks, though I have not researched it thoroughly.
The biggest concern with drywall is worker health from drywall finishing. In poorly-designed assemblies, mold can grow on drywall and fungus can eat the paper, but those are not drywall problems, they are design problems.
At least that's my understanding. I am curious about your research into the problems with conventional wallboard, in the alternatives available, and their relative advantages and disadvantages, if you'd care to elaborate.
Critical point about the mold and fungus issues. Thank you, Michael.
At the moment, I'm aiming to review marketplace options on all fronts for my holistic hybrid house project to drive it to completion so I can move in! I cast a critical eye at all military-industrial (in my mind) products made to eliminate liability and skill on every possible level for contractors as opposed to maximizing quality experience (in my opinion) for the homeowner or renter. As I note, gypsum board has its place; however, it's very disturbing that no other option exists on the marketplace in the states for interior wallboard... whereas in Europe a number of options exist. Why the gap? I have my theories, and I end up sourcing from Europe despite the additional financial cost. That noted, because I'm on my own for the most part it's breaking my financial back (I'm far from financially wealthy). I already serve as an agent for a European manufacturer of bikemobiles... and this experience has me considering strongly becoming an agent for a European manufacturer of one or more products for the housebuilding market, too.
So what did you end up using?
Fly ash from burning coal is a component for wallboard. It's probable that in Europe and specifically Germany because coal power plants are being shutdown there's a limited supply of fly ash.
https://www.buildinggreen.com/newsbrief/epa-finds-coal-fly-ash-safe-concrete-and-gypsum-wallboard
I'm following the HOMEChem experiment as broadcast on the Home Performance channel on YouTube. It's early in the experiment so no results yet, but the experts have been doing short interview clips and one thing that's come up several times is clay.
Apparently unfired clay has the ability to neutralize certain chemical compounds. I'm unsure if using it as wallboard with one or more coats of paint will allow it to maintain this ability or not, but clay sounds like an interesting material to look into.
Apparently there are clay based paints available? Perhaps standard gypsum wallboard with clay paint would work well/better? Anyone with solid information, please share.
It makes sense, as clay is highly polarized--that's what makes it stick together so well. I don't know but would imagine that the thickness of regular paint would greatly reduce any ionic attraction. American clay is a product I'm considering using, over regular drywall at this point.
Yes, Lance. A sort of plaster paint is applied to the clay as a final finish to complete the system.
In searching for more info online about the final finish layer, I stumbled over yet another advance by the Germans: hemp/clay boards! https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://lehm.com/lehmbauplatten/&prev=search
As you can see, our friends across the way are light years ahead of US now on the building materials front insofar as "green" options are concerned. Mmm.
Interesting stuff! That clay/hemp board looks really cool, though I bet it weighs a lot!
I'm thinking of how to get a large amount of unfired clay into the supply duct of an ERV and/or into a furnace after the filter but before the fan. This would ensure air supplied to the house as well as air circulated within the house are able to take advantage. It might not be as effective as clay wall board, but it might be better than nothing!
You can always use natural lime (clay) plaster over lath, but maybe the problem is finding an experienced applicator. I know folks that work on historical building restoration would be able to help you find an applicator.
Many of the clay applicators today use Blueboard to install clay veneers, like American Clay or Ecco stucco
Natural lime plaster was a good recommendation but it is hard to find professional plasters that still do this work and do it properly.
Yes. It also may be challenging for contractors to find customers willing to go along with the time frame and labor cost required of effective lime plaster installation. It's wonderful material - I ended up pulling out tons (literally) of it from my house for better and worse. Another critical consideration here is the ease of the process of "recycling", reusing, or reconstituting materials on the back end. Optimally, a house would add value to the surrounding land and landscape (of course?); instead, we've got a toxic mix of materials erected on the land in most cases these days. Coincidence that it's great for the federal GDP and as a result Federal Reserve Note "value" as opposed to the organic matter of the land, which is instead intoxicated? Anyhoo, let's stick with the "green" analysis of miles travelled by the final finished product a key analytical figure instead of long-term toxic impact on the land... Or something. Sorry - I keep getting snarky, and it degrades my points. Onward...
One of the attributes of drywall is that it is easy to fix dings and gouges. Many plaster finishes make touch-ups something you need help with.