New technology in drywall can prevent mold at home

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The Daily News

Online Edition Wednesday, May 04, 2005

New technology in drywall can prevent mold at home

http://www.ecnnews.com/cgi-bin/04/n/nstory.pl?fn-wallboard.0504

By Bradley

Associated Press

Of all the food sources toxic molds feed on, none is more daunting

for homeowners to control than damp wallboard.

If unchecked, mold is the scourge of sufferers of any of a host of

respiratory ailments. And mold is a repeat offender. Drywall readily

soaks up moisture, whether from a catastrophic storm, a slow leak or

high humidity. Given that some experts say even new homes will

eventually leak, homeowners face the possibility of frequent

replacement of wallboard, aka drywall.

But some new wallboard provides a surprisingly simple answer: Remove

the food, remove the mold.

That's the thinking behind the residential rollout of inorganic,

paperless wallboard that denies mold spores a toehold on the edible

surface the fungi is notorious for colonizing.

The " paper " is instead fiberglass mats atop the usual gypsum core.

Gone, too, are mold-friendly starches used to bind paper to the

gypsum. The paperless wallboard proved its mettle in commercial

settings and is now showing up in residential construction.

According to the product manager for the wallboard, sold under the

name of DensGuard Plus, this is one way for homeowners and builders

to get a handle on the inevitable entrance of moisture into a home

through flashings, windows, eaves or siding.

" It's really all about removing the food source, " says Barry Reid of

Georgia Pacific, maker of DensGuard. " Once the paper is gone, mold

has nowhere to go. It can't eat fiberglass mats. "

Under the right conditions of moisture and heat, mold can establish

itself in as little as 24 hours. Reid says the fiberglass version

aced standard industry mold tests. After 28 days of constant

exposure to heat, humidity and direct moisture, no mold appeared.

That's welcome news to homeowners and contractors who could get

caught in a cycle of replacement after every storm. Even if storm

waters don't penetrate a house, air conditioners and dehumidifiers

shut down by electricity loss can create ideal conditions of heat

and humidity to trigger mold growth.

Otherwise, this new wallboard can be primed and painted like other

drywall. Reid suggests the user can make walls completely inorganic

by substituting fiberglass mesh tape in place of paper tape on wall

seams.

The wallboard is a good candidate for areas where water sealing is

also needed, such as basements, bathrooms and shower stalls. The

acrylic coating " stops moisture from going anywhere, " says Reid.

The issue of mold growth on traditional drywall will continue to

worsen instead of improve, according to Reid. As builders create

more airtight homes for energy conservation, circulation of air that

could dry damp walls is all but eliminated.

Ideally, homeowners want to keep indoor humidity levels in the 40 to

60 percent range. Conditions for mold spores to latch on to edible

surfaces are favorable above those levels, says Reid.

" Homes may be built to last, but you will get a leak at some point, "

says Reid. " This new wallboard at least keeps the moisture problem

from becoming a mold problem. "