June 4, 2007

Paperless drywall a green building envelope solution

DON PROCTER

correspondent

TORONTO

A new generation of paperless, moisture and mould-resistant drywall is winning green accolades and high marks for the added flexibility it gives to construction scheduling.

Locally, Kitchener-based AKS Interior Systems’ owner Randy Sommerfeld is singing the praises of Dens-Armor Plus from Georgia-Pacific Canada.

Last winter, the contractor installed 56,000 square feet of the drywall at a 68-unit condo project in Kitchener, much of it before the roof was completed.

Normally, drywall goes in after the roof goes on, but the weather-resistant product changed that plan.

Sommerfeld says the drywall proved to be even more durable than he expected. AKS installed 20,000 square feet of 5/8-inch fire-rated DensArmor Plus on the first floor of the building before the windows, doors, exterior walls or the roof was in place. The contractor also put up 8,000 square feet of the ½ inch version of the product in the party walls and stud walls.

The drywall proved to be up to the test.

Over a seven-month period, it was pelted by 26 inches of rain, snow, hail and sleet and it withstood temperatures ranging from -13 Celsius to +34 Celsius.

One of the worst days was in March during a rapid thaw-freeze.

Water from melting ice froze and formed icicles on the face of the paperless drywall, but not a single sheet showed defects or mould growth, says Sommerfeld.

Furthermore, the product lived up to claims by Georgia-Pacific that while it costs 30 per cent more than traditional drywall, it more than makes up for it in labour savings. Sommerfeld, who kept track of labour costs for the steel and 20,000 square feet of fire-rated wallboard on all the I-beams and columns on the second floor, says the big plus was that no subtrades were working on the floor because of the inclement weather, so AKS could work freely and quickly.

GEORGIA-PACIFIC CANADA

While the exterior cladding is going up (on the right) on this building, so is the interior drywall on the inside of the building (to the left.)

“We allowed ourselves 10 days to finish this portion of the project, based on the original schedule, but we were able to complete all of the installation in just 4.5 days,” he says, adding no special tools are required for the drywall’s installation.

Derek Geisel, field sales manager for Georgia-Pacific Canada, says DensArmor Plus is promoted for “pre-rock” applications (installation before the building is closed in) so the building team can “potentially condense” the construction schedule.

“In a country like Canada where weather is a factor in most construction projects, it is something for architects and builders to seriously consider.”

DensArmor Plus was introduced to the Canadian market in 2002, but it hasn’t been used in pre-rock applications until the Kitchener project.

While there are other mould-resistant drywall products on the market, none are paperless and none are geared to pre-rock applications, he points out.

The paperless drywall, which incorporates glass mats on the drywall surface, is the first and only moisture and mould-resistant paperless interior drywall product to receive a GreenGuard certification from the U.S.-based GreenGuard Environmental Institute (GEI).

The certificate is for low emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

GEI certifies products based on rigorous independent lab testing that is aligned with a recognized standard, and products are retested periodically to ensure that they continue to meet standards.

DensArmor Plus also received GreenGuard Children & Schools Certification for low emitting products.

Founded in 2001, the GEI certified its first product in the fall of 2002. Today there are 150,000 certified products from 85 manufacturers from within Canada and the U.S.

“You can pretty much build out the interior of a building with all low-emitting GreenGuard products but one of the things missing until now was the walls.

“That is what’s cool about having Georgia-Pacific’s product now certified,” says Laura Anne Spriggs, communications manager, GEI.

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