CertainTeed® AirRenew® Indoor Air Quality Drywall Helps Create Healthy Indoor Environment for Chemical-Sensitive Homeowner
(Tampa, Fla.) – By installing CertainTeed’s AirRenew® Indoor Air Quality Gypsum Board to the walls in their recent basement remodeling project, Lawrenceburg, Ind., homeowners Doug and Cathy Henderson found a solution to a severe allergy problem that has long limited building material options for their home’s interior. Extended exposure to formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted as gases from some building products can be life-threatening to Cathy Henderson, who suffers from a severe Multiple Chemical Sensitivity disorder. It was therefore critical to choose a gypsum board – commonly referred to as drywall – for the basement that met the homeowners’ strict indoor air quality requirements. The Hendersons researched many options and consulted their basement remodeling contractor, The Finished Basement, LLC, of West Harrison, Ind., for help in their search.
“I would get a sample of a drywall product for Cathy, and by the next day, she would have an allergic reaction to it,” says Wally McCann, owner of The Finished Basement. “We tried several different drywall products, and nothing was working until I read about AirRenew in a remodeling trade magazine and showed a sample of it to the Hendersons. They researched the product information and got excited about it.”
AirRenew Indoor Air Quality Gypsum Board actively helps clean the air by capturing formaldehyde or other aldehydes—a family of VOCs—and converting them into inert compounds that safely remain within the board. AirRenew also features CertainTeed’s M2Tech® technology, which is specially engineered to provide enhanced protection against moisture and mold. As new sources of formaldehyde — such as paint, carpet, furniture and cleaning supplies — are introduced into the interior environment, AirRenew will continue to scavenge formaldehyde ultimately improving indoor air quality.
AirRenew contains up to 96 percent total recycled content and can be installed, finished, and recycled like standard drywall. AirRenew is GREENGUARD® Children & Schools Certified and has completed UL Environment’s stringent Environmental Claims Validation program.
The Finished Basement installed more than 100 sheets of AirRenew throughout the 1,400 square-foot basement, having a very positive first-time experience with the product.
“We found it to be no different at all from standard gypsum board, both in how we hung and finished it,” McCann says. “I wouldn’t hesitate to use it again, especially for customers with allergies.”
The product has also been a success with the homeowners, providing a more pleasant interior environment.
“I absolutely love the AirRenew product,” Cathy Henderson says. “Normally, I get extremely sick around new drywall, due to off-gassing. Not only did AirRenew not make me sick, it eliminated the concerns we had about off-gassing and immediately allowed me to breathe better in the space. AirRenew contributes to indoor air that smells fresh and clean, even when the dust of construction is in the air. I wish all construction could use this product!”
For more information on CertainTeed’s AirRenew product and certifications, go to www.certainTeed.com/sustainable.
About CertainTeed
Through the responsible development of innovative and sustainable building products, CertainTeed, headquartered in Valley Forge, Pa., has helped shape the building products industry for more than 100 years. Founded in 1904 as General Roofing Manufacturing Company, the firm's slogan "Quality Made Certain, Satisfaction Guaranteed," quickly inspired the name CertainTeed. Today, CertainTeed® is North America’s leading brand of exterior and interior building products, including roofing, siding, fence, decking, railing, trim, foundations, pipe, insulation, gypsum, ceilings and access covers.
A subsidiary of Saint-Gobain, the world’s largest building products company, CertainTeed and its affiliates have more than 6,000 employees and more than 60 manufacturing facilities throughout the United States and Canada. Recognized as a 2009 and 2010 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, CertainTeed earned the 2011 and 2012 ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award, the highest level of recognition for outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through energy efficiency. The group had total sales of approximately $3.2 billion in 2011. www.certainteed.com
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