Wet Applied Products - Adhesives & Sealants - Drywall Mud

Kerry—The likely category is Dry Wall Adhesive (“an adhesive used during the installation of gypsum dry wall to studs or solid surfaces”) with a VOC limit of 50 g/L. Many such products are dry, powdered, cement-based products with no VOCs, but some are premixed “wet” products that often include polymer resins that contain VOCs.

Jon - I assume from your explanation, that if wet-applied drywall joint compound has 0 VOCs, there is no need for presenting documentation confirming acceptable VOCs emission? 

Thank you for your answer.   

If the compound contains organic materials, you would need to back up the 0 VOC claim with documentation.

If it is a cement product with only inorganic materials, I would recommend including a narrative that says something like "All additional drywall adhesives contain only inorganic ingredients and are inherently VOC-free." That way the reviewer will know you are intentionally excluding those products, not just forgetting them.

Emilly, thanks for your comprehensive answer.

My drywall joint is made from gypsum, so I would classify it as inorganic.

Nevertheless, I would like to clarify the issue with organic materials with 0 VOC content. What I need for such material is 0 VOC claim and documentation concerning emission (appropriate certificate) or a manufacturer statement that the material is free of VOC and that is why it is not emitting?
Thank you for your answer once again.

Hi everyone-

Drywall joint compound, or "mud" is exempt/ not covered by the low-emitting materials credit.  It is not considered an adhesive, nor is drywall joint tape for that matter. The drywall adhesive category is most often used when adhering layers of drywall to each other, but not intended to cover joint compound.

Hello Rebecca, 

What makes you say that Joint Compound is exempt ?

Here is the technical advice we receive for one of the project:

"Provide general emissions evaluation results for ProForm All Purpose Joint Compound and Joint Tape. The documentation for these products indicates that they are UL Greenguard certified, but UL Greenguard Gold is required."

Now, I don't think there is a "Joint Compound" available in market that's Greenguard GOLD, meaning there is no way project can achieve Low Emitting Materials - Wall Panels category; 

This is beyond frustrating, please advice.    

UL Spot is a good resource. National Gypsum has 8 ProForm products which are Greenguard Gold certified. USG has 59 compliant joint compound products.

Paper tape is inert. If you feel you must respond to the tape question to avoid denial, then include the SDS sheet.  USG has a HPD for their drywall tape which also supports the assertion that the product is inert.  I find it extremely frustrating when reviewers ask for irrelevant data - as if gathering this documentation weren't challenging enough already. 

see this

"joint compound has achieved GREENGUARD Gold Certification "

https://www.usg.com/content/dam/USG_Marketing_Communications/united_states/product_promotional_materials/finished_assets/sheetrock-all-purpose-joint-compound-submittal-J1969.pdf

Thank you Martha, your response is very helpful. and it hits too close to home with this: "I find it extremely frustrating when reviewers ask for irrelevant data - as if gathering this documentation weren't challenging enough already."  

It looks like there are multiple compliant options, thanks to Martha's post above. But if you're still in a bind keep in mind under v4.1 (which you can substitute) you have a 25% allowance for products that don't meet emissions testing criteria. Unless you're doing an all-over skimcoat finish, I'm guessing the joint compound and tape would fall within 25% of total surface area and probably same for cost.

https://www.usgbc.org/node/11963828?return=/credits/new-construction/v4.1/indoor-environmental-quality

After reviewing the comments in this post and a few other posts I am not clear on how drywall compounds and tapes should be categorized. A tape is not a wet applied product if it is attached with the mud, also in looking into the SCAQMD Rule #1168 adhesive tapes are listed under exemptions. To further confuse there are drywall tapes that have GreenGuard Gold certificates. It was also suggested in another post that mud and tapes be included under the wall panels category rather than in adhesives and sealants? Since this posting in 2019 has anyone received any further clarifications or confirmation on proper categorizing and if they need to be included?

Thank you

I second Suzanne Roach -- Is joint compounds under Adhesives & Sealants? Walls? Ceilings? If it has VOC 0 seems it should be Adhesives & Sealants (under Dry Wall Adhesive), but if is dry (until water is added) could it fall under Walls and/or Ceilings? Does that include Joint Tape as well? 

Hi all,

For the past few years, I have put Joint Compounds under Paints & Coatings and never had a comment. I believe you could put it under Sealants also. But we rarely if ever pursue the Adhesives & Sealants category, and typically these help because they are uniformly low VOC and many have emissions certification. Having said that, we don't ever pursue the v4 version of this credit. And Walls is a very difficult category when you have to include doors and windows.

The most typical review comment we see is that reviewers state drywall joint copmound should be in adhesives and sealants.

Hi Tommy,

Never had that one in a dozen consistent submittals. Good to know, thanks.