Protecting Healthcare Buildings
INTERIOR WALL DURABILITY
Many healthcare facilities are high-use environments with many people, a lot of rolling equipment, and daily deliveries. Therefore, the wall finish material needs to be durable enough to withstand this heavy use, including bumps and bangs from equipment or delivery carts and people rubbing against the walls. There is also the regular and extensive use of cleaners and cleaning equipment for sanitary health reasons that need to be accounted for. Conventional gypsum board is often used for these installations but has limitations for healthcare use meaning it is often covered with a durable covering or not used at all and instead, heavier-duty materials are applied.
Photo courtesy of Georgia-Pacific Building Products
Interior “wet areas” benefit from fiberglass mat gypsum products that are specifically formulated to resist water and mold growth at the surface.
A superior option is to use fiberglass mat gypsum panels on interior wall surfaces throughout a healthcare facility. The fiberglass mat facing makes it more durable to resist damage and more able to resist heavy cleaning. It also provides a non-penetrating surface to resist moisture intrusion if the surface does get wet or is subject to high moisture content in the air. The non-organic surface is also able to resist mold growth on interior surfaces. The gypsum content helps interior assemblies meet fire-resistance rating requirements. During construction, its use allows for streamlined construction sequencing since it can be installed before the building is completely closed in without impacting its performance. The fiberglass mat gypsum panels stand up to ambient moisture and incidental wetting, both during construction and after the building is in use.
In terms of resilience, an August 2008 FEMA Technical Bulletin (Flood Damage-Resistant Materials Requirements for buildings located in special flood hazard areas in accordance with the National Flood Insurance Program) provides guidance under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) regulation. This guidance indicates that the use of non-paper-faced gypsum board (i.e., fiberglass mat gypsum panels) for walls and ceilings is acceptable for certain special flood hazard areas. The use of paper-faced gypsum board is unacceptable for walls and ceilings in these flood-hazard areas.
Interior Specialty Areas
A few common interior wall types are a bit more specialized in their use and purpose. For example, shaftwalls around stairways and elevators need to achieve code-designated levels of fire resistance but also need to meet the other requirements of interior walls. Fiberglass mat gypsum panels are available in one-inch thickness and are intended to be used in UL fire-rated shaftwalls, stairwells, and area separation wall assemblies in addition to horizontal shaftwalls and duct assemblies. These products are non-combustible, dimensionally stable, and resistant to mold and moisture.
Additionally, walls in “wet areas” in healthcare facilities often need some special attention, particularly if they are covered by ceramic tile or subject to high moisture levels. For these situations, specialty gypsum backer board is available that is engineered with a built-in moisture barrier to prevent damage to the sub-floor or wall cavity. It can be cut and installed like drywall without special tools or fasteners. It can be used for ceramic tile underlayment, including in restroom/bathroom remodeling, therapy pool areas, and other high-humidity areas.
CONCLUSION
Healthcare facilities need to address many different aspects of design, operation, and performance. The design of exterior and interior walls, roof systems, and other parts of the buildings all need to mitigate human risks related to health, durability, and resilience. The use of fiberglass mat gypsum panel products is one effective strategy to achieve these stated goals.
Walls Case Study
Photo courtesy of Georgia-Pacific Gypsum
Project: Medical University of South Carolina - Ashley River Tower
Location: Charleston, South Carolina
Architect: NBBJ and LS3P
Builder: BGKS
The Project: The Medical University of South Carolina’s (MUSC) Ashley River Tower Hospital Replacement project is a significant healthcare facility. This 641,000-square-foot, 156-bed hospital facility is a $190-million project that includes the development of a four-story diagnostic and treatment building, a seven-story patient tower, and a garden atrium that connects the two structures. It’s the first phase of a plan funded by a $401-million mortgage loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development—the second largest commitment ever made under the Federal Housing Administration’s Section 242 Hospital Mortgage Insurance program.
The Challenge: Moisture and mold can be problems in any public building but in a hospital, this issue is especially critical. The project location in Charleston, South Carolina, has a hot, humid climate, and it sits in the Atlantic hurricane corridor, making it extremely risky for moisture and mold. Charleston is also an area with high seismic activity and subsiding soil conditions. In total, the MUSC Ashley River Tower buildings have to withstand hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and high-risk soil conditions. In light of all of these challenges, the owner was also looking for a 50- to 75-year building lifespan—significantly longer than the usual 40-year hospital life. Construction quality and long-term mold resistance became very important.
The Solution: The team selected fiberglass mat mold-resistant gypsum panels for interior walls, stair and elevator shaft wall assemblies, and for exterior sheathing applications. Fiberglass mats are used on the front and back surfaces of the gypsum panels, replacing the paper facings and removing a potential food source for mold. These products combine a moisture-resistant gypsum core with fiberglass mats embedded in both faces. The core differs significantly from the core in regular paper-faced gypsum boards. Since the core absorbs little moisture, it can safely be hung in less-than-ideal weather conditions, too.
The Construction Impact: Fiberglass mat gypsum products also are contributing directly to compressing the MUSC Ashley River Tower construction schedule—a compression that is producing significant savings on the project. “The fiberglass mat concept came up early in the design cycle” says Project Director Chris Malanuk, director of strategic planning for MUSC Ashley River Tower. “The original idea was to reduce both short-term and long-term mold risk. Then the possibility of accelerating the construction schedule came up, and that efficiency more than made up for any cost differential many times over.” Malanuk also points out that “the hospital needs the increased capacity as soon as possible to relieve crowding in existing facilities. In addition, early completion will give the university additional cash flow faster. Earlier completion also lets us move out of the construction loan phase sooner, which brings significant savings in interest. We knew that if we could pull it off, it would be a win-win operation.”
On the inside of the building, fiberglass mat gypsum panels allowed installers to hang gypsum board in critical areas behind plumbing, electrical conduits, and HVAC ducts even before the structure was dried-in. Project Engineer Mac McClinton says, “Hanging the panels earlier had a huge ripple effect because other trades were able to start work sooner. Accelerated subcontractor schedules included plumbing, electrical, and HVAC, plus massive amounts of wall-related details like interior glazing, corner guards, and case work.” Using these panels for such operations before the building is fully enclosed or “dried-in” reduces the risk of having to perform potentially expensive post-dry-in remediation of damage from moisture and mold growth.
Hanging traditional paper-faced gypsum board before dry-in invites moisture damage and mold growth. McClinton notes, “Construction projects invariably have to replace paper-faced drywall when it’s hung early in the project. That’s very expensive. Fiberglass mat gypsum drastically reduced remediation due to moisture. We were able to safely start hanging fiberglass-faced gypsum panels about four months before we would have hung traditional paper-faced gypsum board. After eight months [of] exposure to the elements, the fiberglass mat panels looked like the day we put them up. And the no-paper design leaves no food for mold.”
Shafts and Stairwells: Fiberglass mat gypsum board allows for the close-in of stairwells and shafts well before dry-in. Moisture-resistant, fire-resistant, one-inch gypsum core, coated fiberglass mats meet the requirements for fire codes plus resist in-place water exposure damage. In elevator shafts, stairwells, horizontal ceiling membranes, and such area separation walls, moisture- and mold-resistant panels were used that are listed as a Type X gypsum board component (per ASTM C 1658) in one-, two-, and three-hour fire-rated assemblies. “It’s a superior product,” McClinton says. “Installers find the fiberglass mat gypsum panels work just like the traditional paper-faced drywall they’re familiar with. It is more impact- and abuse-resistant than traditional paper-faced drywall.” McClinton also notes that painters commented positively on the product’s finished surface.
The Results: With regular paper-faced gypsum panels, the organic components can feed the growth of mold inside the wall. Eliminating paper facings from wall-cavity linings reduces the long-term risk of moisture-related mold problems. Fiberglass mat gypsum panels score a 10 (the highest score attainable, indicating no mold growth detected) in mold resistance when tested, as manufactured, per ASTM D 3273. Long-term owners expecting high occupancy, such as in healthcare facilities, see the benefit of using fiberglass mat gypsum technology.
Peter J. Arsenault, FAIA, NCARB, LEED AP is a nationally known architect and a prolific author advancing positive acoustical experiences through better building design. www.pjaarch.com, www.linkedin.com/in/pjaarch