Question from Marie
I need to have a plumber replace the shower valve. Is it safer to cut a bigger hole in the fiberglass/acrylic shower wall to get into the plumbing, or safer to go through the drywall in the hallway to get into the plumbing?
The cut through the shower wall will just be covered with a bigger plate/fixture. The drywall we will have to fix and patch up on our own. Which is more toxic – cutting through fiberglass and/or acrylic, or cutting through drywall and patching it up? Are there nontoxic drywall options? I don’t like the idea of any particles and dust, but this needs to be fixed pretty soon.
Lisa’s Answer
Do you plan to do the cutting yourself? The greatest exposure will be during the cutting and there are specific steps needed to minimize the dust in either scenario. I suggest you have it done by a professional or make sure you very familiar with the necessary safety precautions.
As for which material is safer to cut, it’s important to know what type of drywall you have. From 2001 to 2009, there was a lot of contaminated drywall from China. If you suspect that this may have been used in your house, I would avoid cutting into it. Aside from that, I think drywall is the safer option (assuming you take all precautions to minimize the dust). Fiberglass dust is a possible carcinogen.
There are non-toxic drywall options to use for your patching. EWG has a helpful guide on drywall. They recommend looking for Greenguard Gold certified products. I used National Gypsum Company’s Gold Bond for my house. We then safeguarded our air quality by following instillation guidelines from Prescriptions for a Healthy House (Baker-Laporte, Elliott, &, Banta, 2008). I recommend this book as a great guide for very specific information on new building and renovations.
I had to have this hole in wall done. The hole was in the adjoining room and I did not use it so closed the door during that time of work and never got sick at all. I was lucky to be able to do that.