Hidden Gluten

[Guest Kathy Ann]

It just occurred to me that gluten could sure be hiding in a lot of places other than just the foods we eat. Does anyone know if there is gluten (wheat) in things like drywall, plaster board, wallpaper, wallpaper paste, paper plates, paint, paper towels, toilet paper, etc??

Imagine how contaminating it could be to build a house or do remodeling, paint a wall, or strip off old wallpaper and paste on new wallpaper or even scrape your fork across a paper plate, if those things DO contain gluten. I doubt that they are required to disclose the existence of gluten or wheat in any of them either.

[tarnalberry]

To the best of my knowledge, paper plates do not have gluten.

Paper towels and toilet paper may come into contact with gluten depending on the glue used on the last sheet. Most of us don't worry about this (aside from, perhaps, forgoing the last sheet), but some have called comapnies to find out which ones don't even have this.

Dry wall and wallpaper paste, on the other hand, can often contain gluten. That doesn't mean that you can't do anything with them at all, but that you have to be very careful about contamination and cleaning. Then again, there are other chemicals in these items that you want to make sure that you aren't eating as well... (Same goes with paint, on the 'other chemicals' front, at least.)

And don't worry - this isn't magic knowledge we all have; it's hard fought tribal knowledge shared by all the helpful, generous people on this site.

[Ursa Major]

Kathy Ann, unfortunately, you're right. I hear that drywall does contain gluten, as well as some brands of paper plates and paper towels. I imagine the same goes for wallpaper and the glue (or especially the glue) that is pasted onto it.

So, if you're scraping off old wallpaper, you better wear a face mask. And wash your hands well (or better yet, wear surgical gloves) when applying new wallpaper.

And when drywalling, you shouldn't be in the house at all, really. And make awfully sure whoever installs and sands it uses one of those sanders that has a vacuum attached to it, so that the dust won't go anywhere else in the house.

I know, it's a jungle out there!

[ravenwoodglass]

On the drywall issue also make sure that noone uses your household vacuum to pick up the dust and in addition if you must do it yourself lightly mist the walls with a bit of water before sanding and use big plastic drop cloths over the doorways to isolate the room being drywalled. Slip your shoes inside plastic bags or get the little shoe covers they use in the hospital if you are going to be going in and out of the room. Remember also that this dust will be all over your clothes and hair so if you can strip and bag the clothes when your done for the day that will help keep you from drifting it through the house, only practical in your own home of course. Be sure to wear eye protection as well as a respirator, an OSHA approved one that makes you look like a bug is better than the throw aways if possible. We can work with gluten materials with minimal risk we just have to kind of think of it as a hazardous chemical, which for us of course it is.

[marciab]

Maybe this is why I have been feeling so crappy for the last month. I am still cleaning up from remodelling bathrooms. Even the walls were torn out.

I bought a cheapo shop vac from Walmart and an extra filter and it is working great. The filter says it is for catching drywall dust, etc.

Does grout have gluten in it ? The guy has to come back and fix some things....

[Ursa Major]

On the drywall issue also make sure that noone uses your household vacuum to pick up the dust and in addition if you must do it yourself lightly mist the walls with a bit of water before sanding and use big plastic drop cloths over the doorways to isolate the room being drywalled. Slip your shoes inside plastic bags or get the little shoe covers they use in the hospital if you are going to be going in and out of the room. Remember also that this dust will be all over your clothes and hair so if you can strip and bag the clothes when your done for the day that will help keep you from drifting it through the house, only practical in your own home of course. Be sure to wear eye protection as well as a respirator, an OSHA approved one that makes you look like a bug is better than the throw aways if possible. We can work with gluten materials with minimal risk we just have to kind of think of it as a hazardous chemical, which for us of course it is.

Actually, if you have a forced air furnace/air conditioner (as we do), sealing the room you're working in won't stop the dust from settling all over the house, as it's blown into every room, no matter what.

So, you really, really need to use a sander with an attached vacuum, which sucks up the dust as it is being generated.

When we had our basement finished last year, the guy used one of those, and there was no dust anywhere at all, not even in the basement!

Marcia, grout shouldn't be a problem (at least I don't think so).

[Guest Kathy Ann]

Thanks everybody!

[kabowman]

Another thing, there is soy in plywood so for those of us with soy issues, stay out of the shop or garage when someone is cutting plywood. No more cutting for me, I will have someone else do all that work from now on.

We are remodeling our house that was a rental for 7 years so there is a lot of drywall and unwallpapering going on at our place too. Loads of fun ,

[ravenwoodglass]

Actually, if you have a forced air furnace/air conditioner (as we do), sealing the room you're working in won't stop the dust from settling all over the house, as it's blown into every room, no matter what.

So, you really, really need to use a sander with an attached vacuum, which sucks up the dust as it is being generated.

Those sanders are great, I use one for woodworking but usually the sander that is used for drywall is a hand sander or a pole and a mesh type covering. I hung drywall myself for years and we never used a power sander as it is difficult to get a level finish on the mud. You can also use a damp sponge on the seams when they are dry to smooth them out which creates less dust.