5 ms·

Gypsum board does use paper backing, but that doesn't mean the house is made of cardboard. Gypsum board is not a bad thing or inferior product. In any case, gyp

Gypsum board does use paper backing, but that doesn't mean the house is made of cardboard. Gypsum board is not a bad thing or inferior product. In any case, gypsum board is largely standard around the world these days, even in places where plastering walls is common.

troon-lover 4y ago
toss1 4y ago
Just because it (drywall/gypsum board, in this case) is relatively standard, does not mean that it doesn't suck. Awful stuff that I'll work hard to avoid in any future building
- frosted-flakes 4y ago
  Why do you think it's awful? It's far better than the alternative (lath).
  - mindslight 4y ago
    The criticism really isn't about the gypsum board per se. It's the difference between using a hard veneer plaster over the whole wall, or only patching the seams and leaving most of the wall a soft thin sheet that dents/breaks easily and carries sound right through. You can of course get veneer plaster done in the US, you'll just be paying through the nose as it's not standard for residential. Similar to every other "builder quality" cheap out.
    - frosted-flakes 4y ago
      A 1/8" thick plaster layer will do very little to block sound. And drywall is 1/2" or 5/8" thick, not 3/8" as you said. Or even 1" thick (on each side) on common fire walls. Yes, drywall dents fairly easily before it's painted, but it's also extremely economical and quick to repair. Once it's primed and painted with a high-quality paint, it really does not dent that easily. My parents' 50-year-old house has the original drywall and has probably been repainted only once, and it's in remarkably good shape. And that's saying something, given that my parents raised 9 children in that house, and who knows how many before us. The biggest problem is the metal nail-on corner beads in high-flow areas going into the kitchen where it gets lots of abuse and the mud has cracked in a few spots, but modern paper-faced plastic beads solve that problem.
      - mindslight 4y ago
        I've got experience with plaster+lath, plasterboard+veneer, and drywall walls. Plaster walls are generally much more substantial, apart from when horsehair plaster starts crumbling and pulling out of the lath. Sure you can use thicker stock than the bare minimum, or double it up for rated firewalls. I've seen such, and such walls do provide good sound isolation between apartments. Ultimately yes, a material is just a material. But it's like OSB versus plywood - you can build cheap or quality things with either, but there's certainly a correlation for what types of things get built with each one. I'm sure there's some survivorship bias - the cheaper plaster jobs probably fell apart before I was born. But none of this really changes the overarching critique of being in a cheap ranch-box, and hearing everything else going on in the house. (And for sound transmission I don't think it's the thickness itself, but rather the hardness creating more of an impedance mismatch with the air).
KptMarchewa 4y ago
We use those in Poland, but over the brick/concrete walls, not instead of them.
- olyjohn 4y ago
  We don't make the walls out of it either. It's not structural, and it's commonly laid onto wood framing in most houses.
  - frosted-flakes 4y ago
    Apparently in New Zealand it is structural. They have special structural-rated Gib (the local name for drywall) that is used for shear strength on exterior walls. They have a special screw schedule (every 5 cm) and it needs to be inspected before the tapers come in. This is because they don't use exterior sheathing for some reason, just building paper.

troon-lover 4y ago

toss1 4y ago

Just because it (drywall/gypsum board, in this case) is relatively standard, does not mean that it doesn't suck. Awful stuff that I'll work hard to avoid in any future building

frosted-flakes 4y ago
Why do you think it's awful? It's far better than the alternative (lath).
- mindslight 4y ago
  The criticism really isn't about the gypsum board per se. It's the difference between using a hard veneer plaster over the whole wall, or only patching the seams and leaving most of the wall a soft thin sheet that dents/breaks easily and carries sound right through. You can of course get veneer plaster done in the US, you'll just be paying through the nose as it's not standard for residential. Similar to every other "builder quality" cheap out.
  - frosted-flakes 4y ago
    A 1/8" thick plaster layer will do very little to block sound. And drywall is 1/2" or 5/8" thick, not 3/8" as you said. Or even 1" thick (on each side) on common fire walls. Yes, drywall dents fairly easily before it's painted, but it's also extremely economical and quick to repair. Once it's primed and painted with a high-quality paint, it really does not dent that easily. My parents' 50-year-old house has the original drywall and has probably been repainted only once, and it's in remarkably good shape. And that's saying something, given that my parents raised 9 children in that house, and who knows how many before us. The biggest problem is the metal nail-on corner beads in high-flow areas going into the kitchen where it gets lots of abuse and the mud has cracked in a few spots, but modern paper-faced plastic beads solve that problem.
    - mindslight 4y ago
      I've got experience with plaster+lath, plasterboard+veneer, and drywall walls. Plaster walls are generally much more substantial, apart from when horsehair plaster starts crumbling and pulling out of the lath. Sure you can use thicker stock than the bare minimum, or double it up for rated firewalls. I've seen such, and such walls do provide good sound isolation between apartments. Ultimately yes, a material is just a material. But it's like OSB versus plywood - you can build cheap or quality things with either, but there's certainly a correlation for what types of things get built with each one. I'm sure there's some survivorship bias - the cheaper plaster jobs probably fell apart before I was born. But none of this really changes the overarching critique of being in a cheap ranch-box, and hearing everything else going on in the house. (And for sound transmission I don't think it's the thickness itself, but rather the hardness creating more of an impedance mismatch with the air).

KptMarchewa 4y ago

We use those in Poland, but over the brick/concrete walls, not instead of them.

olyjohn 4y ago
We don't make the walls out of it either. It's not structural, and it's commonly laid onto wood framing in most houses.
- frosted-flakes 4y ago
  Apparently in New Zealand it is structural. They have special structural-rated Gib (the local name for drywall) that is used for shear strength on exterior walls. They have a special screw schedule (every 5 cm) and it needs to be inspected before the tapers come in. This is because they don't use exterior sheathing for some reason, just building paper.