# Alternatives to dry wall!?



## argana (Sep 14, 2007)

Not sure if this is what you are looking for, but my historic 1910 home has lathe board and plaster rather than drywall.


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## bofusmosby (Apr 30, 2007)

I do believe that drywall is the cheapest. Its also a lot easier than plaster to install. My house was built in the teens, and its all wood lathe and plaster. It hard to find someone who works with plaster, and does a good job. It appears to be a dieing art.

I've got some plaster work to do on my house, so I'll have to learn.....The drywall would be so much easier and quicker.

tscott, sorry I really know very little about drywall.


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## slakker (May 29, 2007)

Drywall is pretty much king in north america... if you're looking at alternatives, maybe look at what are the practices common in europe? I'm no expert, but have seen more use of plaster in the TV shows that are aired from the UK...


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## Big Bob (Jul 27, 2007)

"I am trying to make sure that there are no alternatives to drywall (drywall is apparently the cheapest for homes)" Thread poster.

Paneling has fallen out of style (for a number of years now). Best practice install on paneling is overlay on drywall. 

Plaster as mentioned above is a near dead art form. With the advent of Blue board in small markets & with Italian plasters, a small % of the market goes that way. Log homes and Solid wood walls another small %.

as stated above.... drywall is King... Long live the king... most acceptable bang for the buck... for now and in the near future.

If you have a better mouse trap let us know.


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## joasis (May 28, 2006)

USG may have a 30% market share, but I would guess drywall comprises 99% of all residential building....the one thing missed above is the fire resistance. I try to keep up with new products, and like to build out of the traditional box, but we still drywall ICF and steel framed homes.


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## concretemasonry (Oct 10, 2006)

If you are concentrating on the U.S. only, then drywall is the the most common. Nothing is cheaper than drywall for U.S. lightweight construction where fire resistance, sound control and durability are not valued. Plaster is not common because of a lack of skilled plaster tradeamen. - Any body can do drywall - it just takes some people longer to do a barely accepatable or passable job.

Light construction (wood/steel stud)is NOT the most common method of residential construction in the rest of the developed world. Concrete and masonry are the most common. In these areas, there is some sheetrock, but the majority of the walls are hard, durable materials, with plaster the most common. In some countries lightweight insulating plaster is used on the interior of the exterior walls and all interior walls are normal plaster.

In most colder climates, the beneficial effects of mass in thermal conservation are well understood and used extensively. The misleading pink panther advertising has not made much of an effect. They generally realize that even in the world of idealized laboratory testing for advertising purposes R19 insulation in a lightweight wall at best yeilds a R11 to R15, which does not perform as well as a lower R-value in a heavy wall. There is also a difference in foreign construction where the expeceted occupancy term and structure life is much longer. Where people are accustomed to heavy, solid construction, lightweight construction is not an accepatable substitute. 

There is a relationship between the use of drywall in the U.S. and the use/advertising of fiberglass.


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## rolldodge (Jun 28, 2007)

Check out this product, seems to be new to the market. 

http://www.gp.com/build/product.aspx?pid=4659


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## mwpiper (Feb 26, 2009)

A friend put up some type of fiberglass faced board and his opinion of it was pretty low. It was not smooth, which is one of the advantages of plaster and that dry wall emulates. And pretty much anything cut that contains fiberglass causes the Itch. I've investigated cement fiberboard for walls, for no particular reason, but what I've found is also not smooth.


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

rolldodge said:


> Check out this product, seems to be new to the market.
> 
> http://www.gp.com/build/product.aspx?pid=4659


Actually not new, just becoming more common in the past two years. We used Denshield for our bathroom. I can tell you this, it is a lot easier to work with and cut to fit around tubs.


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## Anti-wingnut (Oct 18, 2009)

What kind of report? School, college, professional? These are things that should be stated before you recieve too many answers


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## jbfan (Jul 1, 2004)

This thread is over 3 years old, and the OP never came back!


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## Anti-wingnut (Oct 18, 2009)

Oops on my part


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