History of "drywall" ??

[Jeff_H]

After about a year, I am finally resuming some work on my 1918 house. Seems like every time some remodeling was done on the interior of this place, they added another layer over the top of what was already there. I completely rebuilt the stairs over a 2yr+ period finishing up last year. They'd been poorly hacked up more than once and the bottom section was really narrow (still is) but made worse by the nearly 1-1/2" thick walls that were 2 layers of drywall with a layer of 1970s paneling in between. Made the shoulder width going up about 2" narrower than it could be.

I could tell this same lamination continued at the bottom of the stairs into the surrounding walls and the ceiling. So, I didn't finish the edges as I was planning to strip down at least that room as well. And after this, I am done except to redo the small bathroom.

So a couple weeks ago I bashed out one wall that is shared with the bathroom and found the expected 2 layers of drywall with a layer of paneling in between. The bathroom was probably put in the 1940s or maybe the 1950s. Yesterday, I continued with 2 short sections of wall that are originals to the house. So, here the setup changed. The more recent 1990s layer of drywall, then the 1970s paneling. Under that was I think wallpaper (most had been ripped off to glue down the paneling). Under that was peeling pink paint on what I thought was more drywall. But, the stuff seemed to be in pretty small sections and may have had a skim coat of actual plaster over it. It was hard to tell. It was a lot harder than modern drywall that is for sure and a real bear to get my wrecking bar under. Then, under all of that was the original wall of tonque-in-groove planks that were painted a dark green. This house has no plaster over lathe so far I have found.

The pink "drywall" extended under the end of the bathroom wall so its older than the bathroom. I've done a little research and it seems these small early drywall panels maybe from the 1930s, at least prior to WW2 probably. One reference said they were 2' x 4' and had holes in them for that skim coat of plaster to adhere to.

My plans are to leave the original bottom layer of board planks and put 1 new drywall layer over that. It will still leave the room bigger by about 3/4" each side and the ceiling as well. I also need to properly fix the wall were a former chimney was and they did quite a hack job of covering over the area once it was removed.

[DEEPNHOCK]

They used to sell smaller sheets (24" x 36" iirc) of 'cement board' that were mostly used in bathrooms, and plastered over.
Could be what you ran into?
I gutted and redid a 'turn of the last century' farmhouse a few years back..
Ran into some of everything, including horsehair plaster (on lath)..
Nothing would surprise me any more..

[rockinhawk]

The 2'X4' pieces with the holes in them were known as ROCK LATH. they were dsigned to be plastered over.

[raoul5788]

My 1950 ranch house has 2x8 cement board with a plaster skim coat on the walls.

[Mikado282]

As Neil said it is Rock Lath. It was originally 2'x4' and was plastered over. They then went to 2'x8' which was also plastered over. Sometime after they discovered that all they had to do was tape the joints and nail holes and paint the surface. About this time they started making it in the standard 4'x8' sheets for years. In the early 80's they started with 12' sheet lengths and later 16' lengths. Home building today is all about speed and cost and nothing about quality. I just moved into a 23 year old house from an 85 year old house and it is nowhere near the house the older one was. It is falling apart faster than I can get it repaired. Looks nice with 16' entryway and granite counter tops but looks aren't everything.

[hank63]

Please make sure you check for asbestos content. Some older boards contained asbestos. Removal & disposal may be covered by legislation.

[wittsend]

I believe I've also heard the term "button board" for the narrow board with holes in it.

[t walgamuth]

Excellent comments above. I look at it as an interim step between wooden or metal mesh lath with plaster applied and modern 4x8 sheets.

[hausdok]

Believe it or not drywall was invented in the 1890s so it's possible to have a variety of types in an older home.

[48skyliner]

I built my house beginning in 1984, did not borrow any money and took 15 years, building it from paycheck to paycheck. All of my outside walls are 10 inches thick, with inner and outer 2x4 walls, studs on 24 inch centers. All of the sheet rock is 5/8 thick, and I used waterproof "greenboard" in all rooms with water and all rooms below rooms with water. The greenboard available in the 80s was VERY STRONG stuff - I am told the greenboard today is waterproof, but not as strong or high quality as what I used. This is only heresay - Hausdok would know.

When I was building my house, I consulted with lots of people in the business, and I had the impression that they consistently used the cheapest materials, even if it required more labor. I conclude this was a habit that developed in the distant past when materials were relatively expensive and labor was cheap. My outside sheeting is plywood, but common practice then was to use strandboard. More recently I see two, even three story buildings with some sort of sheet rock material on both inside and outside walls.

[t walgamuth]

The drywall used outside on commercial buildings gives a fire rating to the construction. If you use that instead of board sheathing you need steel strapping as wind bracing.

[hausdok]

The drywall used outside on commercial buildings gives a fire rating to the construction. If you use that instead of board sheathing you need steel strapping as wind bracing.

Yeah, that's true, but it also depends on which seismic zone you are in, whether you are using metal or wood studs and whether you are constructing a Type I, II, III, IV or V building.

Generally speaking, around here every new commercial building needs seismic reinforcement and must use one of about a dozen different prescriptive fire-resistant exterior wall assemblies; and, if it's a taller building it also needs protection against wind racking.

The rules for the fire-rated wall assemblies will be different. They depend on whether the framing used will be wood or metal, how many stories in height the building will be, etc. Around here, a typical four story condominium building with wood studs might have a double-layer of 5/8-inch Type X drywall on interior walls, seismic tie downs at the base of walls, heavy structural sheathing - typically OSB - on the face of the studs, seismic/wind strapping across the marriage line between floors and at corners; and one or two layers - depending on building classification - of type X drywall on the outside of the structure. They'll follow that with wrap and the cladding. Sometimes they'll use one layer of Type X gypsum and top that with a layer of Densboard or something similar.

I've inspected some 100-year old homes where I've found interior walls that were lime-based 3-coat plaster over wood lath, horsehair reinforced plaster over lath, plaster over rock lath, vintage plaster board, vintage gyprock and contemporary gypsum board all used in the same house for work done at various times through the decades.

[Jeff_H]

I was doing some more work in the area. The base layer of the wall is tongue and groove boards. I am putting in another electrical outlet so I removed a board about a foot up from the floor to drill holes through the studs and get the wire in and also the outlet box.

The bottom of one of the wall cavities between studs was full of debris and dirt. More-so than the others. I immediately spotted what looked like a handle poking out of the pile of crap and pulling it out was pleasantly surprised to find a claw hammer.

After removing several handfuls of dirt and "stuff" I also sifted out a bunch of kids marbles as well as a few other items including a girl's clutch purse. I remember when I was working upstairs over this same area, I did find a marble or 2 there as well and a couple of playing cards.

The position and depth of the hammer head makes me think it likely got dropped down the wall by one of the original carpenters back in 1918. Too bad the claws are damaged but the rest of the hammer is in perfect used shape and the wood handle is is great condition with some obvious wear on it. Its nice and smooth from use. There is a overlapping VV carved in the handle (see photo) and also on the butt end.

The mfg logo is stamped J. S. & H. Co with the word CROWN below that.

I did some research on this and most likely this is JANNEY, SEMPLE, HILL & CO. from Minneapolis. The company started in 1866, and had the J S & H initials after 1891, and appears to have gone out of business in 1956. They were hardware wholesalers.



Compared to a "modern" claw hammer, this one the claws seem really tightly curved back to the handle and don't stick out as far. I am probably going to put it in my tool box.

Other than this and the marbles, the most interesting item was a receipt from a store in this town from 1952 for some cookies and something else that I cannot read. The charge was 53c.

[nebraska stude]

Interesting story of the house and all the hack jobs done to it. I live in a 1901 house, still working on it. Some years ago I salvaged some architectural items from an 1880 farmhouse that was going to come down. Found a wall type I had not run into before. Full dimension 2x4 stud walls, with lap siding nailed directed to the studs. The inside walls had 1x12 boards nailed on the inside. The marks where they had dropped a chalk line were visible, every 12 inches. A hatchet was used to carve a vertical line in the 1x12s, vertical lathe nailed on, then horizontal lathe to that. Looked like it was to get very smooth walls, as the 1x12s were straight out of the sawmill. Then the wall had to layers of plaster, the inner had horsehair, and the outer was very white and hard, close to porcelain. To save the trim and items, took me 3 times as long, due to this construction.

[t walgamuth]

I was doing some more work in the area. The base layer of the wall is tongue and groove boards. I am putting in another electrical outlet so I removed a board about a foot up from the floor to drill holes through the studs and get the wire in and also the outlet box.

The bottom of one of the wall cavities between studs was full of debris and dirt. More-so than the others. I immediately spotted what looked like a handle poking out of the pile of crap and pulling it out was pleasantly surprised to find a claw hammer.

After removing several handfuls of dirt and "stuff" I also sifted out a bunch of kids marbles as well as a few other items including a girl's clutch purse. I remember when I was working upstairs over this same area, I did find a marble or 2 there as well and a couple of playing cards.

The position and depth of the hammer head makes me think it likely got dropped down the wall by one of the original carpenters back in 1918. Too bad the claws are damaged but the rest of the hammer is in perfect used shape and the wood handle is is great condition with some obvious wear on it. Its nice and smooth from use. There is a overlapping VV carved in the handle (see photo) and also on the butt end.

The mfg logo is stamped J. S. & H. Co with the word CROWN below that.

I did some research on this and most likely this is JANNEY, SEMPLE, HILL & CO. from Minneapolis. The company started in 1866, and had the J S & H initials after 1891, and appears to have gone out of business in 1956. They were hardware wholesalers.



Compared to a "modern" claw hammer, this one the claws seem really tightly curved back to the handle and don't stick out as far. I am probably going to put it in my tool box.

Other than this and the marbles, the most interesting item was a receipt from a store in this town from 1952 for some cookies and something else that I cannot read. The charge was 53c.

It's fun finding stuff in the buildings. I always imagine I'll find gold or a diamond but I have found interesting newspaper clippings, some invoices from a dental office from the thirties, an old Sears catalogue, and other equally not valuable things. I did find a huge diamond in my parking lot one day but unfortunately it turned out to be a zirconium.

I guess the most valuable thing I found was the tank in my building's basement turned out to contain 1500 gallons of heating oil in perfect condition which I sold to a friend who had dozers for enough to cover most of the cost of removing the enormous tank by a duly licensed expert.