Drywall

What is a Drywall?

Drywall is a product made of gypsum that is used to make ceilings and walls. It is a lightweight substitute or alternative to walls made of plaster. Walls whether vertical in the form of ceiling or horizontal in the form of interior walls, made of gypsum board are made speedily and are very cost effective in comparison to traditional walls made of plaster and lath. Drywall does not need time to dry out as is the case with wall made of plaster. Builders making studio apartments and people making new homes are increasingly making use of drywall to save on their hard earned money and get separations between rooms made in a jiffy.

 

Drywall is a substitute for plastered walls

Drywall has today completely taken over plaster walls inside houses and offices and it is also being used to false ceilings in offices, shops, malls and even homes. What has made people go for this kind of wall instead of traditional time tested and strong plaster wall is the efficiency and ease with which a person can himself install walls for separation and privacy between rooms.

The gypsum board is manufactured in varying lengths to suit the requirements of people but have standard width of panels that are added as per requirement to make a wall. Thickness of panels is ½”, ¼”, 3/8”, and 5/8”. As far as width is concerned, one gets mostly 48” and 54” wide panels.

 

Ease of installation makes drywall extremely popular

The ease with which drywall can be joined and fitted to make a wall is exemplary and anyone without any prior training can erect walls and make cubicles or rooms in a fraction of time that it would take to make the walls of a room using traditional plastering method. Yes, the strength and durability of plastered walls is certainly much higher than those made using drywall, but using gypsum board to make walls is a very cost effective method that also saves a lot of time. When painted by a professional, it is hard to tell if you are standing against a gypsum board or a standard plaster wall.

Inserting screws to attach drywall with the existing wall is easy with the help of a drill machine and a screwdriver. To seal the joints between gypsum panels, a special tape is used. Finally the nails and tape are covered using a joint compound. Once this joint compound has dried out, sandpaper can be used to smooth the drywall. A finished drywall looks complete on its own though it is prudent to get it painted white or any color that the owner desires.

 

The walls remain fire resistant and sound resistant

One unique feature of drywall that contains gypsum in between sheets of thick paper is that it makes the wall fire resistant. It is also sound proof making it a perfect material to make walls in complexes where there are adjacent offices. The only drawback with drywall is growth of mold on the wall making is less suitable for use in basements in buildings

Though drywall is the name of the building material that is used to make false ceiling and inside walls, it is called by different names in different markets such as Gyp Board, Plaster Board, Wallboard, Sheetrock, and so on. The name dry indicates that the walls are dry instead of wet as is the case with plastered walls.  The reason why drywall is fire retardant is the presence of water in the gypsum board in crystalline form. When exposed to fire, the water evaporates from the board keeping the temperature close to 100 degrees Centigrade.