Wallboard I've never seen before

[Chad Fabry]

The house is difficult to date- I'm guessing 1860-1870.

I found the wallboard pieces in the basement below an interior parting wall where the remodeler thought he was discreetly disposing his demo debris by dropping it into the wall cavity.

The board is comprised of four 1/8th inch alternating layers of paper and plaster. It's strong and it's heavy.

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[Jim Katen]

I've never seen or heard of such a product. It looks like a great idea though. Kind of like gypsum plywood.

In the area of New England where I grew up and got started in construction, it was very common to find all kinds of crap inside wall cavities. For some reason, people threw old shoes in there - I have no idea why. They were usually worn out and mismatched, but we'd sometimes find a whole wall full of them.

In the 1990s, I seem to recall an article in JLC about a drywall contractor who advocated slicing all scrap drywall into 14-inch wide pieces and stacking it in the wall cavities. He claimed it helped to deaden sound and it cut down on the waste that he had to haul away.

[BADAIR]

dated earlier than Sackett board

https://www.gypsum.org/about/gypsum-101/history-gypsum/

[Chad Fabry]

Thanks Barry,

It sounds like Sackett board. The house has an 1840-1850 core and several other late 19th century additions. I can see a circumstance where this stuff could have been installed.

I have an 18 inch square of it.... it's definitely plaster layered between paper. As I said before, it's amazingly strong.

[mjr6550]

In the area of New England where I grew up and got started in construction, it was very common to find all kinds of crap inside wall cavities. For some reason, people threw old shoes in there - I have no idea why. They were usually worn out and mismatched, but we'd sometimes find a whole wall full of them.

In the 1990s, I seem to recall an article in JLC about a drywall contractor who advocated slicing all scrap drywall into 14-inch wide pieces and stacking it in the wall cavities. He claimed it helped to deaden sound and it cut down on the waste that he had to haul away.

Insulation. New Englanders are frugal.

[Jim Katen]

In the area of New England where I grew up and got started in construction, it was very common to find all kinds of crap inside wall cavities. For some reason, people threw old shoes in there - I have no idea why. They were usually worn out and mismatched, but we'd sometimes find a whole wall full of them.

In the 1990s, I seem to recall an article in JLC about a drywall contractor who advocated slicing all scrap drywall into 14-inch wide pieces and stacking it in the wall cavities. He claimed it helped to deaden sound and it cut down on the waste that he had to haul away.

Insulation. New Englanders are frugal.

It was common to find corncobs in there, which I'm sure were intended to serve as insulation and which the mice loved. The shoes, though, I'm not so sure. I can't imagine anyone would think that they'd make good insulation.

[gtblum]

In the 1990s, I seem to recall an article in JLC about a drywall contractor who advocated slicing all scrap drywall into 14-inch wide pieces and stacking it in the wall cavities. He claimed it helped to deaden sound and it cut down on the waste that he had to haul away.

Wonder if he ever compared the cost of labor for cutting it up to just tossing it?

[Jim Katen]

In the 1990s, I seem to recall an article in JLC about a drywall contractor who advocated slicing all scrap drywall into 14-inch wide pieces and stacking it in the wall cavities. He claimed it helped to deaden sound and it cut down on the waste that he had to haul away.

Wonder if he ever compared the cost of labor for cutting it up to just tossing it?

Or the cost of the added time of those poor sacks who might have to fish wires through the walls someday.

[kurt]

I've left a few pairs of old work boots in walls. Named and dated.

[John Kogel]

In the 1990s, I seem to recall an article in JLC about a drywall contractor who advocated slicing all scrap drywall into 14-inch wide pieces and stacking it in the wall cavities. He claimed it helped to deaden sound and it cut down on the waste that he had to haul away.

Wonder if he ever compared the cost of labor for cutting it up to just tossing it?

Dumping old drywall is not cheap anymore, around here, anyway.

If we can't prove a date more recent than 1992, it is treated as Asbestos. It needs to be cut into small squares to fit into $4 double plastic bags, taped, goose necked and taped again. Then a time must be arranged for when the landfill can accept those sacks, which are weighed and billed by weight. I recently disposed of 4 9 foot sections of old drywall, cost about $40 for 6 sacks.

[Chad Fabry]

Dumping old drywall is not cheap anymore, around here, anyway.

If we can't prove a date more recent than 1992, it is treated as Asbestos. It needs to be cut into small squares to fit into $4 double plastic bags, taped, goose necked and taped again. Then a time must be arranged for when the landfill can accept those sacks, which are weighed and billed by weight. I recently disposed of 4 9 foot sections of old drywall, cost about $40 for 6 sacks.

If that were the case here, the shoulder of every road would be comprised entirely of gypsum.

[John Kogel]

Dumping old drywall is not cheap anymore, around here, anyway.

If we can't prove a date more recent than 1992, it is treated as Asbestos. It needs to be cut into small squares to fit into $4 double plastic bags, taped, goose necked and taped again. Then a time must be arranged for when the landfill can accept those sacks, which are weighed and billed by weight. I recently disposed of 4 9 foot sections of old drywall, cost about $40 for 6 sacks.

If that were the case here, the shoulder of every road would be comprised entirely of gypsum.

That is coming soon. New rules for old drywall in effect since Dec 2015. I expect to see a lot of drywall thrown in the bush. People dump on old logging roads here, any road that doesn't have a gate becomes a dump.

Here is a pic from my righteous trip to the landfill. Dumping was $16.50, sacks cost $24.

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