Drywall

Drywall makes the walls in your home.

It is a flat board. It is made of a soft white stuff. This stuff is between two sheets of paper.

People use it for walls and ceilings. It can even help keep out loud noise. To make it, the white stuff is put between the paper. Then, it goes into a big oven to dry. This makes the board strong and hard.

It is a very useful tool for building.

Drywall is a flat panel used to make walls and ceilings.

It is also called gypsum board. The core of the board is made of gypsum. This is a soft mineral.

To make the board, workers sandwich wet gypsum between two sheets of paper. They often mix in fibers like glass wool. This helps the board stay strong. The wet boards go into a large drying chamber. This chamber uses heat to dry the core. Once dry, the board becomes hard and rigid.

Builders attach the boards using nails or special screws. These screws have a bugle head. This shape helps them sink into the board without tearing the paper.

After the boards are up, workers cover the seams. They use a paste called joint compound. This makes the walls look smooth and flat. Drywall can also help block sound. Using thick layers of board can keep a room quiet.

However, water can damage it. If it gets too wet, the gypsum can turn into a paste.

Drywall is a flat panel used to build the inside of homes.

You might know it by other names like gypsum board or sheetrock. It is used for making both walls and ceilings. This material is very important in modern building. It helps make construction much faster than old ways.

In the past, people used lath and plaster to make walls. Drywall is a great alternative to those older methods. It saves a lot of time and hard work for builders.

Making a piece of drywall is a careful step-by-step process. First, workers take raw gypsum and heat it up. This removes water to create a special powder. They mix this powder with water and other things. They might add fibers like glass wool to make it strong. They also add things to help it resist fire or mold.

This wet mixture is a thick slurry. Workers sandwich this core between two heavy sheets of paper. Finally, the boards go into a large drying chamber. They use natural gas to heat these chambers.

People have been improving drywall for a long time. In 1890, two men named Augustine Sackett and Fred L. Kane invented Sackett Board. They worked for the New York Coal Tar Chemical Company. They made the board by layering plaster inside four sheets of paper. Later, the board changed to be even better. Between 1910 and 1930, makers began using paper for the faces. In 1910, the United States Gypsum Corporation bought the Sackett company. By 1917, they introduced a famous brand called Sheetrock.

There are many interesting facts about how much we use drywall. In 2020, people sold 8.4 billion square meters of it worldwide.

Builders use special screws to hold the boards in place. These screws have a bugle head to protect the paper. When workers put up the walls, they often split the jobs. "Hangers" install the heavy boards on the frame. Then, "tapers" use joint compound to hide the seams. They make the walls look smooth and ready for paint.

Drywall can do many helpful things in a house. It can help block sound so rooms stay quiet.

Using thick layers or special types can stop noise from traveling. However, we must be careful with water and bugs. If drywall gets too wet, the gypsum can turn into a paste.

Even termites can eat the paper on the outside. Because of this, some rooms like bathrooms use special greenboard. This type is made to resist moisture and mold.

Drywall is a versatile building panel used for interior walls and ceilings.

It is also known by many names, including gypsum board, plasterboard, or sheetrock. The core of the panel is made of calcium sulfate dihydrate, which is a mineral called gypsum. This core is typically sandwiched between thick sheets of paper or fiberglass mats. Drywall is essential in modern construction because it provides a fast and efficient way to create smooth surfaces.

The manufacturing process begins with raw gypsum. This material is heated to drive off water, creating a substance called calcium sulfate hemihydrate. This powder is then mixed with water to create a thick slurry. Manufacturers add several ingredients to this mixture to improve its properties. They add fibers, such as paper or glass wool, to increase strength. They also include plasticizers, foaming agents, and accelerators like finely ground gypsum crystals. Other additives, such as starch or EDTA, act as retarders to control the setting time. Some boards even include wax emulsions or silanes to lower water absorption.

Once the mixture is ready, it is formed into panels. The wet slurry is sandwiched between two layers of heavy paper or fiberglass. The panel then enters a large drying chamber, which often uses natural gas. As the core sets and dries, the sandwich becomes a rigid and strong building material. Interestingly, some gypsum is produced as a byproduct of power stations. In coal-fired plants, scrubbers remove sulfur from exhaust using powdered limestone. This process, called flue-gas desulfurization, creates "FGD gypsum," which is commonly used for drywall in the United States.

Drywall has a long history of development. In 1890, Augustine Sackett and Fred L. Kane invented Sackett Board. They worked for the New York Coal Tar Chemical Company. Their original version used four layers of wool felt paper. Between 1910 and 1930, the product evolved into modern gypsum board. This included using paper-based facings and wrapped edges. In 1910, the United States Gypsum Corporation purchased the Sackett company. By 1917, they introduced the well-known brand Sheetrock. This evolution helped drywall become a major alternative to the older, slower method of lath and plaster.

In modern construction, the installation of drywall is a specialized task. Large projects often divide the labor between two different roles. Hangers are the workers who physically install the heavy wallboard onto the structure. Tapers, also called finishers or mud men, follow behind them. Tapers apply joint compound, often called "mud," to hide the seams between the sheets. They also cover the fastener heads to create a smooth surface. The quality of this finish is rated on a scale from level 0 to level 5. A level 5 finish is the most pristine and smooth version possible.

Fasteners are also specifically designed for this material.

Builders use drywall screws to secure the panels to studs or joists. These screws feature a "bugle head," which is a concave taper. This shape is important because it compresses the drywall surface instead of cutting into it. This prevents the paper from tearing. To cut the panels, installers score the paper with a utility knife and then break the sheet. For smaller holes, such as those for light switches, they use tools like keyhole saws or rotary tools.

Drywall has specific physical properties that affect how a home functions. It can be used to manage sound transmission between rooms. While thicker boards help, using multiple layers is often more effective. An ordinary stud-wall might have a Sound Transmission Class (STC) rating of 33. However, using double drywall with insulation and resilient channels can increase that rating to 59. Despite these benefits, drywall is vulnerable to moisture. If it becomes saturated, the gypsum can turn into a gooey paste.

This can cause the heavy, wet material to sag or even collapse.

Moisture also creates risks regarding mold and pests. The paper facing and organic additives in the core can serve as food for mold. Because the boards are porous, water can travel quickly into the core through capillary action.

Termites can also eat the paper facings, causing the painted surface to crumble. To prevent these issues in humid areas like bathrooms, builders use "greenboard." This type of drywall has a special coating to resist mold and moisture. In 2020 alone, the global market for drywall reached 8.4 billion square meters.