Is It Time To Hang Up On Hanging Drywall

Over at The Atlantic, Haniya Rae writes An exciting history of drywall, questioning the ubiquitous wall material’s environmental cost. As an architect, I have never liked the stuff; it disintegrates at the sight of water, I can always see the mud vs the gypsum board, and it is just not as smooth as plaster. I was also threatened with personal bankruptcy by the safety authorities when I was building a condo in Toronto and a drywaller fell and hurt himself while wearing illegal stilts. (They are legal in some states and provinces but not in others) We wrote about the stuff a few years ago in How did we end up with drywall? and quoted TreeHugger hero Steve Mouzon, who wrote:

Cypress wood makes a nice wall. Morning Glory House, Sanibel Island/ Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0The article was not well received, although my editor ignored the comment that “This is truly one of the worst, most ignorant articles I have ever read!… This article is so bad, it should be removed. Ughhhh.”

In the Atlantic, Rae covers much the same material, without the same negative reaction. She also quotes Steve Mouzon, who describes how houses in New Orleans that were built out of plaster or wood panelling survived Katrina nicely, but that millions of square feet of housing built with drywall had to be bulldozed. Then the fun begins:

Perhaps the reaction to the Atlantic article was not as negative as it was to mine because things are changing, and people are demanding better quality alternatives, especially as drywall gets more expensive. Many architects concerned about health are turning to plaster, wood, or hybrids:

Grasscloth and screens make a nice wall. Walker Guest House, Sanibel Island/ Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0

I suppose that in mass-production housing we will never see the end of quick and cheap drywall. In much of Europe, they won’t touch the stuff, wanting plastered concrete blocks or clay tiles; It lasts forever and takes a great deal of abuse. In North America, people who care about resilience, health and longevity should start looking at alternatives too.

Lloyd Alter/ Books and open studs make a nice wall/CC BY 2.0