# Old drywall product question



## fr8train (Jan 20, 2008)

I'm at my buddy's house, he has cracks running around every room in his house. They measure out to 32" apart. 

From poking around we are sure that it is drywall of some sort. Did anyone ever make a 32" wide board back in the day? This stuff looks old. 

I'll take some pics and see how the cracks show up, if good enough I'll post them.

Fr8


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## Final touch drywall (Mar 30, 2010)

the only 32 inch board I know of was the old plaster board with all the holes in it..It feels like rock but is much thicker & harder, it has holes in it every 2 inches to hold the plaster to the wall.


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## VANMAN (Jan 14, 2011)

fr8train said:


> I'm at my buddy's house, he has cracks running around every room in his house. They measure out to 32" apart.
> 
> From poking around we are sure that it is drywall of some sort. Did anyone ever make a 32" wide board back in the day? This stuff looks old.
> 
> ...


 Thats old board that was used before it was plasterd by the sounds of it!! Seen this stuff before in old houses!


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## Paulie (Aug 27, 2011)

I just demo'd a kitchen that had 32" w board. No holes in it, nailed to studs and 1/2 thick. Plaster over top. 

Seen 16" w board also.



See Just Me, I'm a good guy.


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## DETROIT ROCK (May 27, 2011)

*How to Identify Types of Plaster, Lath, Drywall, Beaver Board, Upson Board - as a Guide to Building Age*

http://inspectapedia.com/interiors/Wall_Interiors.htm


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## DETROIT ROCK (May 27, 2011)

I worked in a old house 1940s. It had wire mesh lath.
Must have been a transition From wood to wire.
This was like tile underlay not the stiffer.
*Expanded Mesh Metal Lath*

Livingroom had all ready been fixed this is were it gets weird.
The lath was stapled in place. When the plasterer put the brown coat on, the lath pulled away pulling the staples out. The bedrooms upstairs
had pulled away maybe two inches. The HO wanted me to screw it up.
I tried the plaster washers and 3 inch screws The washers were not strong enough so i got fender washers and drilled with paddle bit 
to make a recess for the washer. This worked good and pulled it up
some. Then fixed all the cracks.

He is like bill have a look at the dinning room i could tell by looking 
it was down much more then the bedrooms. The only thing holding
it up was the chandelier. I drilled a hole and measured a 4 inch
separation. The ho was trying to raise it up with 2 by and jack 
It really started to crack i made him stop. 
I had to get 6 inch screws to reach the joists it didn't go up all the way but wasn't going to fall ether. 
The plasterer had to know what was going on. 



Another one i came across was a hole subdivision maybe 1970.
Two layers 3/8 second layer no fasteners just laminating glue.
The Ho had whole ceilings come down. We were working on 
the master bedroom. 16 by 16 we picked a little hole and that
was it it all came down Boom. You could feel all the walls were
separated.


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## mudman46 (Jan 11, 2012)

that was plaster board
it was used just after we stopped using old wood lats
and horse hair in plaster
any way i found a way to repair lot.s of plaster cracks in the old houses
there is a fiba product they use for flooring
comes in 3ft rolls by 100 ft i cover the whole wall with it
a bit of work but am sure it will last 100 yrs 
as long as plaster is not falling off
just make sure the job is cost plus
apply with trim tex glue 847 then skim 3 times 
paint with semi gloss or anything they want 
looks great
have done this to at least 4 restored homes
with great results


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## JustMe (Apr 17, 2009)

Paulie said:


> I just demo'd a kitchen that had 32" w board. No holes in it, nailed to studs and 1/2 thick. Plaster over top.
> 
> Seen 16" w board also.
> 
> ...


:thumbup:

*scratches head, wonders what Paulie is talking about.*

--------

*light goes on.*


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## PrecisionTaping (Feb 2, 2012)

Ya....Its old plaster board for sure. Yuck.



mudman46 said:


> that was plaster board
> it was used just after we stopped using old wood lats
> and horse hair in plaster
> any way i found a way to repair lot.s of plaster cracks in the old houses
> ...


I also suggest what Mudman46 stated.
I've done this also and it works great.


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## fenez (Nov 30, 2009)

It was called rock lathe


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## fr8train (Jan 20, 2008)

Thanks for the responses. I thought it might be rock lath, but I didn't know that the old rock lath was that wide.


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## Mudshark (Feb 8, 2009)

I did a reno job just before christmas where they had 16 inch rock lath in all the bedrooms that never had the plaster over it. These boards had no bevel but had a rounded edge where the edges met so lines every 16 inches. Had an option of covering with new board or filling gaps. Turns out all interior walls had tongue and groove fir on 45 degrees over the studs and then the rock lath. No need to tape, filled gaps with confill and finished off with box.:yes:


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## sandshots (Jan 23, 2012)

Paulie said:


> I just demo'd a kitchen that had 32" w board. No holes in it, nailed to studs and 1/2 thick. Plaster over top.
> 
> Seen 16" w board also.
> 
> ...


 
same here, this house is from the 50's


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## harvey randall (Nov 23, 2010)

*DRY WLL size*

elevator shafts-----------, we move the wold-wold by harry dcapin


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## mudslingr (Jul 18, 2010)

Well said as usual harvey ! :blink:
Wasn't it lights out at the home a couple of hours ago ? :jester:


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