walls

Part 11 of our 15-part Q&A series on all aspects of green building from the publishers of HealthyHouseInstitute.com. Click here for the introductory post and furthur details.

Question: I’ve heard that plaster is a healthy material. What are its advantages and disadvantages?

Answer: You buy plaster as a powder, mix it with water, then apply it to a surface where it hardens. Once completely cured, the plaster is very inert and rock-like. Although most people can’t detect any odor after a few days, a few sensitive people have said that they’re bothered by a slight odor for a month or so.

In the past, 2-3 coats of plaster were commonly applied on top of thin strips of wood lath. In some commercial applications it’s still applied in a similar manner, but it’s usually put over to metal lath instead of wood. However, the most common way to use plaster today involves skimming one or two thin coats over a gypsum-board material. The gypsum board has a blue paper face, so it’s usually called blueboard.

Most of the time, plaster walls are painted. For sensitive people who are bothered by paint, plaster has the advantage of being hard, durable, and scrubbable enough that you can actually leave it unpainted. While most plaster is white, it can sometimes be tinted (before its applied) with the same kinds of mineral pigments that bricklayers use in mortar.

As far as drawbacks, plaster is more brittle than drywall and, if it ever cracks, it’ll no longer be airtight. Plaster costs more than drywall, primarily because of the skilled labor required. In some parts of the country, plaster is widely used. But, in other areas, it’s been totally replaced with drywall.

Question: What makes drywall different from plaster?

Still considering green alternatives to drywall... So I decided to harass the fantastic eco furniture designer and green materials distributor, Anthony Brozna, to see what he thought. Now many of you may have seen Anthony's beautiful furniture in Dwell, HGTV, Town & Country, and more. But Anthony also has a green materials business, EcoSupply Center, which promotes green, energy efficient, sustainable building materials. He immediately launched into DragonBoard. According to him, DragonBoard

"May even eventually replace drywall. I think it could even be the answer to Portland Cement / lime based cements. It's made out of magnesium oxide & chloride, and is cold pressed. It has a 4 hour fire rating, submersible in water, you can paint on it, clay it-- one side is smooth, the other rough, so it works well for either application. It's also anti-macrobial. And they make tons of products- subfloor, exterior OR interior..."

The DragonBoard web site had even more great information:

Meet DRAGONBOARD the only UL-Approved construction panel that is:

• Fire-Proof (UL 055 and ASTM-Tested and A-Rated)
• Waterproof (Freeze/Thaw-Tested for 36 months)
• Mold/Fungus/Bug Free (Non-nutrient to mold, fungus, insects ASTM G-21)
• Impact-Resistant (ASTM D-5628)
• NYC Approved (MEA # 359-02-M)
• Silica/Asbestos Free
• Florida Hurricane Tested
• STC-Rated 53-54
• Ready for all 2007 ICC criteria
• Ideal for Flooring (3/4" = 21/2" poured concrete!)
• Guaranteed to Offer Substantial Cost Savings*

Our Commitment to the Environment DRAGONBOARD US is concerned about the environment. DRAGONBOARD is manufactured from mineral components and water. DRAGONBOARD contains:

• No organic solvents
• No oils
• No toxic ingredients
• No heavy metal salts
• No asbestos

DRAGONBOARD sawdust may be safely buried in a landfill without contamination or environmental damage to land, streams or bodies of water. No energy is consumed in manufacturing DRAGONBOARD. The entire patented process is conducted at room temperature and scraps or drop-offs are reground and used in the production of DRAGONBOARD.

EcoSupply is an east coast retailer of DragonBoard, so if you are interested in purchasing it, please feel free to contact them directly.

EcoRock's not out yet, so it looks like it will be DensArmor Plus® Paperless Drywall by Georgia-Pacific for the prototype. You can pick it up easily in most Lowe's.

Again, cost at Green Modern Kits is everything: we celebrate affordable great design!

To compare prices, I trundled over to Lowe's and see the following:

Georgia Pacific 11/32" 4' x 8' Ply-Bead Classic: $16.97

Ok, so that's a standard plywood solution.

Now for cheap-o traditional drywall:
1/2 4x8 $6.75

And the DensArmor Plus® Paperless Drywall?
1/2 4x8 $10.98

And oh yes, I checked, it is actually in stock in my local store.

I will also mention that the cute guy I spoke with paused and said,

"And just so you know, if you work with that stuff, be careful with it! Me and my buddies had to unload it and my arms were on fire!"

"Oh you poor dear! Yeah, that's probably because there's fiberglass in it."

So don't forget:
It may be paperless, but
(cue in Bryan Adams here) it Cuts Like A Knife!
(na na na naaaaah na nah, na na...)

This is what happens when my husband goes away... he really does keep me sane, you know.

Until recently, I could brag that our office only used *at the most* three reams of paper a year.

And then the children went on a drawing binge.

It's driving me bonkers- on one hand, I cringe, "Don't waste paper!!!" then cringe at myself: "How dare you call their artistic pursuits wasteful?" So I stack the drawings in a corner, guiltily...

Today I was pondering over how to finish our casa ti interior. I've always envisioned it with sleek, organic, simple plywood, which I thought would look really good with the more industrial concrete flooring. But I like to consider all options, and even published a post on how to make SIPs stew.

And then I thought... "Why not recycle those drawings?"

They are mainly scribbly ink drawings on notebook paper left over from college days, or grabbed from our office shelf. So the overall effect would be clean, white, but with scribbles and occasional bursts of color... I could easily attach it directly to the SIPs walls, then maybe minwax / beeswax it once hung... just for... fun!

I still see the end result eventually being plywood... but to in the meantime reuse the paper / childrens "art" for our house? Fantastic!

Broken concrete recycled into a wall on a residential street in Albuquerque: this wall was laid up with some mortar, but it could have been laid up dry. The material works really well for retaining walls, also. It's attractive, cheap, and easy to work with (for someone with a strong back).

This particular wall really wasn’t laid up that artfully – the joints aren’t staggered as well as they probably should have been, and it’s not so level – but still, I think it looks good. It’s certainly functional. And, there’s no shortage of broken-up concrete – it's readily available.

I had a big pile of broken-up concrete that sat for a l-o-n-g time before I found someone to lay it up into a low retaining wall. My neighbors weren't very happy about this part of the process!