Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The wonder of modern drywall

worksinprogress.news

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 277 posts

Re: The wonder of modern drywall

#11

Post by dathanb82 »

enobrev wrote: post #3

I will never understand why we fill our walls with mechanical and electrical infrastructure and then wrap them in a paper and plaster, which then needs to be torn, broken, and repaired in order to maintain said infrastructure. Pipes will fail. Wires will fail. Ducts will fail. Maybe not in 5 years, but over the span of 20, they will. Why make them so frustratingly inaccessible?

And do what? Leave the ducting, pipes, and electrical lines exposed for the one time in 20 years you need to do something with them?

In addition to being much more attractive than exposed infrastructure, drywall and the insulation that gets put behind it help make your house much more energy efficient.

Re: The wonder of modern drywall

#12

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

Interesting to me that no mention of the use of drywall (in various forms) to act as a substrate for actual plaster. This seems common in the UK from what I understand from my family back there, and it is also common in the USA in high end residential construction. It is particular common in Santa Fe where I live now (for high end anyway) because the so-called "diamond plaster" look & feel is very popular. So, you still build with stick frames (or in a few cases, cinder block), cover that with drywall/sheetrock, then plaster it.

Re: The wonder of modern drywall

#14

Post by accrual »

donkeybeer wrote: post #8

Ctrl F "brick". Nothing about bricks and concrete in all the history of wall surfaces.

Brick is mentioned near the top:

> a method of constructing walls that has been a mainstay for at least 6,000 years, predating mud bricks

To be fair the article is about drywall and its history, not the history of all walls in general.

Re: The wonder of modern drywall

#15

Post by accrual »

esseph wrote: post #6
grebc wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cheaper than building them behind concrete or brick.

I think the question is: why are they behind anything to begin with? Conduit all the things and paint to match?

This is essentially what some industrial-style lofts do.

Re: The wonder of modern drywall

#16

Post by enobrev »

mlyle wrote: post #7
enobrev wrote: post #3

I will never understand why we fill our walls with mechanical and electrical infrastructure and then wrap them in a paper and plaster, which then needs to be torn, broken, and repaired in order to maintain said infrastructure. Pipes will fail. Wires will fail. Ducts will fail. Maybe not in 5 years, but over the span of 20, they will. Why make them so frustratingly inaccessible?

What's the alternative, though? Removable panels will be more expensive, and troublesome in various ways. Drywall is not too bad to deal with. And 99% of the wall surface doesn't need to be opened for a -long- time.

I watched a video recently, which I can't find, where an architect set up a beautiful wooden baseboard around the entirety of their property, and that baseboard held all mechanicals and was perfectly clean and easy to get into as needed.

Drywall is manageable and cheap, I agree. But it's more painful than it should be for something that _will_ require maintenance.

Re: The wonder of modern drywall

#17

Post by XorNot »

mlyle wrote: post #7
enobrev wrote: post #3

I will never understand why we fill our walls with mechanical and electrical infrastructure and then wrap them in a paper and plaster, which then needs to be torn, broken, and repaired in order to maintain said infrastructure. Pipes will fail. Wires will fail. Ducts will fail. Maybe not in 5 years, but over the span of 20, they will. Why make them so frustratingly inaccessible?

What's the alternative, though? Removable panels will be more expensive, and troublesome in various ways. Drywall is not too bad to deal with. And 99% of the wall surface doesn't need to be opened for a -long- time.

Mass production should be able to make this standard. Walls don't vary that much.

Personally I've been printing snap in access panels whenever I have to get into a wall these days - in white PETG they pretty much disappear into the wall for me.

Re: The wonder of modern drywall

#18

Post by accrual »

enobrev wrote: post #3

I will never understand why we fill our walls with mechanical and electrical infrastructure and then wrap them in a paper and plaster, which then needs to be torn, broken, and repaired in order to maintain said infrastructure. Pipes will fail. Wires will fail. Ducts will fail. Maybe not in 5 years, but over the span of 20, they will. Why make them so frustratingly inaccessible?

I wouldn't call it easy, but it's conceptually simple to cut a square hole in some drywall to access behind it, and then pop the piece back in with screws, mud, and tape, then paint.

Re: The wonder of modern drywall

#19

Post by enobrev »

accrual wrote: post #18
enobrev wrote: post #3

I will never understand why we fill our walls with mechanical and electrical infrastructure and then wrap them in a paper and plaster, which then needs to be torn, broken, and repaired in order to maintain said infrastructure. Pipes will fail. Wires will fail. Ducts will fail. Maybe not in 5 years, but over the span of 20, they will. Why make them so frustratingly inaccessible?

I wouldn't call it easy, but it's conceptually simple to cut a square hole in some drywall to access behind it, and then pop the piece back in with screws, mud, and tape, then paint.

For sure. I've wired my old house with speakers in every ceiling, and cat-6 in every room. I've had a small pipe burst and a couple leaks behind a bathroom.

I've patched quite a bit of drywall, and I'm about mediocre at it. But it seems so silly and unnecessary to me.

Everything else in this world that requires maintenance comes with access panels and other means of easy access. In our living spaces, some of which should ideally last tens of years (mine is from the 1890s), we seal it all away.

Re: The wonder of modern drywall

#20

Post by MarkMarine »

enobrev wrote: post #3

I will never understand why we fill our walls with mechanical and electrical infrastructure and then wrap them in a paper and plaster, which then needs to be torn, broken, and repaired in order to maintain said infrastructure. Pipes will fail. Wires will fail. Ducts will fail. Maybe not in 5 years, but over the span of 20, they will. Why make them so frustratingly inaccessible?

Drywall is trivial to remove and repair, I have no issue cutting walls with a circular saw or vibrating cutter to get access then patching it.

I have seen another method for making walls that were accessible though, from a homesteader/ hand tool woodworker and carpenter. His walls were 24” thick with huge areas for piping and electrical and had 4x4’ removable wood panels.

https://youtu.be/8fdm9R1Cbm0?si=9SRXgcdutos-hywc

Post reply on HN