Wall cavity full of sheetrock pieces

I took down a couple of pieces of beat-up sheetrock and found that many of the cavities were almost completely full of pieces of sheetrock.

Any good reason why a builder (or remodeler, perhaps) would have done this? The only thing I can think of is that it saved them the trouble of carting the offcuts away and perhaps paying to dump them.

I suppose they haven't been doing any harm, but they are a pest if I want to install an old-work outlet box in a section of wall where I do not remove the sheetrock.

Perce

Reply to
Percival P. Cassidy
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You got it in 1. Easier and cheaper. The space above my basement stairs is almost completely filled with offcuts. I discovered it when doing some remodeling. Doesn't really hurt anything, but can be a pain as you said. And it sure confused the stud finder I was using.

After rough calculating how many trash cans the heap would fill, I left mine right where they were.

Paul F.

Reply to
Paul Franklin

What would be the impact if there was a fire? Better that the pieces are there, worse that the pieces are there, or no measureable impact?

Reply to
DerbyDad03

"Percival P. Cassidy" wrote in news:%aqxi.38$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe05.lga:

In one wall in a house I had built 20 yrs ago the builders gave me a funny look when I came in with a bunch of empty egg cartons and filled one of the stud cavities.

The soil pipe from upstairs came down a wall between the kitchen and dining room. Never did hear anything going through it.

Reply to
Al Bundy

more to fall on the firefighters heads when they tear the ceiling down.

Reply to
Steve Barker

Thats it Percy. Some "dumps" won't even let you dispose of drywall there anymore. Those that do often charge more $$

Reply to
Rudy

"Rudy" wrote

Hoo boy, don't know about where you're at, but dump rates here in Las Vegas has skyrocketed. And all sorts of limitations, like no piece of concrete bigger than a foot.

We did a remodel, and we were using our bill as a free pass to dump there. If you get service, you can dump household stuff for free. There was a snippy dyke there who took offense at some real or perceived injustice, and wouldn't let me dump one day. Said I was making too many trips.

Off to the office I go. Told them the story. She said that the attendant had the right to turn in an inquiry to management to red flag me because some guys do commercial work, and then use their driver's licenses to dump the refuse for free. They told me to go dump, and that they would send an inspector to our house, and see if we were REALLY doing a remodel. They came, they saw. After that, Bobbi was always very cordial. I imagine she got chewed on a bit.

But, geez. Now you have to have a net, they just about crawl around inside the bed of your truck looking for who knows what, and they had to add a bigger sign saying what they will and won't take.

Reminds me of Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant", and the dump closed on Thanksgiving. They're open here in Vegas every day of the year, but in Utah, dumping at a public dump on Sunday ain't gonna happen, pardner. They're closed.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

The builder of my house threw a lot of unused building material in the front yard, then covered it up. Ten years later I have a sinking front lawn and broken concrete driveway.

Reply to
Phisherman

I'm guessing here. Drywall is relatively non-flammable, and even acts to retard fire spread for a while, so I'd think it would be better, at least than open space or a flammable material such as lumber.

Reply to
Paul Franklin

if that is all you found in the cavities between the wall, you are lucky! i am use to finding all sorts of crap....................ie: beer cans nailed to the 2x4 etc.

Reply to
readandpostrosie

Phisherman wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Digging a hole and tossing material in it is/was common. They would burn it though. Common term - burnhole. Failure to burn it results in what you got :-(

Reply to
Al Bundy

You are lucky. I know of someone who bought a new house that developed an awful smell. They identified a wall area and broke open the sheetrock and discovered to large bags of garbage that were sheetrocked over. It was an item in their lawsuit. By the way the victim was a nazi camp survivor. The builder settled.

Reply to
Art

That is why it is called gypsum. But it must be filled with glue, etc.

Reply to
Art

The one good thing Toll Brothers does is use a metal pipe there for noise purposes.

Reply to
Art

Now THAT is an old construction-site tradition, related to the name and year written on the back side of a rafter or something. A hammer-swinger's Kilroy Was Here. I've found name and year notes from as long ago as 1915. (I always favored name and year scratched into the freshly poured footers, in a spot like the crawlspace where they might be found.)

aem sends....

Reply to
aemeijers

I like it when tools are a found :) I just signed the back piece of wood flooring going on glue (never seen again), but heck it was fun.

I know in the '70s sheet rock was often thrown into the cavity. If you have a house that old around Disney in Orlando - chances are you will find some in the walls. I'm guilty of doing it.

-- Oren

"Well, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it happens, it happens constantly."

Reply to
Oren

When we hang for fire walls and do not have 5/8 board we double up on the

1/2". The paper is flammable, but the calcium is not.
Reply to
Mike Dobony

What we do is leave something in the walls for people to find. We always try to leave a series of coins (penny, nickel, dime, quarter) that are the current year. That should give whoever finds it a clue as to when the work was done. If we come up with anything cool or unusual, we will leave that in there too. We will write our names and how much we are making per hour on a board and leave it in the wall, too. This comes from finding evidence of this in walls, written on studs and such. My favorite was from an old house here in Austin where a carpenter had figured his hours for the week. He had 37 hours at 32 cents per hour. Paycheck for the week was $11.84 before taxes, although that may have been before income tax was started.

This last project we left a bent tri-square and a couple of matchbox cars that we found in the street by the jobsite.

Reply to
Robert Allison

This was described about older tradesmen; from years ago. They left small denomination coins.

The show: _If Walls Could Talk_ tells; stories of blueprints and photographs being found and how they left coins for the future. One bottle of wine could not be consumed, but it was stored in the wall/attic space.

-- Oren

"Well, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it happens, it happens constantly."

Reply to
Oren

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