Question re 1940's Plasterboard

[Brett Jackson]

My early 1940's house in Leeds seems to have a full complement of plasterboard ceilings. There seems to be no evidence anywhere in the house of fire or flood damage which I suspect might have led to the ceilings being replaced. Also it's integrated in the appropriate places with the wooden beading they used to use before the metal edging came about. I thought that this period of house should have the lath and plaster ceilings.

The walls are all rendered with what I'm told is lime/sand (very dry, crumbly stuff).

Is this plasterboard as we know it today? It has the standard white plaster material sandwiched between two sheets of brown paper. Is it likely that it's original - I certainly can't find any evidence to suggest otherwise.

[Lee]

Plasterboard was introduced to the UK in 1917, though I don't know what sort of buildings would have used it that early.

Says so here:

Lee

[G&M]

It probably is. But there were some asbestos sheets made in a similar manner as an early form of heat insulation. Perhaps somebody here tell how to identify them.

[Dave Jones]

I recently knock a coal house out of a 1940's house and that ceiling and the rest of the kitchen had plasterboard, original as the lady had lived there from when new.

Apparently designed by a woman.

[sPoNiX]

I know of some pre ww2 buildings that have plasterboard ceilings.

sPoNiX

[Christian McArdle]

Plasterboard has been in widespread use since the 1930s, although it didn't become almost universal until later.

Christian.

[Alan Kennedy]

We have a 1936 house with plasterboard ceilings in all rooms (original). It looks slightly unusual compared to modern plasterboard

- thinner board with thicker coarser paper and the plaster contains what looks like small chips of wood. I was slightly suspicious that it might have contained asbestos and as I was going to bring down a ceiling I had it tested - it did not contain any asbestos. On further investigation on the Net it became clear that plasterboard was in fact produced in the UK from 1917.

Alan