The blueprints to my 1953 house say that the walls are "rock lath plaster". Whether this is the same thing as plasterboard I don't know, but it seems that a 4x8 sheet of this stuff would be nicer than drywall (albeit a lot heavier).
If I have to do any patching or redoing walls I'd prefer to have the heaver plasterboard than flimsy drywall.
So is plasterboard still manufactured?
Mike
"Rock lath plaster" probably means that "rock lath" was used as oppposed to wood lath in older homes, with a coat or two of plaster on top of that. Rock lath is basically drywall with a special treatment done to the paper surface that makes plaster stick to it. It is commonly called blueboard these days, comes in 1/2" and 5/8" thicknesses, and you put a thin coat of veneer plaster on top of it, as opposed to the old days when your house was built, it may have been
3/8" rock lath with another 3/8" of plaster on top of it.It is certainly possible to do what you want, however, you will probably find that it is a bit more work than you think. Blueboard and veneer plaster may not be readily available in your area (as opposed to just going to Home Depot and buying drywall and drywall mud off the shelf), you may need to special order it. And doing the veneer plaster is different that standard drywall finishing techniques. You'll need to practice that. Look up the USG or National Gypsum websites, those are two companies that make veneer plaster materials.
It will be more work, but in my opinion, the result is worth it.
Ken
Thanks.
Mike
As a substitute for blueboard, I've heard of using the back side of drywall. The idea is that the skim coat sticks well to the coarse gray paper. I would clear that idea with a plaster contractor first, though. bill
Also rock lath, besides being only 3/8" thick, it also only came in sheets
16" x 48" and was nailed up brick style with one base coat of rough brown plaster, and finished with one coat of white hard plaster over it all.
Just to clarify, I think that "rock lath" usually has a pattern of holes in it, so the plaster will also mechanically bond to it, like regular lath.
Chheers, Wayne
The substitute for blueboard is to use the front side of drywall, but roll on a coat of bonding agent first.
Ken
What is the advantage to real plaster walls as opposed to gypsum drywall (assuming either is expertly installed)?
Plaster is heavier and stronger. You can easily dent drywall.
Paint will look different over the areas of drywall with joint compound. Paint will be uniform over plaster.
Wallpapering over plaster is much easier if you ever had to remove it; with drywall the paper backing would probably come off.
Mike
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