history of plasterboard

Hi all,

A quick question, when did plasterboard first come into common use ?

TIA

Adrian

Reply to
Adrian Simpson
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Invented 1894. Common use 1955 >

Depends on your definition of the terms used and geographical location.

Reply to
EricP

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Reply to
Graham.

Erm! no it was 1922 when first used.

Reply to
George

In message , George writes

So it say around in Travis Perkins for 28 years before anyone tried it ?

Reply to
geoff

No, 34 years ;-)

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Reply to
Icky Thwacket

Er! probably as it was made to order ie it was an expensive material in

1922.

Who gives a fig about when it was made,I certainly don't

Reply to
George

=2E No idea when 'invented'! I do seem to recall 'plasterboard' being used extensively in a lot of 'Prefab housing' shortly after WWII. Also there was a plasterboard manufacturing plant on the Wirral side of the river Mersey which I would walk past in the late 1940s. In this part of Canada it is still often called 'Gyproc' (Maybe that was once trade name, like Hoover, and came into generally usage?). Elsewhere have heard it described as 'Gypsum Board' etc. With wood frame cnstruction three eighths WAS the common thickness. More recently half inch on two by six wood frame etc. is now mandatory, apparently for greater fire resistance. Half inch is heavier to handle especially doing it yourself!This now 38 year old, considerably self built, house is finished with three eighths thickness. Cheers.

Reply to
terry

Of course. Had to wait for it to warp nicely.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

They didn't stock drywall screws?

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

No, that was how long they had to wait to get served.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
nightjar

. No idea when 'invented'! I do seem to recall 'plasterboard' being used extensively in a lot of 'Prefab housing' shortly after WWII. Also there was a plasterboard manufacturing plant on the Wirral side of the river Mersey which I would walk past in the late 1940s.

Our last (1930s) house suffered indirect bomb damage during WII - ie all the upstairs lath and plaster ceilings were blown down - info from older neighbours. These were replaced with three-eighths plasterboard throughout - downstairs ceilings remained as lath and plaster. On the assumption that these were done in a reasonable time frame it seems that plasterboard was available by 1945 ish.

Charles F

Reply to
CJF

Company was formed in 1915, a year before plaster board was supposedly invented. They put the invention date at 1888.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
nightjar

Same here. Unfortunately they also removed the cornices. Free war damage repair, I suspect.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

In article , Adrian Simpson writes

Thanks for the follow ups. I'm doing some work on a 1939 built place and came across some plasterboard that looked as though it might have been there from new (the only bit I have found so far), hence the question.

Adrian

Reply to
Adrian Simpson

Maybe the antiques road show, if someone turns up with the first bit of plaster board asking for an insurance estimate as they do. ;-) I can 'almost' imagine the scene .

Reply to
whisky-dave

It wasn't (relatively). Plasterboard started being used commonly around 1916, owing to shortage of labour to do wet plastering. It might have been "expensive" as a _material_ in 1922, but then so was plastering. Overall the balance had switched to "expensive materials / reduced on-site labour" and never really switched back again, even in the '30s.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Found this (below) at the Gypsum Products Development Association website.

I think that "47 million square metres of plasterboard a year" counts as common use - so by 1909. But not in Britain until 1917. (Which seems odd

- during WWI.)

"Because it is dry, strong, easy to handle and inexpensive, plasterboard is being used in buildings all over the country. Yet before 1890 no one had heard of the word.

It was 1890. In the works of the New York Coal Tar Chemical Company, Augustine Sackett and Fred L. Kane were looking at the death of an invention.

On a large wheel they had hoped to make a board from straw paper and pitch for lining walls and ceilings. But the pitch soaked through the paper, ruining all decoration applied to it.

But then Kane suggested using manilla paper instead of straw paper and plaster of Paris instead of pitch. They poured in the thin plaster, turning the big wheel five or six times, left the board to harden, and found they had stiff, strong, new material - plasterboard.

At first, builders and decorators did not like this new product but after ten years hard work the idea was accepted. More factories were built and by 1909, Augustine Sackett was producing nearly 47 million square metres of plasterboard a year.

In 1917 plasterboard came to Britain. The first factory in Europe was set up in Wallasey, Cheshire and the company was led by Hugh Ferguson. A success story began which is still going on. Today Britain uses over 200 million square metres of plasterboard each year."

Reply to
Rod

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