Alternatives to sheetrock?

Are there any decent alternatives to sheetrock for paint ability, ease of installation, etc?


I'm buying a rental single family house for future rental. Everybody uses drywall...but I just don't like it. It's a PITA to install...and we will be needing plenty of sheets of it because some lame copper stripper has pulled out half the 110 service RIGHT THRU THE BLASTED SHEETROCK. So to replace the electrical, most of the sheetrock is coming out anyway.


Looking for something fundamentally durable and easy to cut; paintable; and something that will withstand drunken renters on a whiskey rampage.


Any inexpensive alternatives to gypsum sheetrock, BESIDES standard paneling and smooth veneer....or is sheetrock simply the most logical choice and there really AREN'T any nice-looking alternatives?

MDO? Would take a lot more punishment than sheetrock. It can be can be taped directly to sheetrock if you still have some that is salvageable and once painted the MDO and sheetrock look identical.

KQ.....a big consideration for sheetrock is it's fireproofing qualities. I know those pesky mefheads and their propensity for copper stripping is an annoyance but I doubt you'll find a cheaper replacement. Repairing sheetrock is easy, except perhaps in situations like yours. But I will vote for natural rock and/or brick for the sake of the single family that doesn't want to burn to death in a house fire.

Laminated honeycomb aluminum panels look pretty good if you're looking to get strange. I'm sure they expensive to work with though and you need to plan things well in advance. They use them for clean room walls and exteriors

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Originally Posted by Alaskan Rover

or is sheetrock simply the most logical choice and there really AREN'T any nice-looking alternatives?

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This. Cheap, easy to finish, easy to fix. Pretty much every single room you walk into in America is rocked.

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Originally Posted by splat

KQ.....a big consideration for sheetrock is it's fireproofing qualities. I know those pesky mefheads and their propensity for copper stripping is an annoyance but I doubt you'll find a cheaper replacement. Repairing sheetrock is easy, except perhaps in situations like yours. But I will vote for natural rock and/or brick for the sake of the single family that doesn't want to burn to death in a house fire.

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Yeah after I posted that (and while I was in the shower washing my hair) I thought "nah, sheetrock is the most logical and economical choice". Plus as someone else posted it is easy to repair. The MDO would be a bitch to have to cut into for electrical work etc. and then patch.

I used MDO in my house remodel in a couple of locations where it made sense and it worked great but everything else is sheetrock.

What about osb covered in fiber-cement board? Or they make a variety of reinforced sheetrock, designed to stop everything from tweakers to bullets.

I have done bathrooms/fam rooms/ laundry rooms, its pretty fucking cheap to do yourself the question you need to ask IS ... do you suck at DW?

If you do suck just get a DW contracter to instal it and these guys often work for cash

If there was a more aesthetic, cheap, easy to cut, paintable option, wouldn't we all have that on our walls?

OSB is cheaper, but will catch on fire faster during that whiskey fueled rampage. Not to mention that cutting it in comparison is a PITA.

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Originally Posted by stfu&gbtw

What about mdf covered in fiber-cement board? Or they make a variety of reinforced sheetrock, designed to stop everything from tweakers to bullets.

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Benefits of MDF

Is an excellent substrate for veneers.
Some varieties are less expensive than many natural woods
Isotropic (its properties are the same in all directions as a result of no grain), so no tendency to split
Consistent in strength and size
Flexible. Can be used for curved walls or surfaces.
Shapes well.
Stable dimensions (won't expand or contract like wood)
Easy to finish (i.e. paint)

Drawbacks of MDF

Denser than plywood or chipboard (the resins are heavy)
Low grade MDF may swell and break when saturated with water.
May warp or expand if not sealed.
Contains urea-formaldehyde, which is a "known human carcinogen"[7] and may cause allergy, eye and lung irritation when cutting and sanding[8] associated with nasal sinus cancer and nasopharyngeal cancer, and possibly with leukaemia in June 2004.[9]
Dulls blades more quickly than many woods
Though it does not have a grain in the plane of the board, it does have one into the board. Screwing into the edge of a board will generally cause it to split in a fashion similar to delaminating.
Subject to significant shrinkage in low humidity environments.
Trim (i.e. baseboards) comes pre-primed, but this is insufficient for fine finish painting. Painting with latex paints is difficult due to rapid water absorption. Most finishes appear uneven and nail holes tend to pucker.

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Originally Posted by char

If there was a more aesthetic, cheap, easy to cut, paintable option, wouldn't we all have that on our walls?

OSB is cheaper, but will catch on fire faster during that whiskey fueled rampage. Not to mention that cutting it in comparison is a PITA.

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This. It also kinda looks like shit.

Get that mud. Mud walled home bro. Shit is free

only akpostalot could consider a light weight score and snap no power tools needed easy to install product a "pain in the ass"
try taking the dildo out bro
surely there is a bunch of mancard carrying people in ak who can install rock
for fucks sake you don't even need to read the little #ers on the tape if your mudslapper has skillls

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Originally Posted by digitaldeath

Get that mud. Mud walled home bro. Shit is free

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Yep, mud slapped on straw bales. It's gotta be good

What SFB said...I think.

If that's too much work just leave the kraft paper with the pink panther design on it facing the inside and cover with clear 3 mil plastic.

MDF? Not to question KQ's googling skills but who would use MDF on their walls unless you're building one giant speaker enclosure or recording studio? Plus its 2-3X the cost of drywall.

T-111, the downside is if you are drunk you may not be able to distinguish the outside from the inside.

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Originally Posted by scottyb

T-111, the downside is if you are drunk you may not be able to distinguish the outside from the inside.

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Make sure the renters don't have a pet porcupine.

AK Rover and lath and plaster seem like a match made in heaven.

Alternatives, yes.

Inexpensive or easier to install, no. If there were, everyone would be doing it already. Gyp board is as easy as it gets. OSB isn't much cheaper. it's heavier, and it will catch on fire in a heartbeat, if the glue gasses don't kill you first. If you want to tweaker proof the walls, install a 1/8" MDF hardboard between the studs on the wire runs. The copper won't rip through that.

Lath and plaster? Have a blast with that.

Light weight concrete everything. Walls, floors, counters, etc.

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Originally Posted by DJSapp

Lath and plaster? Have a blast with that.

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It's authentic old school artisan type shit, right in AKR's wheelhouse.

nope

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Originally Posted by abraham

Yep, mud slapped on straw bales. It's gotta be good

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a simplistic statement perhaps ^^ I worked as the somewhat intelligent laborer on a straw bale for some friends who did a post & beam mud on straw bale, mud floor, they had to find clay which is mixed with the straw and not just any hay or any straw so everything seemed to be fucking time consuming and of course time = money , instead of buying dimension lumber to do things I was ripping beams/planing/brushing the grain it was all beautiful but I think fucking expensive

and its kind of "out there" from an artical my writer friend published about her house...

"Straw bale houses aren’t for folks who like straight lines and clean edges. Someone who’s, say, a perfectionist probably shouldn’t build a straw bale house. Someone who likes crisp corners and symmetry might want to stick to drywall and stud frames.

But if you, like us, love a little wabi-sabi, straw bale building offers a type of forgiveness only found in nature.

Wabi-sabi is a Japanese aesthetic that glorifies imperfection. It finds beauty in the simple, the uneven, the unfinished. According to Wikipedia, “Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, asperity (roughness or irregularity), simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes.”

much cheaperfastersimpler to just build a tract home

Isn't there always a flaw in origami where the demons escape?

HardiePanel

I have used this on a couple of projects [outside] and it performs well. Available in soothing earthtones to calm the shitty tenants you would attract.

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Originally Posted by XXX-er

a simplistic statement perhaps ^^

"Straw bale houses aren’t for folks who like straight lines and clean edges. Someone who’s, say, a perfectionist probably shouldn’t build a straw bale house. Someone who likes crisp corners and symmetry might want to stick to drywall and stud frames.

But if you, like us, love a little wabi-sabi, straw bale building offers a type of forgiveness only found in nature.

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So right up akrover's alley. However I don't think you can just fill the walls with mud and straw. You have to start from scratch, right?

Cement board and tile. That'll make cleaning up the blood alot easier.

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Originally Posted by abraham

So right up akrover's alley. However I don't think you can just fill the walls with mud and straw. You have to start from scratch, right?

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works fine until the big bad wolf shows up.

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Originally Posted by abraham

So right up akrover's alley. However I don't think you can just fill the walls with mud and straw. You have to start from scratch, right?

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well Amanda had to buy the straw bails in Alberta and have them trucked 12hrs for what reason I forget even tho we live in a valley with lots of farms that grow hay

in this particular style the house was built post n beam the bales were stacked into walls and then covered in a mixture of clay & and loose straw

so you could think of it as building walls with straw bales as building blocks and then stuccoing both sides with a clay/straw mixture

http://northword.ca/life/straw-bale-tales/ might as well post a link

One alternative to regular sheetrock is blueboard and skim coat plaster. Blueboard being a form of sheetrock. Nice for an old house to give the right look, saves a few steps in installation. Hard to find people who can do it--takes much more skill than slapping on drywall compound. I would never bother with it in a POS rental.'

Another alternative--clear heart redwood from an old water tank, which is what my main room is paneled with. Might be a touch spendy.

Fuck it. Just wall paper everything, holes and all.

old goat - I have a wood heated octagonal hot tub I made with 2-3/4" x 22'' x 22' clear heart redwood planks salvaged from the old Agnews Hospital in San Jose in the early 80s. They used that shit for floor/ceiling joists way back when.

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Originally Posted by old goat

One alternative to regular sheetrock is blueboard and skim coat plaster. Blueboard being a form of sheetrock. Nice for an old house to give the right look, saves a few steps in installation. Hard to find people who can do it--takes much more skill .

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I have a ski bud from montreal who can do the skim coats, the lathe plaster, the repair of plaster in old buildings and wouldn't you know it ...he is a telemarker

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Originally Posted by splat

Fuck it. Just wall paper everything, holes and all.

old goat - I have a wood heated octagonal hot tub I made with 2-3/4" x 22'' x 22' clear heart redwood planks salvaged from the old Agnews Hospital in San Jose in the early 80s. They used that shit for floor/ceiling joists way back when.

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We also have massive posts and beams salvaged from an Oakland Pier. When the Truckee Donner PUD took over the Donner Lake Water Company and demolished the leaking redwood water tanks we were hoping to get some of the wood--my wife was one of the people* who got the takeover done--but I guess they sold them off.

*RIP Kathy Polucha Kessler--La Traviata Avalanche victim and all around wonderful person

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Originally Posted by Timberridge

Make sure the renters don't have a pet porcupine.

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I don't care who you are, that right there is funny.

Some might recommend building a house out of MDF. Since youre in AK I recommend building your house of MTF, that is, Matanuska Thunderfuck.

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Originally Posted by DJSapp

Lath and plaster? Have a blast with that.

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"Why is this nail bouncing back when I hammer it?"
- mrs commonlaw


To the OP, it's cheaper if you buy the Chinese stuff.

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Originally Posted by XXX-er

I have a ski bud from montreal who can do the skim coats, the lathe plaster, the repair of plaster in old buildings and wouldn't you know it ...he is a telemarker

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Can he also jump buildings with a single bound?

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Originally Posted by XXX-er

well Amanda had to buy the straw bails in Alberta and have them trucked 12hrs for what reason I forget even tho we live in a valley with lots of farms that grow hay

in this particular style the house was built post n beam the bales were stacked into walls and then covered in a mixture of clay & and loose straw

so you could think of it as building walls with straw bales as building blocks and then stuccoing both sides with a clay/straw mixture

http://northword.ca/life/straw-bale-tales/ might as well post a link

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straw and hay are two different things, straw is the stalk of grain

Like someone else said, drywall is easy, and easy to fix no matter what kind of renters you have.

Lots of different ways to build a strawbale house. A friend of mine did a really cool video, check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPHEtDfqsNo

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Originally Posted by XXX-er

I have a ski bud from montreal who can do the skim coats, the lathe plaster, the repair of plaster in old buildings and wouldn't you know it ...he is a telemarker

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My mother in law used to have a beach house in Puerto Penasco, Sonora, Mexico. The new MacMansions were all being built out of cinder block covered with plaster. Those Mexican plasterers were really good. I kept think about how much money they could be making in the States, with no competition.