Alternatives to sheetrock?

[Alaskan Rover]

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?

[KQ]

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.

[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.

[abraham]

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

[nickwm21]

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

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

[KQ]

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.

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.

[stfu&gbtw]

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

[XXX-er]

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

[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.

[KQ]

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

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.

[Tippster]

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.

This. It also kinda looks like shit.

[digitaldeath]

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

[skifishbum]

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

[abraham]

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

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

[Timberridge]

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.

[sb]

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

[Timberridge]

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

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

[Dantheman]

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

[DJSapp]

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.

[neufox47]

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

[Dantheman]

Lath and plaster? Have a blast with that.

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

[Dhelihiker]

nope

[XXX-er]

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

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

[splat]

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

[Vt-Freeheel]

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.