Steven Puetzer  / Getty Images

Gypsum board, or drywall as most people call it today, was invented in 1916, but nobody wanted the stuff. It was considered cheap. It took World War II, with its shortage of trades and the demand for cheap and fast buildings, to make it acceptable. But people still didn't really want it, and so many of the great images from the 50s and 60s have other materials, from wood panelling to brick.

In Steve Mouzon's Four Unexpected Green Game-Changers for Earth Day, he suggests that we go drywall free. He writes:

There are some real advantages to drywall: It's cheap, it is non-combustible, it reduces sound transmission and can be engineered to really stop noise, it installs quickly, and did I say it's cheap? But there are downsides; the finish isn't plaster, it's paper, and it has a fuzzy finish that is a dust collector. The normal half inch residential stuff is susceptible to damage; as Steve writes in an earlier post:

There is also the issue of the acoustic privacy that we have all come to expect. Steve doesn't think this is a big deal, but when I designed my drywall-free summer cottage I cheated in the master bedroom and put drywall behind the plywood in the wall separating us from the kid's room. Noise just went around it anyways.

Steve also makes the point that drywall often hides useful space.

There are so many options that can work better than drywall, last longer, are more durable and are in the long term, healthier. (OSB board might not be the best example).

There are a lot of reasons to look at other materials than drywall for our walls. Cedar is often used because it is hypo-allergenic. Wood walls have a warmth that you just don't get from drywall. As Steve notes, "You can hang a picture, attach a peg, hang a cabinet or a shelf, and never have to worry about whether it's solidly attached."

Toronto architect Martin Liefhebber never uses drywall. He doesn't think it is healthy or green; the little hairs of paper fibre make it impossible to get a smooth finish. When he is not using stone or wood, he uses real plaster on lath.

Between Steve's points about durability and Martin's about health, perhaps it is time to rethink drywall's place in green building.

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