Drywall Alternatives

The search for drywall alternatives to replace the conventionally constructed interior walls and room partitions in most homes and offices is gradually moving the trend towards the preferred flexibility, affordability and sustainability of the movable room divider wall.

We deliver some great alternatives to the conventional, commercial interior dry construction of walls and partitions, or simply the gypsum walls, as an easy means to be flexible in constructing a wall or room partition that's more efficient in terms of time- and cost-effectiveness both in installation and from use to reuse. Modular walls can provide you with a strong reuse strategy that will not only save you time and money, but will also reduce landfill waste, making it an Eco-friendly, sustainable product that helps create the perfect environment, both inside your office or home, and outside in the open Nature.

Today, there are many challenges to be tackled when one is on the look for delivering an interior removable and reusable floor-to-ceiling wall solution, which can also adhere to the existing design and build. The biggest challenge is to deliver a movable interior wall that is also affordable. With the use of space compression, some open-plan offices require confidentiality and practical wall separator for separation of spaces within a generally open interior, and the existing approaches of utilizing gypsum or constructed sidewalls are less and less able to support the challenges that office managers confront when the reality demands a flexibility for change and adaptation to the dynamic needs of the modern office environment. The idea to invest in demountable and movable wall solutions seems to be beneficial for both the industry and different businesses, as part of their space and cost optimization that can bring even further growth potential.

Now, let us look a little more into the history and the traditional uses of Drywall.

Drywall, also known as Sheetrock, plasterboard or gypsum wallboard, is today considered to be king, although it hasn't always been one. Developed by USG (US Gypsum Company) in the distant year of 1916, this fairly simple invention uses a mixture of raw gypsum, water and other additives which was pressed between heavy paper under pressure and heat up to 500 degrees F. At first called “Sackett Board”, this innovative gypsum board started as small tiles, to later evolve into the familiar 4' by 8' sheets we know today, partly due to the emerging need for quick and inexpensive construction materials that could balance labor shortage and war costs as America's involvement in WW2 began to intensify.

Prior to drywall, lath and plaster were the main choices for separation walls for rooms, probably for hundreds of years. Thousands of thin wooden strips (laths) would be covered with lime, gypsum or in some cases even cement, often in multiple coats, which is a very labor and skill intensive work, and each layer needed to dry before applying successive layers on top, which is also very time-consuming.

With drywall, called so because it is ready-dried in the factory, speeds up things incredibly, reducing the time to finish a wall by 90%, as compared to lath and plaster. Then came the ease of use and the standardization of sheets dimensions, which made it one of the most widely used building materials today, taking 97% of all homes in North America that rely on drywall.

Now, in terms of drywall's impact on the planet and your health, there a some perspectives that look a bit differently from one another. Being produced out of basic, mostly inert materials, drywall is generally a benign product. There are some impacts associated with mining gypsum, transportation and manufacture, and last but not least important – its disposal. Mining everything is inherently disruptive to the planet and wildlife habitat, and there are hundreds of thousands of miles which a great number of heavy vehicles pass through from mine to manufacturing plant to building sites. However, the biggest impact still remains the manufacturing itself – crushing and milling, blending, paper making, pressing, heating and cutting – to account for nearly 80% of all the energy that's being used to get the drywall sheets to your home.

And let's not forget about waste – up to 20% of drywall is discarded after being cut and fitted during installation, which makes up to 36% of the total waste from new construction, or about 3,000 lbs of waste per one residential home. Now multiply that by the number of homes and your head will spin.

From a human health perspective, the things you need to watch for are the very fine dust created by cutting and sanding the joints, which irritates the lungs and could lead to significant health problems when inhaled. The “mud”, which is the compound used to mask joints, can usually contain formaldehyde and aldehyde, as well as biocides and fungicides to retard the growth of bacteria and mold and increase shelf life. Drywall is biologically active, so failure to control indoor humidity can result in mold becoming a problem and a real heath concern.

Let us ask ourselves this: is drywall the only room partition wall covering? Although an easier material to work with than its predecessors, it still requires a skilled hand to get right, more so in the finishing stages. And once installed, drywall is rather fragile, it can be easily damaged by applying force and moisture, which can completely ruin it or make it a breeding ground for mold and bacteria.

Now, let's talk some specific alternatives – some of the main previously traditional alternatives to drywall used until recently were traditional plaster, veneer plaster, wood paneling and fiberglass reinforced panels (FRP). Although some of those have a few advantages over drywall, most of which are purely aesthetic, they tend to be more expensive and labor-intensive to construct, and they still keep some of the drawbacks of drywall, particularly the lack of flexibility and inability to demount and move around.

This is where modular walls step into the arena. These walls install quickly and require no construction whatsoever. They save time, space and money, and if you need to change your office's or room layout, you just move the panels and take them wherever you want. Unmount and re-install in any desired configuration. The panels of the movable wall systems are prefabricated and shipped directly to your front door, ready to install, 30-50% faster than any other conventional construction, with no cutting, sanding, mudding or taping.

Flexible and reusable, modular walls can be applied in offices, and residential homes, to industrial buildings, allowing you to reconfigure your space or just demount and store the panels for future reuse, instead of just throwing them to waste. They provide excellent acoustic insulation, even in noisy industrial areas, where drywall can't provide enough privacy and quietness so employees can focus more on their work.

The return on investment is reported from businesses in as little as three years after the installation of modular walls, and if you happen to move your business, moving the walls just once returns a full ROI.

Designed and built with sustainability in mind, reducing construction materials, waste and carbon footprint to minimum, most modular wall panels have nearly 100% recyclability.

So, in conclusion – for true flexibility, reasonable and returning investment, uncompromising aesthetics and sustainable design, a removable wall is the new king for the spaces of today and tomorrow, for changing and evolving businesses and cultures.