My son and I are milling up a bunch of 120-foot pine trees that were too close to his house, so we took them down. We are milling them to true 2x dimensional lumber. Everything is 2" thick by whatever width we need for our lumber list. The loblolly pines don't have any lower branches so most of what we are milling is clear, knot-free lumber. It makes what we usually buy at the lumber yard look like children's Lincoln Logs.
I think a lot of the reuse you see in houses built during or around the war was related to rationing. Even after the war ended, it was hard to get materials so things needed to be reused. As a result carpenters from that period were very skilled in not wasting anything.
My house built in Western Canada in 1951 had similar gypsum boards called Gyprock Rocklath. Basically, they were 16" x 48" lath boards to which plasterers would apply a brown coat of mortar sometimes with horse hair. Then they would go on with their white plaster top coat. All corners were expanded metal embedded into the brown coat, real tough construction, difficult to pull it out during demo.
I've seen the same on a few late-forties & early-to-mid fifties houses. The house I grew up in had 3/8 " ship-lap, gypsum lathe, brown coat & plaster. I'm pretty sure it would stop bullets. We needed a 40-ounce hammer & concrete chisels to make a new hole in for a plug-in. Ship-lap got used a lot in farming & CPR buildings, apparently.
Same as my 54 house in metro Detroit gyprock lath throu out the house. Then a full float coat of plaster the depth of plaster was anywhere from 3/8 to over a 1 inch to smooth out the walls.
Oh my gosh does this bring back memories. My parents house was built around that time and I would drive myself crazy trying to find studs behind the walls.😅
My 1964 house has a very similar construction. 16" wide, running horizontally, but is 8' long, 1/2" wide and has a full 1/2" of plaster over. My walls are just a bit over 1 1/8" with a dozen layers of paint. If I want to hang something on the wall, just put a nail in it. No drywall anchors needed!
I believe that substrate was rock lath. Sometimes called button board if it had holes in it. It’s purpose was to expedite the lathing of a house for wet plaster. After the war, to save time and money, it was determined that larger sheets could be used to cover the walls and become the final surface and was then dubbed “drywall”. This was the beginning of building large numbers of homes for returning solders. Trac homes, Ranch style homes, prefabricated and precut homes were all the rage. The era of “They don’t build them like they use to” was the beginning of the housing revolution that crossed America and continues to this day.
The board is called "rock lath" ... we had it in our 1957 brick single story in the Chicago suburbs. We also had wire mesh over the rock lath in the corners to prevent cracking which was called "Corner-Rite" ... because of the thickness of the lath + plaster we had to order doors with larger jambs.
Heads up about rock lath with wire. The cementitious middle with the lath has 1-5% asbestos. What a nightmare that stuff is. Can’t even put a new receptacle in without the asbestos abatement crew.
@@guyrandom7861at least that's not a huge amount. I don't know if all brown coats have asbestos, since sometimes they would use horse hair. Either way, I've torn out an entire house worth of the stuff, wish me the best.
My old house had those kind of interior walls with the gypsum & plaster. They were a bit rough in texture but super tough! No kid could kick or punch a hole through that like modern drywall.
That interior wall board was called "plaster rock." It was an early version of drywall that wasn't paper-taped at seams but was entirely plastered over on the finished side. Taping seams and plastering over the taped seams came some years later.
Taping drywall didn't become common until the early 60's. I've been told that the kit houses that people would buy out of the Sears and Roebuck catalog actually was the start of modern drywall and drywall finishing methods.
@@allenwilliams6882 RockLath is correct and actually the brand name, just like Sheetrock is a brand of gypsum wall board. Sometime in the late 40's they stopped "brown coating" and just got two white coats. It's still used but the "lath" sheets are now 4x8 and larger.
I had an old house built in 1940 and ran into that same gypsum board during some renovation. An older gentleman from the neighborhood said they called that stuff button board. It was one of the "innovations" that allowed them to build fast affordable houses for men returning from the war wanting to start a family.
Interesting. i've never heard it called button board. I have a 1940 house which was built for a manager of the Westinghouse Electric Brake company in Pennsylvania. Our house is built with the same method. Its a bitch to cut as it makes a huge mess, but the Diablo carbide tip recip blades cut it like butter.
There was plywood in the 1940s and earlier, however plywood was usually more expensive than solid boards, so it wasn't used for economy. Also adhesive technology was primitive compared to now, so gluing the plies was not as effective as today. In older houses the cabinetry panels were often made from solid milled panels in places you might use plywood today. Plywood was used in high end furniture as early as the 18th century, with the exposed layer being a highly decorative wood vannier. In 1941 when the house you show was built, WW2 had not come to the United States. The USA was still recovering from the Great Depression and labor and materials, especially lumber was inexpensive. The problem was having enough money to build a house. Houses built during the depression in expensive neighborhoods that I have seen, had very high build values.
That early gypsum board is very prevalent in the St. Louis area. I find it in houses built between the war and the early 60’s. The postwar housing boom hit this area like a wildfire, so I can actually see how the building materials changed through the 20th century, and more specifically, how much it evolved in the 50’s. It’s interesting to see early 4x8 dimensional plywood installed next to 16” drywall sheets, and all sealed in with tar and tar paper!
All of those trades people and the homeowner grew up during the Great Depression (nothing got wasted ).You go to a construction site nowadays you could just about build half a house with what’s in the dumpsters.
Yep I ran into sort of the same situation earlier this year, but in a 1951 ranch home I was rewiring on a side job and specifically the way the 3 way switches were wired. All the wiring was the 2 wire ungrounded cloth NM, not a single piece of 3 wire NM. The power from the fuse panel ran to the light, a 2 wire NM ran down to each 3 way switch, and a single rubber insulated wire ran from the common of each 3 way to the lamp socket, the travellers were hot and neutral and fed receptacles off of both switches. The light is ON if it gets a hot and neutral, correct polarity or not, and turns OFF when it gets two neutrals or two hots. This screwy 3 way circuit is known as a Carter or Chicago 3 way and was actually banned in the NEC in 1923, but was used for many years afterwards into at least the '60s because it saves a wire, on farms to control a yardlight from the house and outbuilding which could be on different circuits, they'd run one wire from the house and the other from the outbuilding to the light, if the circuits are not on the same phase (L1 or L2) in the panels the yardlight would get 240 volts on one of the 4 switch positions, so one of many nicknames for this dangerous and illegal 3 way is farmers 3 way, barnyard 3 way, power beyond 3 way, among several others.
I bought a 1904 reno house and its built like a tank. Actual 2x4 and 2x6 wall construction and When i replaced the windows the entire exterior has Doubled up 1x6 or 1x8 sheathing. Also somewhere along the road, before the previous people did new aluminum siding they blew in cellulose in every single wall. My heating costs in our Canadian winters are nearly half of what my friends are with even newer homes. Its pretty crazy how efficient this old place is.
What a beautifully done ua-cam.com/users/postUgkxYGamVaHfdHiPlAQaLa7zkwR02OKpGYDU ! The instructions and the photographs are brilliant. It is thorough and genuinely informative. Ryan got another winner! No one does it better!
There is a plasterer's union video on UA-cam from the 50s showing the installation of gypsum board lathe at a pace that rivals modern drywallers. With just a hammer, hand, and mouth they were nailing at 1 per second
I'm currently renovating an 1882 house. In similar condition. What is the plan for insulation for that house. I ended up using a 1/2in dimple board and close cell spray foam
I'm super interested in this as well. I've seen that you could potentially insulate with closed cell all the way up to the back of the brick veneer, but I'm a bit chicken about it, so I was thinking of using dimple board and closed cell OR mineral wool to get more drying action. It's a tough decision. Why did you decide on your system? What's your location? I'm in Boston.
I've got the same board and plaster system in my 1951 California ranch home too. Fortunately didn't have any asbestos, but apparently that was pretty common with the era of building here.
The wall is called Rocklath (brand name). Its actually the best of both worlds. Its hand applied plaster over gysum but relatively easy to cut for remodeling, unlike lath. My kids have gone flying into these walls at full speed and not a dent in site. They will crack if the frame sags. You see it over windows or archways. A good painter can make the cracks disappear.
I have said the same thing as Wade did about the tub weight on the structure. I also talked about the extra weight of the cast iron pipe typically hanging on the floor joists that are also notched so badly by the plumber.
I own a Dutch colonial that was built in 1905. Plaster and lathe construction. Foundation is made of stones, not block or concrete. Had the old porcelain electrical stand offs in the basement in places. Had to keep the historical 6 over 1 windows when we had them replaced. Let me know if you ever want to come to CT.
This was very interesting to see how they built thing back in the day. My house was built in 1947 and the person that built the house actually used old Army Ammo boxes as the sub floor. I remember doing a complete gut remodel in April of 2004 and seeing all the writing on the boards as I was pulling them up.
I ran across similar remodeling my mom's house. 1940s. The same United States Gypsum and lath over top, the T&G and the 2x3s on interior walls. Exterior walls were filled with newspaper, which was cool. The braided copper wire for electrical. It was quite the difference from today's standards. Its fun to me to see 'This old house' uncovered and renovated. Thanks for doing what you're doing Matt!
I have a 40's house with that same board and plaster, it cracks easy and is terrible for wifi cause it's so thick. Would love to see more on this remodel of mixing old with new building methods and not causing unforseen problems (like you mentioned with the bad air tightness actually keeping the framing dry.)
1927 built home in Uptown New Orleans near Tulane, same gypsum boards, with plaster, and 2 x 3 studs for all interior walls. Floor sills 4 x 6 with 6 x 6 downstairs posts for second floor load bearing floor joists. 100% old growth longleaf pine.
I used to as a hobby renovate large homes on Miami Beach Built in the 1930's and know that labor was cheaper then it is today as a component of total build cost. I would see pieces of lumber (scrape really) put together and used in doorway framing window bucs and wherever else doubled lumber was needed so that I still believe that only one or two wheel barrows of scrap were sent to dump for the whole home. Sub-flooring was always 4"-6" dado edged planking with a 1/4" gap set at a 45 degrees diagonally and a single nail in each subfloor plank to the floor joist allowing ingeniously for each seperate board to move andd not push on adjacent plank while providing for a continous vapor barrier, finished wood floors were 2 1/4" or narrower nailed in standard manner to sub floor creating a air tight barrier under the finished flooring eliminating cupping and almost no movement in our high humidity environment. Ray Stormont
My house is built following these techniques. I love how solid the “drywall” is. About an inch of effectively concrete. You are not going to dent it if you rock a chair into it. It sounds like this one has a cast foundation. Mine has a block foundation. Not nearly as strong as a cast foundation but I was and am able to repair my foundation relatively easily. Insulation would be nice but no real complaints otherwise.
We had a 1939 house in eastern Iowa with those strips of drywall instead of lath. Had all the joys of cracking plaster whenever you tried to drill or cut a hole and the problem of not having anything solid behind it to anchor a screw into. Very glad that idea went away because it was terrible to work on afterwards.
What you guys are describing is a typical pre war house. In California homes up until late 30s had 2x3 non bearing walls, rough dimension wood, wood lath etc. The old growth wood would vary on width, but were milled to dimension on height. 16 on center was always used because the wood lath strips were provided at 4 foot lengths. Everything changed after the war, though. Wood lath disappeared, knob and tube wiring was out, and lumber became smooth surfaced and smaller to squeeze more out of a log. I guess the tree farms were kicking in by then
I have 1/2" gypsum lath panels (black paper facing on inside surface??) on the outside of the 3-1/2" 2x4 walls of our 1956 Cal Ranch house in the SF Bay Area. About half of these walls were finished with 5/8" 2-coat stucco and the other half were overlain with 3/4" cedar plank siding nailed through the gypsum lath into the studs (no air gap between lath and siding). Floors are pier and beam with 4' x 6' pier spacing over vented (dry) crawl space. 1"x6" T&G is overlain by 1" plywood with oak flooring over that. No signs of dry rot but a few indications of past subterranean termite incursions. 4/12 hip roof.
While demolishing the interior of a house in 2003, I discovered full sheets of 3/8" thick drywall,yes 4' x 8' sheets, with 3 patant dates on them. 1910, 1911, and 1912, all made in Delaware. I donated pieces to our local museum.
Awesome video. My home is a 1951 and has nearly all the same construction characteristics. Really cool to see all the same things I found during updates and renovations over time.
I have come across Gibraltar Board from the early 1900s in NZ that was 8x3 footsies (for 18" stud spacings) and 1/4" thick. And 2x3" framing for non-load bearing internal walls was very common here until very recently, and is still allowed.
I worm primarily on homes built before the ‘40s in San Francisco, some as old as 18th century. It’s great to see all that old stuff. Demo is like an archeological expedition, especially in the old Victorians with the square nails and odd hardware. And FULL SAWN OLD GROWTH Douglas fit and redwood. My god, you can’t get that for love or money now. I keep it and repurpose it for cabinets, furniture and other finish projects. It’s just gorgeous. I have about a thousand board feet saved up, mostly old studs and joists, minimum value $6 per board foot but I’ve got 2 old growth redwood beams 16”x16” that are 12’ long and worth thousands on their own. As for other historical finds, I had a good one on a Victorian remodel of living space off the basement. The inspector thought we were exceeding our permit or that the room was not permitted or otherwise not original. I told him what he was looking at was original even if it wasn’t on record he started arguing. He was about to shut me down when I showed him a corner that was in the process of being opened up. It showed all the layers of construction from various eras. The bottom layer was horse-hair reinforced plaster covered by paisley wallpaper. He found that to be sufficient evidence that the room was original and left me to my work.
I have a 100+ year old New England house with full dimension rough cut 2x4s, but they are consistently 16 inches on center. And the walls are horse hair plaster. Some of the interior non-load bearing walls are also 2x3s.
btw cast iron bathtub breaks and shatters fairly easy with a hammer into small easy so handle pieces then carried out with buckets or wheelbarrow.. in case someone comes across one can save a bunch of noise dust smoke and crane
I'm in a 1950's home. Identical reuse of foundation lumber to flooring. Joists are 12" on center in areas. 8" deep. Love my house super stout. Some joists span 16"
This was fun commentary to listen to. My 1892 house had an addition done in 1942, and I am doing some water damage repair and finding a lot of this reused wood in the attic under the roof decking, tongue and groove boards, weird inconsistent spacing between rafters, studs, gypsum boards under plaster, tar paper, scary water damaged and notched joists under a cast iron tub 😂
Our '38 house has 3/4" tongue and groove boards everywhere (all walls, all ceilings) and full 2X framing. What they did for the walls and ceilings was add a cardboard-like board to the surface and then wallpaper on top of that. Wallpapered ceilings, closets, everything.
My girlfriend inherited her great grandmother's home and it's exactly the same. No insulation, old gypsum board with a ton of plaster, leaky windows, and 2x3 interior framing with salvaged building materials. It's been a hard one to remodel with "old home physics" vs modern home physics lol.
I considered purchasing a late-Victorian house once. Building materials would have been brought to the site by horse and wagon. In the cellar you could match the grain patterns of individual floor joists to where they had been used as form boards for the foundation.
The so called gypsum board is exactly that. It is a gypsum product called (rock lath ). It replaced the wood lath that had been used prior to the gypsum product being used. It is 16” x48” in size, and was/is applied with blue nails very similar to dry wall nails. The plaster was applied in 2 separate coats, a base coat of a gypsum based material that was mixed with sand was first applied. After drying, the base coat was then covered with a finish coat of soaked lime mixed with a hardener called gauging plaster, which is similar to plaster of paris. The finish coat was trowled to a smooth finish.
Doing a kitchen remodel now with a house from the late 60''s, and the gysum/plaster walls are there (throughout the neighborhood - from talking to neighbors). Very solid wall!.
That house is a rough example of 1940’s framing. 16” on center framing with actual 2”x 4” studs was used for plaster and lath in the 1800’s. Usually board sheathing was a lot tighter than what is shown here as well. The strength of old growth wood with 1” board subfloor is proven stronger by that tub floor debacle.
Our 1940-41 house has plaster spread over some kind of concrete lath board with round holes in it, maybe 3/4 inch diameter. In the ceilings we can see that sheets of the stuff were 2' x 4' and have sagged just a tiny bit in the middle--enough to see, not enough to crack the plaster. Almost all of 1941 was before the US was in the war; maybe there were already lumber shortages, but maybe the thrifty reuse of boards was a Depression habit. But then, the 1920 house I grew up in had a couple of studs in the kitchen that had been pieced together out of short pieces of lumber.
I've seen perforated gypsum lath. Typically 16 x 48. staggered layout. looked like a big domino. Surprised no brick infill between studs in exterior walls. But that pretty much ended in the mid to late thirties. Only in this case just above the mudsill up to the floor. I see its a hybrid between western platform framing and balloon framing. Probably because it was more of a cape than a two story colonial. Common sense says the the floor joists that were T & G were laid groove up to land the board subfloor. Ive seen alot over my 48 years in the industry. I have always loved the challenge of working on very old homes and guessing its build date by the change in building materials over the decades.
Working on a 1948 ranch home and it has rock lath ( friend from California calls it button board ) using Gutster demo bars we are able to pry the rock lath off in fairly large pieces. All corners have wire mesh embedded, use an angle grinder ( face shield, respirator , ear protection ) to clean up joints that will intersect with new wall board. Pry carefully and move along the wall and you can remove large sections of the rock lath.
My house was built in 1950 and the wall board makeup is the same. 1/2" drywall + 3/8" to 3/4" mud coat. It is a pain to add anything to the walls. Guaranteed to spall and anything substantial needs structure which means either tearing out bay to bay to add blocking or concrete anchoring into an exterior masonry wall.
get yourself a makita angle grinder with masonry shroud (and vac attachment) and use a masonry wheel. Cuts perfect lines into the finished walls. You will destroy any kind of toothed blade. This completely changed the game for me with my remodel projects.
My 1904 house in St Paul, and now my 1906 4 unit two story apartment both had 16” on center framing and board sheathing for walls and floors so it wasn’t sheet goods that led to that layout
all hand tools then gents no modern stuff square edges mattered very little, my home had a sail floor in the 40's wood was scarce everything used for war time, wood slats on the walls and plaster of Paris over made a nice smooth wall for papering
I had the exact same "drywall" sheets in a post war home in Vancouver BC. That stuff was tough!! But I suspect that it contained a fair bit of asbestus.......
the floor joists in my house were from a previous building and they also used them as concrete forms building the house. All the framing, flooring and sheathing were also used
If client is willing to pay costs: can you add Zip r9 sheathing over the exterior as is to get air - water seal? And some structural reinforcement? Then 2” min of spray in foam? Why the LDL for sisters when a standard 2x8 could be less expensive?
My house (1930s) has similar proto drywall. Gypsum board on the back and plaster on the front. Makes for a good time with old work boxes as they aren't intended to pinch that much wall
My house was built in 1957 & it has the same wall system with the 3/8ths wallboard & extra think paster skim coat. It's a nice system if it was installed correctly, but not a lot of fun if you're integrating modern drywall during a remodel.
My uncle was a builder after he returned home from Vietnam built his house with rocklath and plaster but he installed electric heat strips in the plaster. I don't know much about it but his house (Pennsylvania) was always warm in the winter.
Reminds me of a cape cod style house I used to own, built Circa 1877, with rough cut lumber, lathe and plaster, field stone foundation. It was challenging running all new electric and plumbing because the wood seemed petrified. It was difficult to drive nails and staples without them bending. I found old newspapers in the basement and wood chips in exterior walls being used as insulation!! Love your channel, I've learned a lot, Thanks.
I actually found no kind of insulation in my house. All I found was mouse nests and wasp nests in a few spots. Heating up my house sucks in the winter months.
Since this house was built in 1941, which was the start of WW2, don’t you think that whoever built this house was rationing wood, so they used every thing? My house was built in 1947 and has that 16 inch wide gypsum board. Because when I remodeled my bathroom, had to rip out a bunch of that gypsum board. And it was heavy!!
My house was built in the 20s which was a major boom time, and still they used the scraps. I think back then things were just much more of a pain than today when you ran out of wood. You could not just ring up the lumber yard and have a truck deliver the next day.
I installed those 16"x48" called rocklath in my parents house in 1970. I was 13yo. They then put a 1/2" coat of brown plaster followed by a white skim coat for plastered walls.
Yes; narrow Gypsum board with plaster; my house built in 1941 has that. It also was apparently finished pre-US-entry-into-WWII, because the bathroom tiles were made of metal (!).
I've remodeled two houses built in 1934. Ceiling joists made no sense structurally. Every room the joists run which ever direction is the shortest. So a 9 x 11 will have them running the 9 foot direction, regardless of roof structure. So the roof joists may be running N/S, but ceiling joists are running E-W. So nothing tied it together. My roof sagged severely. Had to build a knee wall with a LVL beam to support the roof. Wall studs measured anything from 1 1/2 x 3 1/2 to full 2 x 4. All was used wood, as was woodwork and doors.
Helped my dad remodel our entire house growing up. 1920 build in Wyoming. Lath and plaster is nasty stuff to demo. The build quality of older homes is way beyond the homes today. Currently in a 1955 ranch which I’ve completely remodeled, never know what you’re going to find in older homes.
Exact same “drywall” in my 1945 house. When I cut the walls it looks like two layers. They seemed to be about 18 inch tall and I could see this weird brick block pattern at the right angles when the light hit. The plaster must have shrunk at all the joints. I had to skim coat my entire house. At first glance I thought it was paint roller lines because it was hard to tell. I’m 1945 they wanted to get things done. No 3rd coat (or maybe 2nd!).
My thoughts are if you are adding onto a ready built then it becomes no longer ready removable. This happened in Alabama but same concept. A friend had a roof made of heavy beams over concrete to park his camper under. The tax accessor came out and said he had built a new building (mind you no walls just a roof). So he asked the assessor what defines a building. The assessor defined it as any permanent structure affixed to the earth. So he said wait here. Walked over to the shed and pulled out a chainsaw then proceeded to cut the beams off a couple inches from the concrete. He said there it's not permanent any more as it is not affixed to the earth. The assessor marked it as a shed.
i see that weird gypsum plaster all the time in old houses in the inland empire. there was a huge housing boom when norton airforce base was built and those have that more button board style with the plaster oozing through the backside but the real old houses in like say redlands look just like this
I have a 1942 built house outside of a big Navy base, and it was built like this one. Reused wood from the concrete basement forms for exterior sheathing like the subfloor here. I also have those plaster over gypsum interior walls as well. I looked it up once, and it was common in the 40s, it bridges the gab between sheet gypsum drywall and old school plaster & lath. There was a colloquial name for it, but I can't remember what it was. I also have steel galvanized pipes for plumbing, too, both for potable water supply and drain venting. Someone replaced the solid waste lines with PVC in the past. I'm going to eventually go all PEX for potable water and PVC for waste.
LOL at 6:39 that is my entire house construction. I have a 1940 house and the walls are all 3/8 thick gypsum with anywhere from 1/2 to 3/4" thick plaster coat over it. Not sure what they coated the gypsum boards with, but its not paper. It almost seems ceramic in nature. I love my old house. I have some studs spaced 22" OC some, 10" and others as much as 29". Its wild how they built this beauts back in the day.
I’m sure the inconsistencies are challenging to a remodeler, but let’s be honest, 12-16” on center don’t matter especially on a non load bearing wall, especially if covered by random length planks. That being said, if I could mill my own lumber, I’d mill actual 2 by’s and would use consistent 12”, 16”, 24” spacing where appropriate on my own construction. Do lust after LVL’s when I see them, though.
I did a lot of interior house plastering back in the 70s. The lathe boards were sold in bundles of 6 pieces that measured 16"'x48'" each, giving you the same square foot coverage as a sheet of 4'x8' sheetrock. The holes were "keyholes". When you applied the base coat of plaster, some of the plaster would go into the holes and then slump down an inch or so. When that base coat dried, it was held firmly in place by the slumped plaster keys. So much has changed in the plastering world since then; I'm glad I got to experience that particular phase of it before it became history.
@@Firedog-ny3cqyeah that's the way lath and plaster works too, with the keys. But I don't like it, debonding is common and I believe drywall is better.
@@vapeurdepisse they’re definitely out there, just not as prevalent as people think. I think it depends more on the region. I know a lot really old houses have them. Pre civil war homes.
1923 house here, studs are 1 3/4" thick. 2x8 floor joists measure 1 3/4 x 7 3/4, old growth lumber. Garage was framed up using recycled wall studs from some older structure...those were actually 2"x4". Standardization of 2x material sizes across the country didn't happen until after WW2
Those herringbone struts add a lot of strength and rigidity to floor joists. Tar paper can last forever if it’s protected. The joinery probably has sill trays for good drainage. Nice to see the old ways. 👍🏻
You should see what a bridge building contractor built in 1939 as a mansion for his wife. I restored his building lovingly with it's formed concrete rafters and rebar reinforced arches. If I never see a hammer drill it will be too soon.
I once owned a house built in 1948. Same gypsum board and plaster. I gutted the entire house. Must have hauled out tons of the stuff. It also had funky spacing on framing and clearly repurposed material.
My son and I are milling up a bunch of 120-foot pine trees that were too close to his house, so we took them down. We are milling them to true 2x dimensional lumber. Everything is 2" thick by whatever width we need for our lumber list. The loblolly pines don't have any lower branches so most of what we are milling is clear, knot-free lumber. It makes what we usually buy at the lumber yard look like children's Lincoln Logs.
pretty sure the pre-1990 Lincoln Logs are all made from old growth lumber too lol
Well, Whoopdie Doo!!!!
2” doesn’t add much structural rigidity. 2” is just wasting good lumber. 1 1/2” is almost the same.
@ginaparker-langley yes, not sure what your point is though. Are you drunk again.
@xploration1437 Idk man. You hold a true 2x4 against what you're buying off the shelf now, it's not even close
I think a lot of the reuse you see in houses built during or around the war was related to rationing. Even after the war ended, it was hard to get materials so things needed to be reused. As a result carpenters from that period were very skilled in not wasting anything.
During rationing the majority of jurisdictions had a freeze on residential building permits
It’s still common practice today to see concrete forms (plywood) used to sheet roofs. A little concrete residue doesn’t hurt anything.
It hurts my feelings.
but feelings dont matter@@AZ-kr6ff
My house built in Western Canada in 1951 had similar gypsum boards called Gyprock Rocklath. Basically, they were 16" x 48" lath boards to which plasterers would apply a brown coat of mortar sometimes with horse hair. Then they would go on with their white plaster top coat. All corners were expanded metal embedded into the brown coat, real tough construction, difficult to pull it out during demo.
I've seen the same on a few late-forties & early-to-mid fifties houses. The house I grew up in had 3/8 " ship-lap, gypsum lathe, brown coat & plaster. I'm pretty sure it would stop bullets. We needed a 40-ounce hammer & concrete chisels to make a new hole in for a plug-in. Ship-lap got used a lot in farming & CPR buildings, apparently.
Same as my 54 house in metro Detroit gyprock lath throu out the house. Then a full float coat of plaster the depth of plaster was anywhere from 3/8 to over a 1 inch to smooth out the walls.
Oh my gosh does this bring back memories. My parents house was built around that time and I would drive myself crazy trying to find studs behind the walls.😅
My 1943 house used something called “ dry lath “. Norm Abram told me about it.
Norm himself? That’s a flex :)
My 1964 house has a very similar construction. 16" wide, running horizontally, but is 8' long, 1/2" wide and has a full 1/2" of plaster over. My walls are just a bit over 1 1/8" with a dozen layers of paint. If I want to hang something on the wall, just put a nail in it. No drywall anchors needed!
I believe that substrate was rock lath. Sometimes called button board if it had holes in it. It’s purpose was to expedite the lathing of a house for wet plaster. After the war, to save time and money, it was determined that larger sheets could be used to cover the walls and become the final surface and was then dubbed “drywall”. This was the beginning of building large numbers of homes for returning solders. Trac homes, Ranch style homes, prefabricated and precut homes were all the rage. The era of “They don’t build them like they use to” was the beginning of the housing revolution that crossed America and continues to this day.
The board is called "rock lath" ... we had it in our 1957 brick single story in the Chicago suburbs. We also had wire mesh over the rock lath in the corners to prevent cracking which was called "Corner-Rite" ... because of the thickness of the lath + plaster we had to order doors with larger jambs.
Heads up about rock lath with wire. The cementitious middle with the lath has 1-5% asbestos.
What a nightmare that stuff is. Can’t even put a new receptacle in without the asbestos abatement crew.
@@guyrandom7861at least that's not a huge amount. I don't know if all brown coats have asbestos, since sometimes they would use horse hair. Either way, I've torn out an entire house worth of the stuff, wish me the best.
My old house had those kind of interior walls with the gypsum & plaster. They were a bit rough in texture but super tough! No kid could kick or punch a hole through that like modern drywall.
That interior wall board was called "plaster rock." It was an early version of drywall that wasn't paper-taped at seams but was entirely plastered over on the finished side. Taping seams and plastering over the taped seams came some years later.
Ya, I have two townhouses built in 1954 that use the same "plaster rock". Driving a picture hanging nail in the wall is almost impossible.
Rock lath is the term I was taught, still used in northern Minnesota in the early 60's. Ben in the building industry for 60 years.
Ours was also by United States Gypsum (USG)
Taping drywall didn't become common until the early 60's. I've been told that the kit houses that people would buy out of the Sears and Roebuck catalog actually was the start of modern drywall and drywall finishing methods.
@@allenwilliams6882 RockLath is correct and actually the brand name, just like Sheetrock is a brand of gypsum wall board. Sometime in the late 40's they stopped "brown coating" and just got two white coats. It's still used but the "lath" sheets are now 4x8 and larger.
I had an old house built in 1940 and ran into that same gypsum board during some renovation. An older gentleman from the neighborhood said they called that stuff button board. It was one of the "innovations" that allowed them to build fast affordable houses for men returning from the war wanting to start a family.
Interesting. i've never heard it called button board. I have a 1940 house which was built for a manager of the Westinghouse Electric Brake company in Pennsylvania. Our house is built with the same method. Its a bitch to cut as it makes a huge mess, but the Diablo carbide tip recip blades cut it like butter.
Does button board refer to the variety with circular holes for the plaster scratch coat to "key" into?
There was plywood in the 1940s and earlier, however plywood was usually more expensive than solid boards, so it wasn't used for economy. Also adhesive technology was primitive compared to now, so gluing the plies was not as effective as today. In older houses the cabinetry panels were often made from solid milled panels in places you might use plywood today. Plywood was used in high end furniture as early as the 18th century, with the exposed layer being a highly decorative wood vannier.
In 1941 when the house you show was built, WW2 had not come to the United States. The USA was still recovering from the Great Depression and labor and materials, especially lumber was inexpensive. The problem was having enough money to build a house. Houses built during the depression in expensive neighborhoods that I have seen, had very high build values.
My house was built in 42 and even then it probably isn’t a “wartime house” since it was mostly constructed pre-war.
That early gypsum board is very prevalent in the St. Louis area. I find it in houses built between the war and the early 60’s. The postwar housing boom hit this area like a wildfire, so I can actually see how the building materials changed through the 20th century, and more specifically, how much it evolved in the 50’s. It’s interesting to see early 4x8 dimensional plywood installed next to 16” drywall sheets, and all sealed in with tar and tar paper!
Rocklath
All of those trades people and the homeowner grew up during the Great Depression (nothing got wasted ).You go to a construction site nowadays you could just about build half a house with what’s in the dumpsters.
Yep I ran into sort of the same situation earlier this year, but in a 1951 ranch home I was rewiring on a side job and specifically the way the 3 way switches were wired. All the wiring was the 2 wire ungrounded cloth NM, not a single piece of 3 wire NM. The power from the fuse panel ran to the light, a 2 wire NM ran down to each 3 way switch, and a single rubber insulated wire ran from the common of each 3 way to the lamp socket, the travellers were hot and neutral and fed receptacles off of both switches. The light is ON if it gets a hot and neutral, correct polarity or not, and turns OFF when it gets two neutrals or two hots. This screwy 3 way circuit is known as a Carter or Chicago 3 way and was actually banned in the NEC in 1923, but was used for many years afterwards into at least the '60s because it saves a wire, on farms to control a yardlight from the house and outbuilding which could be on different circuits, they'd run one wire from the house and the other from the outbuilding to the light, if the circuits are not on the same phase (L1 or L2) in the panels the yardlight would get 240 volts on one of the 4 switch positions, so one of many nicknames for this dangerous and illegal 3 way is farmers 3 way, barnyard 3 way, power beyond 3 way, among several others.
I bought a 1904 reno house and its built like a tank. Actual 2x4 and 2x6 wall construction and When i replaced the windows the entire exterior has Doubled up 1x6 or 1x8 sheathing.
Also somewhere along the road, before the previous people did new aluminum siding they blew in cellulose in every single wall.
My heating costs in our Canadian winters are nearly half of what my friends are with even newer homes. Its pretty crazy how efficient this old place is.
@ginaparker-langley it's packed tighter then a nun in the bays I had cut open.
What a beautifully done ua-cam.com/users/postUgkxYGamVaHfdHiPlAQaLa7zkwR02OKpGYDU ! The instructions and the photographs are brilliant. It is thorough and genuinely informative. Ryan got another winner! No one does it better!
There is a plasterer's union video on UA-cam from the 50s showing the installation of gypsum board lathe at a pace that rivals modern drywallers. With just a hammer, hand, and mouth they were nailing at 1 per second
I'm currently renovating an 1882 house. In similar condition. What is the plan for insulation for that house. I ended up using a 1/2in dimple board and close cell spray foam
I'm super interested in this as well. I've seen that you could potentially insulate with closed cell all the way up to the back of the brick veneer, but I'm a bit chicken about it, so I was thinking of using dimple board and closed cell OR mineral wool to get more drying action. It's a tough decision. Why did you decide on your system? What's your location? I'm in Boston.
I've got the same board and plaster system in my 1951 California ranch home too. Fortunately didn't have any asbestos, but apparently that was pretty common with the era of building here.
Yeah, it's crazy seeing my wall construction on display here too (California bungalow). And same for me, no asbestos thankfully.
The wall is called Rocklath (brand name). Its actually the best of both worlds. Its hand applied plaster over gysum but relatively easy to cut for remodeling, unlike lath. My kids have gone flying into these walls at full speed and not a dent in site. They will crack if the frame sags. You see it over windows or archways. A good painter can make the cracks disappear.
I have said the same thing as Wade did about the tub weight on the structure. I also talked about the extra weight of the cast iron pipe typically hanging on the floor joists that are also notched so badly by the plumber.
I own a Dutch colonial that was built in 1905. Plaster and lathe construction. Foundation is made of stones, not block or concrete. Had the old porcelain electrical stand offs in the basement in places. Had to keep the historical 6 over 1 windows when we had them replaced. Let me know if you ever want to come to CT.
This was very interesting to see how they built thing back in the day. My house was built in 1947 and the person that built the house actually used old Army Ammo boxes as the sub floor. I remember doing a complete gut remodel in April of 2004 and seeing all the writing on the boards as I was pulling them up.
I ran across similar remodeling my mom's house. 1940s. The same United States Gypsum and lath over top, the T&G and the 2x3s on interior walls. Exterior walls were filled with newspaper, which was cool. The braided copper wire for electrical. It was quite the difference from today's standards. Its fun to me to see 'This old house' uncovered and renovated. Thanks for doing what you're doing Matt!
I have a 40's house with that same board and plaster, it cracks easy and is terrible for wifi cause it's so thick.
Would love to see more on this remodel of mixing old with new building methods and not causing unforseen problems (like you mentioned with the bad air tightness actually keeping the framing dry.)
Do you mean lath and plaster?
Same here. We have separate wifi for upstairs and downstairs. Those walls are so wild. I love our 1940 house.
Same here. Nice and quiet though!
That makes it good for not wifrying, smart people get hardwire.
1927 built home in Uptown New Orleans near Tulane, same gypsum boards, with plaster, and 2 x 3 studs for all interior walls.
Floor sills 4 x 6 with 6 x 6 downstairs posts for second floor load bearing floor joists. 100% old growth longleaf pine.
I used to as a hobby renovate large homes on Miami Beach Built in the 1930's and know that labor was cheaper then it is today as a component of total build cost. I would see pieces of lumber (scrape really) put together and used in doorway framing window bucs and wherever else doubled lumber was needed so that I still believe that only one or two wheel barrows of scrap were sent to dump for the whole home. Sub-flooring was always 4"-6" dado edged planking with a 1/4" gap set at a 45 degrees diagonally and a single nail in each subfloor plank to the floor joist allowing ingeniously for each seperate board to move andd not push on adjacent plank while providing for a continous vapor barrier, finished wood floors were 2 1/4" or narrower nailed in standard manner to sub floor creating a air tight barrier under the finished flooring eliminating cupping and almost no movement in our high humidity environment. Ray Stormont
You should see what they built my basement partition walls with. It's almost like they went to the woods and gathered tree limbs to frame with.
8:59 that old growth even notched is still stronger then the speed grown stuff we have today.
My house is built following these techniques. I love how solid the “drywall” is. About an inch of effectively concrete. You are not going to dent it if you rock a chair into it. It sounds like this one has a cast foundation. Mine has a block foundation. Not nearly as strong as a cast foundation but I was and am able to repair my foundation relatively easily. Insulation would be nice but no real complaints otherwise.
We had a 1939 house in eastern Iowa with those strips of drywall instead of lath. Had all the joys of cracking plaster whenever you tried to drill or cut a hole and the problem of not having anything solid behind it to anchor a screw into. Very glad that idea went away because it was terrible to work on afterwards.
What you guys are describing is a typical pre war house. In California homes up until late 30s had 2x3 non bearing walls, rough dimension wood, wood lath etc. The old growth wood would vary on width, but were milled to dimension on height. 16 on center was always used because the wood lath strips were provided at 4 foot lengths. Everything changed after the war, though. Wood lath disappeared, knob and tube wiring was out, and lumber became smooth surfaced and smaller to squeeze more out of a log. I guess the tree farms were kicking in by then
I have 1/2" gypsum lath panels (black paper facing on inside surface??) on the outside of the 3-1/2" 2x4 walls of our 1956 Cal Ranch house in the SF Bay Area. About half of these walls were finished with 5/8" 2-coat stucco and the other half were overlain with 3/4" cedar plank siding nailed through the gypsum lath into the studs (no air gap between lath and siding). Floors are pier and beam with 4' x 6' pier spacing over vented (dry) crawl space. 1"x6" T&G is overlain by 1" plywood with oak flooring over that. No signs of dry rot but a few indications of past subterranean termite incursions. 4/12 hip roof.
While demolishing the interior of a house in 2003, I discovered full sheets of 3/8" thick drywall,yes 4' x 8' sheets, with 3 patant dates on them. 1910, 1911, and 1912, all made in Delaware. I donated pieces to our local museum.
Awesome video. My home is a 1951 and has nearly all the same construction characteristics. Really cool to see all the same things I found during updates and renovations over time.
My 1945 house, the roof rafters are 12"OC to 30" OC. My drywall is the same type.
Some materials could be war surplus items
LOL. Same here with our 1940 house.
I have come across Gibraltar Board from the early 1900s in NZ that was 8x3 footsies (for 18" stud spacings) and 1/4" thick. And 2x3" framing for non-load bearing internal walls was very common here until very recently, and is still allowed.
It shocked me as someone in Cleveland that a knowledgeable person has never seen plasterboard before. I guess he lives in Texas and builds new.
I worm primarily on homes built before the ‘40s in San Francisco, some as old as 18th century. It’s great to see all that old stuff. Demo is like an archeological expedition, especially in the old Victorians with the square nails and odd hardware. And FULL SAWN OLD GROWTH Douglas fit and redwood. My god, you can’t get that for love or money now. I keep it and repurpose it for cabinets, furniture and other finish projects. It’s just gorgeous. I have about a thousand board feet saved up, mostly old studs and joists, minimum value $6 per board foot but I’ve got 2 old growth redwood beams 16”x16” that are 12’ long and worth thousands on their own.
As for other historical finds, I had a good one on a Victorian remodel of living space off the basement. The inspector thought we were exceeding our permit or that the room was not permitted or otherwise not original. I told him what he was looking at was original even if it wasn’t on record he started arguing. He was about to shut me down when I showed him a corner that was in the process of being opened up. It showed all the layers of construction from various eras. The bottom layer was horse-hair reinforced plaster covered by paisley wallpaper. He found that to be sufficient evidence that the room was original and left me to my work.
I have a 100+ year old New England house with full dimension rough cut 2x4s, but they are consistently 16 inches on center. And the walls are horse hair plaster. Some of the interior non-load bearing walls are also 2x3s.
The tounge and groove 2x8 ish may be old rail car boards. They used them for box cars.
I love the two stud corners on the exterior walls which allowed the exterior corners of the siding to be miter cleanly.
btw
cast iron bathtub breaks and shatters fairly easy with a hammer into small easy so handle pieces then carried out with buckets or wheelbarrow.. in case someone comes across one can save a bunch of noise dust smoke and crane
Felt a bit sad to hear that they had to destroy the cast iron tub .. where i live people pay good money for them
My house has the same, the siding was pretty nice lumber, but it was used for the foundation concrete pour
Dang, and I've got that same 3/8 "drywall" under about 1/2" of hard mortar(my wife can't hang a picture anywhere without asking me to do it)
I'm in a 1950's home. Identical reuse of foundation lumber to flooring. Joists are 12" on center in areas. 8" deep. Love my house super stout. Some joists span 16"
This was fun commentary to listen to. My 1892 house had an addition done in 1942, and I am doing some water damage repair and finding a lot of this reused wood in the attic under the roof decking, tongue and groove boards, weird inconsistent spacing between rafters, studs, gypsum boards under plaster, tar paper, scary water damaged and notched joists under a cast iron tub 😂
Our '38 house has 3/4" tongue and groove boards everywhere (all walls, all ceilings) and full 2X framing. What they did for the walls and ceilings was add a cardboard-like board to the surface and then wallpaper on top of that. Wallpapered ceilings, closets, everything.
My girlfriend inherited her great grandmother's home and it's exactly the same. No insulation, old gypsum board with a ton of plaster, leaky windows, and 2x3 interior framing with salvaged building materials. It's been a hard one to remodel with "old home physics" vs modern home physics lol.
I considered purchasing a late-Victorian house once. Building materials would have been brought to the site by horse and wagon. In the cellar you could match the grain patterns of individual floor joists to where they had been used as form boards for the foundation.
When I worked in construction in NY, as an electrician, the old timers called the gypsum board backing for plaster "rock lath."
The so called gypsum board is exactly that. It is a gypsum product called (rock lath ).
It replaced the wood lath that had been used prior to the gypsum product being used.
It is 16” x48” in size, and was/is applied with blue nails very similar to dry wall nails.
The plaster was applied in 2 separate coats, a base coat of a gypsum based material that was mixed with sand was first applied.
After drying, the base coat was then covered with a finish coat of soaked lime mixed with a hardener called gauging plaster, which is similar to plaster of paris.
The finish coat was trowled to a smooth finish.
Plastering is a lost art. They were still using plaster in hospital operating rooms in the 70's, those guys were true craftsmen.
Oh that synchronized closing message was so cute 😅
Doing a kitchen remodel now with a house from the late 60''s, and the gysum/plaster walls are there (throughout the neighborhood - from talking to neighbors). Very solid wall!.
That house is a rough example of 1940’s framing. 16” on center framing with actual 2”x 4” studs was used for plaster and lath in the 1800’s. Usually board sheathing was a lot tighter than what is shown here as well. The strength of old growth wood with 1” board subfloor is proven stronger by that tub floor debacle.
When I first got into doing carpentry in PA in the mid 1970 s , one of the builders would use the rock lath to plaster some of the homes he built.
Our 1940-41 house has plaster spread over some kind of concrete lath board with round holes in it, maybe 3/4 inch diameter. In the ceilings we can see that sheets of the stuff were 2' x 4' and have sagged just a tiny bit in the middle--enough to see, not enough to crack the plaster. Almost all of 1941 was before the US was in the war; maybe there were already lumber shortages, but maybe the thrifty reuse of boards was a Depression habit.
But then, the 1920 house I grew up in had a couple of studs in the kitchen that had been pieced together out of short pieces of lumber.
I've seen perforated gypsum lath. Typically 16 x 48. staggered layout. looked like a big domino. Surprised no brick infill between studs in exterior walls. But that pretty much ended in the mid to late thirties. Only in this case just above the mudsill up to the floor. I see its a hybrid between western platform framing and balloon framing. Probably because it was more of a cape than a two story colonial. Common sense says the the floor joists that were T & G were laid groove up to land the board subfloor. Ive seen alot over my 48 years in the industry. I have always loved the challenge of working on very old homes and guessing its build date by the change in building materials over the decades.
I have an early 1950’s house and it has what you are calling “early gypsum” it is also covered a good layer of plaster.
Working on a 1948 ranch home and it has rock lath ( friend from California calls it button board ) using Gutster demo bars we are able to pry the rock lath off in fairly large pieces. All corners have wire mesh embedded, use an angle grinder ( face shield, respirator , ear protection ) to clean up joints that will intersect with new wall board. Pry carefully and move along the wall and you can remove large sections of the rock lath.
Amazed you’ve never seen rock lath before. There is concrete residue on the rafters of my house. Penny saved.
My house was built in 1950 and the wall board makeup is the same. 1/2" drywall + 3/8" to 3/4" mud coat. It is a pain to add anything to the walls. Guaranteed to spall and anything substantial needs structure which means either tearing out bay to bay to add blocking or concrete anchoring into an exterior masonry wall.
get yourself a makita angle grinder with masonry shroud (and vac attachment) and use a masonry wheel. Cuts perfect lines into the finished walls. You will destroy any kind of toothed blade. This completely changed the game for me with my remodel projects.
My 1904 house in St Paul, and now my 1906 4 unit two story apartment both had 16” on center framing and board sheathing for walls and floors so it wasn’t sheet goods that led to that layout
Probably one of the most solid plaster methods I've seen. They used metal lathe in corners and some joints. Those old houses were tanks.
all hand tools then gents no modern stuff square edges mattered very little, my home had a sail floor in the 40's wood was scarce everything used for war time, wood slats on the walls and plaster of Paris over made a nice smooth wall for papering
I had the exact same "drywall" sheets in a post war home in Vancouver BC. That stuff was tough!! But I suspect that it contained a fair bit of asbestus.......
the floor joists in my house were from a previous building and they also used them as concrete forms building the house. All the framing, flooring and sheathing were also used
Great video. Always like seeing old methods
If client is willing to pay costs: can you add Zip r9 sheathing over the exterior as is to get air - water seal? And some structural reinforcement?
Then 2” min of spray in foam?
Why the LDL for sisters when a standard 2x8 could be less expensive?
16" oc also accommodated fibreglass insulation batts
My house (1930s) has similar proto drywall. Gypsum board on the back and plaster on the front. Makes for a good time with old work boxes as they aren't intended to pinch that much wall
My house was built in 1957 & it has the same wall system with the 3/8ths wallboard & extra think paster skim coat.
It's a nice system if it was installed correctly, but not a lot of fun if you're integrating modern drywall during a remodel.
My uncle was a builder after he returned home from Vietnam built his house with rocklath and plaster but he installed electric heat strips in the plaster. I don't know much about it but his house (Pennsylvania) was always warm in the winter.
Interesting 👌@@chrisanthony579
Reminds me of a cape cod style house I used to own, built Circa 1877, with rough cut lumber, lathe and plaster, field stone foundation. It was challenging running all new electric and plumbing because the wood seemed petrified. It was difficult to drive nails and staples without them bending. I found old newspapers in the basement and wood chips in exterior walls being used as insulation!!
Love your channel, I've learned a lot, Thanks.
I actually found no kind of insulation in my house. All I found was mouse nests and wasp nests in a few spots. Heating up my house sucks in the winter months.
We have rock lath/gypsum board in our 1935 home in NY. Roughly 1/2" thick sheets with a decently thick layer of plaster facing the interior side.
Since this house was built in 1941, which was the start of WW2, don’t you think that whoever built this house was rationing wood, so they used every thing? My house was built in 1947 and has that 16 inch wide gypsum board. Because when I remodeled my bathroom, had to rip out a bunch of that gypsum board. And it was heavy!!
Was there rationing before war was declared at the end of 1941? I have a 1941 too.
My house was built in the 20s which was a major boom time, and still they used the scraps. I think back then things were just much more of a pain than today when you ran out of wood. You could not just ring up the lumber yard and have a truck deliver the next day.
I installed those 16"x48" called rocklath in my parents house in 1970. I was 13yo. They then put a 1/2" coat of brown plaster followed by a white skim coat for plastered walls.
I have the exact same type of plasterboard in my 1954 Florida house.
Yes; narrow Gypsum board with plaster; my house built in 1941 has that. It also was apparently finished pre-US-entry-into-WWII, because the bathroom tiles were made of metal (!).
My old 1948 house in Idaho had that earlier gypsum board but it was 16”x36” and not as dense.
My 1938 home in Spokane WA had the gypsum/plaster on the ceilings but lath & plaster walls. It was definitely a time of building material flux.
The lath and plaster also use to use horse hair in it.
I've remodeled two houses built in 1934. Ceiling joists made no sense structurally. Every room the joists run which ever direction is the shortest. So a 9 x 11 will have them running the 9 foot direction, regardless of roof structure. So the roof joists may be running N/S, but ceiling joists are running E-W. So nothing tied it together. My roof sagged severely. Had to build a knee wall with a LVL beam to support the roof. Wall studs measured anything from 1 1/2 x 3 1/2 to full 2 x 4. All was used wood, as was woodwork and doors.
My house has that same style of strips of drywall with plaster over it. It was built in 1955.
Helped my dad remodel our entire house growing up. 1920 build in Wyoming. Lath and plaster is nasty stuff to demo. The build quality of older homes is way beyond the homes today.
Currently in a 1955 ranch which I’ve completely remodeled, never know what you’re going to find in older homes.
Exact same “drywall” in my 1945 house. When I cut the walls it looks like two layers. They seemed to be about 18 inch tall and I could see this weird brick block pattern at the right angles when the light hit. The plaster must have shrunk at all the joints. I had to skim coat my entire house. At first glance I thought it was paint roller lines because it was hard to tell. I’m 1945 they wanted to get things done. No 3rd coat (or maybe 2nd!).
My thoughts are if you are adding onto a ready built then it becomes no longer ready removable. This happened in Alabama but same concept. A friend had a roof made of heavy beams over concrete to park his camper under. The tax accessor came out and said he had built a new building (mind you no walls just a roof). So he asked the assessor what defines a building. The assessor defined it as any permanent structure affixed to the earth. So he said wait here. Walked over to the shed and pulled out a chainsaw then proceeded to cut the beams off a couple inches from the concrete. He said there it's not permanent any more as it is not affixed to the earth. The assessor marked it as a shed.
I have a house built in 1929 in mid Missouri, the gypsum and plaster are exactly the same
This house lasted a lot longer and in better condition than most of those "great" houses Matt is building now.
i see that weird gypsum plaster all the time in old houses in the inland empire. there was a huge housing boom when norton airforce base was built and those have that more button board style with the plaster oozing through the backside but the real old houses in like say redlands look just like this
I have a 1942 built house outside of a big Navy base, and it was built like this one. Reused wood from the concrete basement forms for exterior sheathing like the subfloor here. I also have those plaster over gypsum interior walls as well. I looked it up once, and it was common in the 40s, it bridges the gab between sheet gypsum drywall and old school plaster & lath. There was a colloquial name for it, but I can't remember what it was. I also have steel galvanized pipes for plumbing, too, both for potable water supply and drain venting. Someone replaced the solid waste lines with PVC in the past. I'm going to eventually go all PEX for potable water and PVC for waste.
My 1957 home has the same 16" x 4' gypsum board with plaster over it..
LOL at 6:39 that is my entire house construction. I have a 1940 house and the walls are all 3/8 thick gypsum with anywhere from 1/2 to 3/4" thick plaster coat over it. Not sure what they coated the gypsum boards with, but its not paper. It almost seems ceramic in nature. I love my old house. I have some studs spaced 22" OC some, 10" and others as much as 29". Its wild how they built this beauts back in the day.
I’m sure the inconsistencies are challenging to a remodeler, but let’s be honest, 12-16” on center don’t matter especially on a non load bearing wall, especially if covered by random length planks. That being said, if I could mill my own lumber, I’d mill actual 2 by’s and would use consistent 12”, 16”, 24” spacing where appropriate on my own construction. Do lust after LVL’s when I see them, though.
Oh this might come in handy in the future. My house was built in 43
My 1920s home has .75”x8” TG boards as the sub wall. Tar paper and then cedar as the original siding. I’m surprised this newer home doesn’t have T&G.
My 20s house had these planks, not T&G
We have plaster over board that has holes in it (lathe board)… I’ve been told it’s called button board.
I did a lot of interior house plastering back in the 70s. The lathe boards were sold in bundles of 6 pieces that measured 16"'x48'" each, giving you the same square foot coverage as a sheet of 4'x8' sheetrock. The holes were "keyholes". When you applied the base coat of plaster, some of the plaster would go into the holes and then slump down an inch or so. When that base coat dried, it was held firmly in place by the slumped plaster keys. So much has changed in the plastering world since then; I'm glad I got to experience that particular phase of it before it became history.
@@Firedog-ny3cqyeah that's the way lath and plaster works too, with the keys. But I don't like it, debonding is common and I believe drywall is better.
The local Amish are building several new homes using rough sawn 2X6 lumber and inch boards for the roof
I’ve worked on a ton of homes as old as 1880. Never once seen a true 2x stud or joist. Usually 1 5/8” or 1 3/4 at most
Yes, I thought my 20s studs were true 2 and I measured them at 1 3/4 or even 1 1/2. Maybe it's a myth.
@@vapeurdepisse they’re definitely out there, just not as prevalent as people think. I think it depends more on the region. I know a lot really old houses have them. Pre civil war homes.
1923 house here, studs are 1 3/4" thick. 2x8 floor joists measure 1 3/4 x 7 3/4, old growth lumber. Garage was framed up using recycled wall studs from some older structure...those were actually 2"x4". Standardization of 2x material sizes across the country didn't happen until after WW2
Those herringbone struts add a lot of strength and rigidity to floor joists. Tar paper can last forever if it’s protected. The joinery probably has sill trays for good drainage. Nice to see the old ways. 👍🏻
You should see what a bridge building contractor built in 1939 as a mansion for his wife. I restored his building lovingly with it's formed concrete rafters and rebar reinforced arches. If I never see a hammer drill it will be too soon.
My house has the same gypsum board with plaster system. I'm located near St. Louis and the house was built in 1964 by some well off vegetable farmers.
We have a 1940 house in MN and have that exact internal wall that thin gypsum board and thick plaster on top!
I once owned a house built in 1948. Same gypsum board and plaster. I gutted the entire house. Must have hauled out tons of the stuff. It also had funky spacing on framing and clearly repurposed material.