# Anyone ever see this?



## paul100 (Dec 7, 2008)

We are doing a bathroom remodel and the walls are all rock lath. The pics show the back side of a bedroom wall. I have never seen it with holes in it. All the holes are spaced evenly. It wasn't on all the rock lath panels just a few on one wall.


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## griz (Nov 26, 2009)

Yes, pretty common.


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## We Fix Houses (Aug 15, 2007)

It's a common application.

Curious, the mud through the lath, how thick is that scratch coat.


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## paul100 (Dec 7, 2008)

I have done plenty of remodels in my area and never saw that before. Why is it only on a few panels?


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## paul100 (Dec 7, 2008)

We Fix Houses said:


> It's a common application.
> 
> Curious, the mud through the lath, how thick is that scratch coat.


Not sure how thick it is since we didnt touch that room. the bathroom we are doing didnt have the holes in the lath.


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## VinylHanger (Jul 14, 2011)

Looks a lot easier than putting up wood lath.

Sent from my QTAQZ3 using Tapatalk


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## Rio (Oct 13, 2009)

That's called button board and the mud is plaster, probably about 3/8" - 1/2", like the post above says, easier than wood lath which is what was used before button board came out.


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## mrcharles (Sep 27, 2011)

Interesting... I've seen the same size gyp-boards only without the holes...Most of the lath around here was wood or wire mesh


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## paul100 (Dec 7, 2008)

mrcharles said:


> Interesting... I've seen the same size gyp-boards only without the holes...Most of the lath around here was wood or wire mesh


Thats all I have ever seen. No holes. Its just strange. Those panels with the holes were only in a small area. All the other panels were solid.


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## pritch (Nov 2, 2008)

Maybe it was a regional thing. I had a house that was built in '37, and it had some of that in a few rooms.


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## Rio (Oct 13, 2009)

Out here in California the interior lineage was redwood lath and plaster, then button board and plaster, with expanded wire lath in certain critical areas and then gyp. board, or as it's commonly called, drywall. 

Drywall was a revolution because, as the name says, it's dry and according to someone who was around then, really sped up the building process.


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## greg24k (May 19, 2007)

That bathroom was probably renovated sometime in the late 60's early 70's because around that time gypsum board was made on trial bases and it got more popular in the 70's. I never came across being installed in the house but I remember reading an article about it. 
Also when that board was introduced it came in 16 X 48” size sheets and they still make it today but they increased the size to 2' x 8'.


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## cwatbay (Mar 16, 2010)

This is really common in a lot of older houses around here. I have found it mostly in houses with lathe and plaster that got renovated later on.


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## blacktop (Oct 28, 2012)

Rio said:


> Drywall was a revolution because, as the name says, it's dry and according to someone who was around then, really sped up the building process.


Yes It did speed up the building process..But the main reason drywall took the place of Plaster is $$ .. It was cheaper than Plaster.

IMO Not a better product . Just cheaper.:whistling

I Worked on a basement a few years ago ..The home was plastered 27 years ago . I asked the H/O How the plaster in the home had held up ..They said there wasn't a crack or blemish anywhere!! It looked as good as the day they moved in. I said well.....Don't expect that down here!:no:


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## blacktop (Oct 28, 2012)

paul100 said:


> We are doing a bathroom remodel and the walls are all rock lath. The pics show the back side of a bedroom wall. I have never seen it with holes in it. All the holes are spaced evenly. It wasn't on all the rock lath panels just a few on one wall.


I've seen those type of panels before But never that process.


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## mrcharles (Sep 27, 2011)

blacktop said:


> Yes It did speed up the building process..But the main reason drywall took the place of Plaster is $$ .. It was cheaper than Plaster.
> 
> IMO Not a better product . Just cheaper.:whistling
> 
> I Worked on a basement a few years ago ..The home was plastered 27 years ago . I asked the H/O How the plaster in the home had held up ..They said there wasn't a crack or blemish anywhere!! It looked as good as the day they moved in. I said well.....Don't expect that down here!:no:




The bigger reason it overtook plaster was because during the post WWII housing boom there was a shortage of skilled plasterers. Drywall came out in 1916, but it wasn't until the 50's that it started showing up in homes.


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## paul100 (Dec 7, 2008)

greg24k said:


> That bathroom was probably renovated sometime in the late 60's early 70's because around that time gypsum board was made on trial bases and it got more popular in the 70's. I never came across being installed in the house but I remember reading an article about it.
> Also when that board was introduced it came in 16 X 48” size sheets and they still make it today but they increased the size to 2' x 8'.


 The house is all original. The house was built around 1956. Tub was dated that and we also found an empty seagrams crown bottle in a brown paper bag under the floor and it had a tax stamp dated 1954 on it. the panels with the holes in it was only on the bedroom side and only a few panels. If you look near the bottom on the pic you can see and electrical box and that panel didnt have holes in it. I would say onlu about half of one wall had the holes and that was al on the bedroom side. the bathroom had wire lath with anot an 1" of plaster with tiles. this was around the tub and lower half of room. the rest of the bath was rock lath with no holes.


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## hbiss (May 23, 2007)

Quite common, my own house circa 1955 has it. I've heard it called gyp-lath. Those "buttons" key the scratch coat. I would say that if there are areas without holes (where regular sheetrock was used) somebody did a crappy job. 

This is much easier to repair and cut openings than wire lath or wood lath.


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## TNTRenovate (Aug 19, 2010)

greg24k said:


> That bathroom was probably renovated sometime in the late 60's early 70's because around that time gypsum board was made on trial bases and it got more popular in the 70's. I never came across being installed in the house but I remember reading an article about it.
> Also when that board was introduced it came in 16 X 48” size sheets and they still make it today but they increased the size to 2' x 8'.


Plasterboard was invented back in the late 1880's. Sheetrock was first created in 1917. It was experimented with in the 20's and 30's and was widely used after WWII (1950's).


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

TNTSERVICES said:


> Plasterboard was invented back in the late 1880's. Sheetrock was first created in 1917. It was experimented with in the 20's and 30's and was widely used after WWII (1950's).


Yep, my father who's 91 right now was a pioneer in the drywall trade as a finisher.


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