Forums > Specific Focus > Home, Garden & Construction in Mexico

Judy in KC

May 6, 2002, 10:44 PM

Post #1 of 21 (17995 views)

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Sheetrock?

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Have any of you used sheetrock in your houses? We had not planned to but a friend visiting us from Mexico (a Mexican) the other day suggested that we would say a lot of money by using sheetrock. What is your experience?

Loco

May 6, 2002, 11:42 PM

Post #2 of 21 (17984 views)

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non load bearing dividers?

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how would you attach (and why) sheetrock to a cement, brick, block wall. You'd need a stud wall (metal, wood) unless you are going to glue it ... but then, I still ask why? There is as much prep for drywall as a cement wall. Maybe just some divider walls?

Rolly

May 7, 2002, 7:28 AM

Post #3 of 21 (17982 views)

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Sheetrock?

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It is highly unlikely that you will save money because of the cost of the wood framing that would be required. Wood of any kind is very expensive in Mexico. Sheetrock is also more expensive here than in the USA. You won’t find many workers who are experienced in working with it. Then there is the cost of preparing the surfaces for plaster and painting which would be an added cost above what is required for a brick wall.There is a good reason why Mexican homes are built the way they are. If drywall (sheetrock) construction were cheaper, you can bet Mexican homes would be built that way. I think your friend has given you bad advice.If you’d like to see a Mexican house being built, click below.

Carl Carlson

May 7, 2002, 3:52 PM

Post #4 of 21 (17981 views)

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Sheetrock?

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One reason to use sheetrock would be insulation. That is, if you fir out the wall with wood or steel, you can create a great space for insulation. Also, because the firring is not structural, you can save money with widely spaced firring strips.Carl Carlson

John

May 11, 2002, 9:48 PM

Post #5 of 21 (17982 views)

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Sheetrock?

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I recently saw a small house being built near PV and the builder-owner (a local builder) was using sheet rock and metal studs on the second floor for some interior walls. Perhaps he was concerned with the weight of unsupported walls.

Esteban

May 13, 2002, 5:40 AM

Post #6 of 21 (17981 views)

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Changing the rules of construction in your area

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Steel framed houses with sheetrock interiors are widely used around the world but it's considered "alternative" here in Mexico. It can be done and done well if the design is engineered correctly. You don't have to have the massive footings that are needed for heavy concrete/brick walls. In Mazatlan, all the larger commercial buildings are steel structually with foam/wire/concrete skim coats. I think, in the bigger cities, you could find a crew to put a steel frame home together but you'd have to do your homework. As to cost, you'd have to crunch the numbers to see if it works. My feelings for most alternative building styles are that if you aren't experienced in the technique, you'll either spend more money or equal amounts compared to the normal building technique of your area. Guess that's the price of educating yourself.

ALopez

Jun 13, 2002, 11:29 AM

Post #7 of 21 (17981 views)

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Sheetrock?

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I agree with previous answers as far as saving money. If you however want your hause to have an american frame construction it will be somehow a little cheaper if you buy bigger stock pieces then have them cut to the size you need : ex
for your typical 2x4 get "polines" which are 4x4 then cut'm in half. Also I'd not recomend you using gypsum boards, instead any "yesero" (equiv. to drywall hunger in US) can do their work over a metal lath nailed to studs, just like here in the good'ol days. Good Look.
Alvar Lopez

peter

Oct 1, 2002, 6:26 PM

Post #8 of 21 (17982 views)

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Sheetrock?

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: Have any of you used sheetrock in your houses? We had not planned to but a friend visiting us from Mexico (a Mexican) the other day suggested that we would say a lot of money by using sheetrock. What is your experience?ok in the USA thats all that is being used, ecept for in older houses that have plaster and they still use sheetrock sometimes. i know because i hang the stuff. cheeper ? yes light weight ? yes plus its easer to work with :)

cindym

Feb 18, 2012, 9:38 AM

Post #9 of 21 (7489 views)

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Re: [peter] Sheetrock?

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I know this thread is very old, and wonder if anything is new regarding sheetrock.

One reason I am interested in using sheetrock, smooth walls. Seems it is easier to get the smooth wall with a skilled installer than smoothing concrete. Sheetrock is easier to open and repair. Seems interior walls would not be difficult or expensive? better?

sparks

Feb 18, 2012, 12:47 PM

Post #10 of 21 (7469 views)

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Re: [cindym] Sheetrock?

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Good masons can make smooth walls ... just more work. My masons (albaniles) thought gringos liked rustico so they used #2 marmolina (sand). The first walls felt like heavy grit sandpaper and probably would have till they had 20 coats of paint on them. I found some discarded heavy grit sanding belts and sanded all my walls. Now I have texture, which I like but no sandpaper walls.

The thing about hollow walls is it's a home for critters and moisture. I would at least use metal studs and never wood

Sparks Mexico - Sparks Costalegre

stevebrtx

Feb 20, 2012, 6:45 AM

Post #11 of 21 (7404 views)

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Re: [sparks] Sheetrock?

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They've been totally rebuilding a 12 unit complex next to me for 11 loooong months now, but one thing they did was to put sheetrock on the ceilings to cover the old boveda. I'm not sure how they attached it, but due to the originally low ceilings they wouldn't have had much room for furring strips, looks great.
http://www.chapalaweather.net

Sculptari

Feb 20, 2012, 9:34 AM

Post #12 of 21 (7380 views)

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Re: [stevebrtx] Sheetrock?

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I would stay away from gypsum sheetrock for two reasons. First, it is at the mercy of your roof -any leaks or broken pipes will completely destroy your walls/ceilings or provide a nice homebase for mold/fungus. Second, all the joints have to filled, and then sanded -this is messy and very invasive to a construction project.

It all depends the look you are trying to achieve. If you are trying to achieve a clean, flat surface then sheetrock is not the answer - if you coated a sheetrock wall, installed by the best crew around,it would still be wavy if painted with high gloss paint for example. There is a step up from sheetrock called veneer plaster, a skim coat over a special sheetrock called blueboard. I don't know if you could find this in Mexico without ordering a truckload.

The old time plasterers were masters of the flat wall, often polished to a high gloss with beeswax, for example. This is because in many parts of the world it is dusty, and glossy was much easier to keep clean. They began to finish their walls, ceilings, stair rails, etc, to look like polished stone. This technique is called scagliola or venetian plaster. There are people in Mexico who can approximate this technique (faux finish with acrylic latex paints/plasters), but for it to be effective it has to be on a flat polished surface.

Sheetrock could be attached to a brick surface with special washers and a screw gun. Just imagine the mess though if any water got through the brick. Installing sheet rock overhead has got to be one the most backbreaking, rotten jobs in the construction world.

cindym

Feb 20, 2012, 11:23 AM

Post #13 of 21 (7362 views)

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Re: [Sculptari] Sheetrock?

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I understand the mess of wet board, but if one has a leak in a dropped ceiling, it is easy to locate and fix, then throw up a new sheet and finish. This seems easier to me.
I hate the coring of the block wall then patching. Maybe the workers I've seen did poor work.

Sculptari

Feb 20, 2012, 11:59 AM

Post #14 of 21 (7353 views)

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Re: [cindym] Sheetrock?

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Another factor to consider - are you sure your walls and ceilings are even straight? This is why finishing carpenters are so valued in Mexico, everything has to be 'carved' into place. It seems like everything is done by eye here. A perfectly square piece of sheetrock might not enjoy that environment. The old master masons, back to Egyptian times, did not have much use for linear measurement either - the most used tools were pieces of string, plumb bobs, calipers, and books of mysterious geometric formulas or rules. These formulas were closely gaurded and, you guessed it, this is where the Freemasons came from.

A metal studded/ sheet rock home will be very noisy compared to brick/masonry, the walls are like drumskins transmitting the sound. Also the tight 90 degree corners of a sheetrock home are never pleasing to the eye. I don't know, they seem to photograph well in the real estate adverts, and it may save up to 10% of construction costs, but it is not liveable space - it seems like you are living on a movie set. This has been my experience. The most beautiful room I have enjoyed restoring had walls and ceilings of lime plaster, 3 coats, the last coat as fine as butter, polished with a trowel. It has the scent of corn tortillas (cal) and then you actually notice a sort of energy. It is a trick - the lime is absorbing large amounts of CO2, making the air in the room oxygen rich. You have created a living, breathing wall that should last at least 500 years.

cindym

Feb 21, 2012, 8:09 AM

Post #15 of 21 (7295 views)

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Re: [Sculptari] Sheetrock?

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Why now you're almost convincing me, plaster is a spiritual experience that I've yet to enjoy! :)

I do agree with the noise factor, those heavy walls block out sound.

sparks

Feb 21, 2012, 8:06 PM

Post #16 of 21 (7262 views)

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Re: [cindym] Sheetrock?

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Remember lath and plaster ?? How did they make those smooth

Sparks Mexico - Sparks Costalegre

Sculptari

Feb 22, 2012, 9:07 AM

Post #17 of 21 (7233 views)

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Re: [sparks] Sheetrock?

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Since you asked : ). It is really quite easy, once you get the hang of it. The room must be squared (you can google that, this is hard to explain without a diagram - no linear measurements (tape measures) are used). A vertical plumb bob (or a string with a nail on it!) marks the final corners that will be the finish plaster. A rough coat with lots of coarse sand is gently squeezed through the moistened lath. Usually a second coat, applied by hand to make it smooth by eye. On the final coat a piece of wood or metal strips called "screeds" are placed exactly in line with the plumb bob strings. Then a long flat metal blade, called a "Darby" uses these these strips like a guide rail and slide up and down on the final layer of plaster. The wood guides are removed, the metals sometimes stay as 'expansion joints'. Sometimes the corners are covered with special metal lath before final plastering. The final plastering is just making everything right, correcting any imperfections. Experienced crews, in not no demanding work, used a long flexible piece of plastic or metal called a "Slicker" and can get a reasonably flat surface without using 'Screeds'. These same techniques can be used in cement stucco and finishing work as well. Screeding plaster is much easier than screeding concrete.

Today, mostly galvanized steel is used, and there is a dizzying selection of materials right up to a high security product for prisons, etc.

(This post was edited by Sculptari on Feb 22, 2012, 9:15 AM)

sparks

Feb 22, 2012, 6:34 PM

Post #18 of 21 (7199 views)

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Re: [Sculptari] Sheetrock?

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Sounds exactly like what my masons did. We bought a 3 meter section of rectangular tubed aluminum, they cut it to varoius lenghts and used it for their "screed". That gets it level/even .... but I think the original question was about a smooth wall final finish ... not just a stright wall.

My sister wanted smooth finish drywall, paid about 50% more for it and decided it looked like a hospital and was too reflective (kitchen). I finally spray painted a slight texture (paint only) to brake up the surface. Flat paint might be OK on smooth surface but gloss/semi ... I don't think so.

I was just saying if they could do lath and plaster ... they must be able to do cement

Sparks Mexico - Sparks Costalegre

Bennie García

Feb 22, 2012, 8:11 PM

Post #19 of 21 (7183 views)

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Re: [sparks] Sheetrock?

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In Reply To

I was just saying if they could do lath and plaster ... they must be able to do cement

They can. It is called pulido and the final coat is trowelled lime/cement mix with no aggregate.

Sculptari

Feb 23, 2012, 7:04 AM

Post #20 of 21 (7155 views)

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Re: [Bennie García] Sheetrock?

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I'm going to tell you what is very likely an urban legend - but is fun just the same. There was a low income housing project going up in Florida, and the contractor was able to specify the extra cost of metal lath plaster because of its sound proofing qualities, safety in case of fire (no sprinkler damage) and greater resistance to pests or molds. It's biggest savings were on maintenance - apparently patching and painting holes in the sheetrock were the number one 'call out' for maintenance crews. It was a big success - until the law suits started. Angry men and boys would attempt their patented 'hole in wall' punch/kick, and instead end up with broken bones - they should have been warned they said!

stevebrtx

Feb 24, 2012, 12:35 PM

Post #21 of 21 (7100 views)

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Re: [Sculptari] Sheetrock?

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Right - but I had some experience with sheetrock and specifically mold back in TX, we went through hell for several years, not my house, but many in the area, Farmers Ins threatened, or did, pull out of TX. However, since then there have been some nasty problems with sheetrock made in China outgassing toxic fumes, very nasty, so you never know, but here I have problems with salt coming out of the walls, there is no escape.
http://www.chapalaweather.net