House Day 58 - Blueboard and Veneer Plaster

Our house is attracting attention. Here the Goodyear Blimp stopped to inspect our roof. I am not kidding - they stopped - waved - and gave me thumbs up.

Thursday - I was surprised when they started drywalling with this dark blue/gray material. It has a rough texture - and it seemed harder and heavier than regular drywall. I also wondered what the 80 bags of plaster on the back porch were for. I found out today - our house has been blueboarded instead of drywalled.

Bedroom 3 is in the SW corner of the house. 

Tony Williams Drywall and Plastering 

8573 Raquel Lane

Tallahassee, FL 32312 

Phone: (850) 727-3195

Blueboard is a product that is replacing drywall in many cases. Mainly it costs less for labor to apply it. There are fewer steps and no sanding is required. With blueboard - you hang the sheets on the wall with the blue side out. Then you tape and plaster the joint lines. Lastly -right away you can put the final coat of veneer plaster on the wall. It does not need to be sanded - it is ready for paint. Some people mix the paint right into the plaster to eliminated another step. You could also just leave the white plastered walls exposed. This takes the process down to 1 or 2 days instead of 4.

This process leaves a much harder wall. The blue board is more water resistant. The plaster is essentially concrete and it is more resistant to dents. It is much easier to repair a hole - and the final repair is hard to notice.

The company that did our walls is Tony Williams Drywall and Plastering. Two crews came to visit. First the sheet hangers and their holstered dry wall screw drills. It took them two days to hang all the blue board  They did the 20 x 60 x 10 attic in about 3 hours. It was basically just using full 4 x 12 sheets

Next the mudmen came with their stilts on. Our ceilings are 10 feet high and their stilts looked about 3 feet high. This way they could use both hands for plastering. The mudmen worked from 2 PM to 5 PM. At quitting time it was like a LeMans start - all the workers running to their cars and driving out onto the Seminole Drive.

Click pictures to enlarge -

Gary loves to join in the action - here he is working under the steps. 

Gary Wayne was cutting the Hardiboard trim. The the exposed wood on the house is Hardiboard. It is like sticks of concrete - it really eats up saw blades. Notice Gary Wayne uses a mask when cutting this stuff. No use getting Miner's Asthma - in this case "white lung."

All of this beautiful insulation is covered up now. Hidden beauty. 

The drywallers were hanging 12 x 4 feet sheets. It is a lot harder than it looks - try it sometime.

This is a panorama shot of Bedroom 2. I wanted you to see all 4 windows. 

The HVAC system is a work of art - now it is covered by drywall - with a little scuttle hole door to service it.

Lulu's kitchen looks like this. The refrigerator goes behind that left wall. On the right is the door to a big pantry.

This is the gas fireplace from the dining room side. That is the front door on the right. 

This is the living room facing Seminole Drive.

Bedroom 2 and its tall closet.

This is the master bedroom after it received the veneer plaster coat.

Plastering is work of art. Then try it on 3 foot stilts. 

This is the laundry room with just the joints mudded.

At 5 PM - the workers left - this plaster was left - still soft. Tomorrow it will be a rock. 

The attic is one big room - 20 x 60 x 10. All that beautiful white foamy insulation is behind those wall. The HVAC unit is behind the left wall. This picture is looking north.

This is the attic in the other direction - looking south. The steps are behind those knee walls.