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Drywall facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Drywall is a special kind of building material. It's a flat panel made mostly from a mineral called gypsum. You might hear it called other names too, like plasterboard or sheetrock. It's like a gypsum sandwich, with thick paper on both sides. People use it to build the inside walls and ceilings of homes and other buildings.

How Drywall Is Made

Making drywall starts with gypsum, a soft mineral. This gypsum is turned into a plaster. They mix this plaster with water and other things. These extra ingredients help the drywall work better.

For example, some things are added to make the plaster stronger. Other things help it dry at the right speed. Some special ingredients can even help the drywall resist mildew or stop fire from spreading quickly. Once the gypsum plaster mix is ready, it's spread between two layers of strong paper. This creates a flat panel. The panel then dries and hardens, becoming the drywall sheets we see.

Images for kids

  • Drywall material handler

    Drywall is delivered to a building site on a flatbed truck and unloaded with a forked material handler crane. The bulk drywall sheets are unloaded directly to upper floors via a window or exterior doorway.

  • Drywall-screws-v1 (1)

    Drywall screws for wood, with parallel-threaded woodscrew shanks and bugle heads

  • FEMA - 24623 - Photograph by Michelle Miller-Freeck taken on 05-23-2006 in Mississippi

    Applying "joint compound" to drywall

  • Drywall splotch

    Drywall water damage in a closet

  • Termites eating drywall paper

    Drywall damage caused by termites eating the paper, causing the paint to crumble

See also

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Drywall Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.