Plaster and Wallboard

Definitions:

Sheetrock: ‘sheetrock’ is a registered trademark and product name from USG.

• Sheetrock is to wallboard/drywall as Kleenex is to Facial Tissues.

Drywall: Another name for Wallboard

Gypsum: A soft mineral (rock) that constitutes a large portion of plaster and wallboard. Gypsum is commonly shortened in saying as “Gyp” in field/practice, and is used as a substitution when people mean ‘wallboard’.

Cement Board: Comes in large sheets similar to wallboard, but has a different make-up of materials, and therefore different applications.

• The “board” in Cement Board is sometimes mistakenly thought of as “Wallboard”
• Cement board has greater resistance to water and moisture, and therefore is commonly used as a substitute in wet areas like showers and bathrooms.

Backer Board: Cement board is a type of backer board. Backer board gets its name for being behind (the “back”) of a material. Commonly used underneath tiles in wet locations. You will find backer boards with lots of different brand names such as Wonderboard, Hardibacker, etc. Cement Board is just one type of backer board.

Introduction:

Plaster, drywall, backerboard, cement board, wallboard… all these names can easily get confused with each other. Many are used for interior finishes, look relatively similar and have various interchangeable terms. However, all of these are different products that specialize in achieving different performance results and utilize different technology.