Big Role for Rock

Here's my question: who the hell ever first thunk up this elaborate, non-intuitive processing of gypsum, a rock out of the ground? The ingenuity of mankind and our genius ancestors is awesome and baffling.

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Paul - Fri Dec 11, 2015
Category: Technology | Industry, Factories and Manufacturing | 1950s | Natural Resources

Comments

Rock and Roll will never die!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cawk2cMTnGo

Posted by BMN on 12/11/15 at 08:14 AM

Before sheetrock was invented, builders used plaster made out of ground lime to coat walls. And going even further back, the Romans used volcanic ash. So the idea of using ground-up rock of some kind on walls is pretty old. The revolutionary thing about sheetrock was the idea of sandwiching the ground gypsum between paper. That made installing it relatively unskilled work.

Posted by Alex on 12/11/15 at 10:26 AM

Demolition is also easier and less messy. Have you ever ripped out a lath and plaster wall for a remodeling project?

Posted by KDP on 12/11/15 at 02:05 PM

Is this why they say the walls are paper thin? 😉

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 12/12/15 at 12:12 AM

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