Knowledge
History of Common Materials
Pop Corn Ceiling
Cabinets
Drywall & Sheetrock
'Sheetrock' is a brand name of drywall, as 'Kleenex' is to tissues. Drywall is also known as plasterboard, wallboard, gypsum panel, or just plain 'rock'. It provides smooth surfaces for walls and ceilings, and can also add fire and sound resistance. It is also used to wrap columns to hide steel beams and top off masonry walls above ceilings.
Early Use
Ancient Egyptians burnt gypsums in open air fires to produce plaster. The Babylonians and Romans also used plaster for architecture and decorative structures. In the 1700s, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier analyzed the chemical composition of gypsum. His work led to the wholesale use of "Plaster of Paris" as a building material.
Dropped ceilings and ceiling tiles were used in Japan for aesthetic reasons as early as the Muromachi Period (1337 to 1573) Blackfriars Theatre in London, built in 1596, had dropped ceilings to aid acoustics. Donald A. Brown of Westlake, Ohio, filed for a patent for Accessible Suspended Ceiling Construction in 1958.
Dropped Ceilings & Ceiling Tiles
Dropped ceilings and ceiling tiles were used in Japan for aesthetic reasons as early as the Muromachi Period (1337 to 1573) Blackfriars Theatre in London, built in 1596, had dropped ceilings to aid acoustics. Donald A. Brown of Westlake, Ohio, filed for a patent for Accessible Suspended Ceiling Construction in 1958.
An older, less common type of dropped ceiling is the concealed grid system, which uses a method of interlocking panels into one another and the grid with the use of small strips of metal called 'splines'. This system has some major disadvantages, most notably the difficulty in removing and reattaching panels from the grid. Small clips are still available that allow tiles to be inserted into gaps in the ceiling where a tile is missing and work by being placed on edge of a concealed tile and slid along as the tile is placed to "lock" it in place.