Drywall used as sheathing

[Greg Bell]

I see it quite often around here. It is almost always in bad condition.

[bdoles2]

Originally Posted by sgilligan1

Todays inspection was exhausting. My shutter finger is sore from taking so many pictures. Anyway...I was doing a termite inspection in addition to the home inspection on the property. The house was clad in aluminum siding, so I was checking to see if there was any damage to the sheathing underneith. I ran my fingers under the bottom edge to see if I could pull out any frass or some cobwebs with frass or dead insects and I felt something really strange. I took out my inspection mirror and tried to see what I was feeling. I was feeling wet paper and was getting white particles dropping on the face of my mirror. Someone sheathed the entire exterior of the house with drywall and covered it with aluminum siding. The siding job was horrible too. What was going through this idiot's head when he did this?

Attachment 19356Attachment 19357

I had the same thing awhile back. Except this house had vinyl siding with only one wall sheathed in sheetrock. Reason it was sheathed with sheetrock was for fire code reasons. This development was a PUD with the homes being only about 10' between each home. Each exterior wall that was facing the other structure was sheetrock. Front and backs were typical wood sheathing.

[Marcel R. Cyr]

This link might be helpfull to exterior rated walls.

http://www.bpb-na.com/us/english/hig.../fire_u425.php

Marcel

[Chris Cottier]

I am doing a research project involving the use of type x gypsum and densglass being used on exterior walls of residential houses and whether or not this is the answer to "fireproofing" the house. I have had the misfortune of working with the stuff and would really like to be able to prove that it is not if at all possible. Does anyone know of any reputable websites that may contain material I can use to make this point?