Brownstoner: Pioneering Use of Sheetrock as Exterior Material

Maybe it's just the sheetrock for the inner walls.

(think about that one for a sec...)

Posted by: webster at August 31, 2006 9:17 AM

is it so hard to space the windows evenly? the left-side windows are like a foot closer to the edge of the building than on the right. and what is the logic behind NOT cutting a 3rd window on the top floor?

Posted by: Jimmy Legs at August 31, 2006 10:04 AM

Do they still make tarpaper? That would be an appropriate siding material for dreck like this--instant shack!

Posted by: Bob Marvin at August 31, 2006 10:14 AM

Are we 100% sure that's not hardiboard? James Hardie concrete board looks a lot like sheetrock when it's up on walls. I'll bet this is a backerboard that they will be putting shingles or some other exterior cladding on top of later. I'll also bet that they will cut a hole for the other window eventually.

Posted by: Shahn Andersen at August 31, 2006 10:14 AM

That or they are completely insane.

Posted by: Anonymouse at August 31, 2006 10:15 AM

That is not hardibacker. too large and no writing on it. this restores my faith that this so called sophisticated city is full of numb nuts like every where else.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 31, 2006 10:35 AM

Continuing my challenge.

How can this be saved?

Obviously Sheetrock is not a good underlay for an exterior wall, but what else could be done to make this place work?

I'm actually partial to some sort of wood siding. After replacing the sheetrock with something waterproof and more structural, I'd use dark wood siding. I liked the Warren street house that was discussed some months back where the boards varied in width.

Posted by: MrLomez at August 31, 2006 10:43 AM

We added a close-up of the material in question. Does that help clarify what it is?

Posted by: brownstoner at August 31, 2006 10:44 AM

Hope you like painting your wood siding every few years.
There is a reason the vinyl and aluminum siding industries exist.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 31, 2006 10:45 AM

There are a set of houses also on Nostrand in the same general vicinity (Monroe, Madison, Greene area) that my son calls "the cardboard houses" because not only are they being put together out of sheetrock, it is poorly hung with edges that aren't flush almost like a child constructed it using the blunt nosed scissors to cut out the sections.

I've been hoping you'd end up talking about these houses, just because the construction is so poor and once again you haven't let me down!

Posted by: Oh Lord! at August 31, 2006 10:48 AM

Also, if you look closely at these shots, you can already see a fair amount of water damage around the cut edges of the sheetrock. Given sheetrock propensity to produce mold once it has become wet, is there any that this building is not going to be a hot mess of epic propotions once it is completed?

Posted by: Oh Lord! at August 31, 2006 10:52 AM

What goes under stucco?

Posted by: Anonymous at August 31, 2006 10:53 AM

Oh Lord,
Send us some pics!

Posted by: brownstoner at August 31, 2006 10:58 AM

has anyone thought to call 311..maybe
report it.

does anyone know the address? look it up on DOB BIS.

its clearly just interior sheetrock thrown up on the front.
have to rip it off and put the right stuff up.

Posted by: anonnu at August 31, 2006 11:23 AM

Wow,what a mess! Hardly surprising, unfortunately. Betcha they don't cut a third window on the top floor. Jimmy Legs is right, they didn't even align the other windows up. Amazing.

The criminal thing is that they will cover it up with whatever final surfacing they use, finish the house and sell it to some poor sucker for at least $800K, who will find out down the road, and probably within a couple of years, that they have been sold a POS of grand proportions.

Where are they doing these things? In Bed Stuy and other "fringe" nabes, where every empty lot is fair game, and "affordable" housing is desparately needed. In my opinion, anyone developer/builder who condones and approves this is as much a criminal and menace to the community as the dealers and other hoodlums, and deserves to share a cell with them.

Posted by: Crown Heights Proud at August 31, 2006 11:23 AM

Amazing. Please Bronwnstoner! We need constant updates on this one.

Posted by: Kevin at August 31, 2006 11:35 AM

I didn't mean hardibacker, I meant vertical hardiboard in the plain finish. There is no labeling on the exterior of it.

Either way, this is sheetrock and not hardiboard. What the hell could these people be thinking? Is it possible for people to afford to buy and renovate a building and be that stupid? Why is there no such thing as real estate darwinism? Whatever happened to natural selection in the real estate market?Shouldn't the failure of these types of developments force the developers to starve to death so that theire DNA will be removed from the gene pool?

Posted by: Shahn Andersen at August 31, 2006 11:59 AM

You people are so quick to judge! At least let them finish taping the joints.

Posted by: imby at August 31, 2006 12:01 PM

A hot mess it is. About the third window, I doubt they'll cut a whole for it. If I'm not mistaken the house to the left of it doesn't have a third window on the top floor either. I believe this mold habitat is closer to the corner of Nostrand than Bedford on Madison St.

It's really disheartening to see this. Where is the DOB on this one. DOB has all these codes on paper and I bet they're all being ignored here. I believe that there should be an inspection for every phase of construction and not after materials like this have been covered up by those ugly bricks they use. The developer/builder of this beauty should be called out on "Help me Howard," "Shame on You," or "7 on Your Side", take your pick. This is criminal.

Posted by: faithful at August 31, 2006 12:03 PM

let them FINISH TAPING THE JOINTS? of the SHEETROCK? get a grip, sister.

Posted by: suzy obrien at August 31, 2006 12:04 PM

Shahn, thats what the B.S.A. is for.....to compensate builders for their lack of "inteligent design" by granting them zoning variances. 400 15th street, 1638 8th Avenue.............

Posted by: Anonymous at August 31, 2006 12:06 PM

The outside is the NEW inside design school! Yes, tape the joints and a coat of paint, maybe some faux stone finish using a sponging technique. Give them some time to hang the drapes on the outside... instead of using shutters........

Posted by: imby at August 31, 2006 12:12 PM

Give it up MrLomez, there is no way to salvage this debacle.

You can paint a turd gold, but it will still smell like sh*t.

Posted by: clinton hillbilly at August 31, 2006 12:38 PM

or paint.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 31, 2006 1:59 PM

I can't wait to see all that sheetrock turn to mush when it soaks up the rain! What a mess that will be!

Stupid is what stupid does!

Posted by: Rick at August 31, 2006 2:35 PM

Ys- it should be quite interesting to watch the siding or facade slide down the front after the first big rain. Anyone know what's behind the sheetrock? there is something behind the sheetrock, right?

Can't imagine this is a professional because he certainly should know about sheetrock. Either he is doing it because he is way too cheap to care, or he thinks a little tyvek will fix everything.

Posted by: jennyanne at August 31, 2006 3:12 PM

there is such a thing as exterior grade gyp board - but it's hardly a good match for the vernacular in question

Posted by: Anonymous at August 31, 2006 3:53 PM

They are obviously just putting up the sheetrock to show what the bldg could look like, so they can try to generate sales leads before doing the real exterior work. That's why everything is uneven, etc. -- just a placeholder.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 31, 2006 6:59 PM

this sheet rock is going to mold very quickly now that it's wet and the only way to get mold out of it is to tear it all out.

Posted by: TonyTone at August 31, 2006 7:36 PM

I thought I'd seen most kinds of scary construction, but I was wrong. I think the person that made the comments about "taping the joints" was not serious - it's a joke, you know. It's too bad we can't see the roof - I am sure that sheetrock is cheaper than tar and gravel.

I suppose with a bit of type 1 mastic for stickum and some fine quality fake brick you could have a quality facade, guaranteed to last for years as long as it doesn't rain or snow, or have variations in temperature which hardly ever happens in New York.

Posted by: Theo at September 1, 2006 12:00 PM

I took the photo. I'm a construction professional. I drive by the site almost everyday. I will send updates. But you know its going to be clad in brick. You know they're going to leave the sheetrock on it as is. You know nothing will happen except the house will forever have bad vibes.

As I stated, this material has no business put "against the wind" as they say.

There is nothing like old time construction.

Posted by: thejuice at September 2, 2006 12:53 AM

Someone should call that number to report the unsafe conditions: it's just the soggy paper holding that gypsum up there...a big wind...

Posted by: Anonymous at September 3, 2006 1:02 PM

I just found out the a house I bought in 1996, (a 1970s exterior stucco construction 2000 square foot house I bought to retire in), was constructed out of drywall coated with stucco. How is this even possible? I thought there were laws?!? If anyone has any ides, please write to jfomull@hotmail.com ..this is proving to be a financial disaster for a couple that was actually hoping to retire in the next few years. I appreciated this site, knowing that there are other creeps out there. Sue Kay

Posted by: sue kay at June 23, 2007 5:50 PM

I just found out the a house I bought in 1996, (a 1970s exterior stucco construction 2000 square foot house I bought to retire in), was constructed out of drywall coated with stucco. How is this even possible? I thought there were laws?!? If anyone has any ides, please write to jfomull@hotmail.com ..this is proving to be a financial disaster for a couple that was actually hoping to retire in the next few years. I appreciated this site, knowing that there are other creeps out there. Sue Kay