February, 1918 
29 
THE POSSIBILITIES 
of WALLBOARD 
How It Can Make the Small House 
Beautiful and the Third Floor 
Back Livable 
V. B. SHORE 
P ERHAPS it was a dear old house that you 
remodeled, or a new one that was the 
crystallization of all your dreams. In either 
case up to the third floor you left nothing to 
be desired. But everybody knows that in house 
building the original figures are apt to be 
optimistic, if not downright sanguine, whereas 
the actual carrying out is always cold-bloodedly 
grim. So you had to let the third floor drift 
into .the realm of the We’ll-Do-It-Whens; and 
every time you go up there the sight of the 
cracked plaster or the naked rafters causes old, 
smothered longings to creep out of their 
shrouds and half-formed resolves to struggle 
into being. 
But when you think of the narrow margin 
you are willing to allow yourself for your own 
needs these war days, you sigh regretfully, and 
turning out the switch at the head of the stairs 
you close the door firmly on old longings and 
new resolves and descend. 
Perhaps the ogre is not cost, but a vision of 
plasterers, murderously white of feet, tramping 
along your defenseless halls and stairs—the 
ripping out of old plaster, the putting in of 
new, the wearisome waiting for it to dry, fol¬ 
lowed by still more waiting for it to dry! And 
then long after the enthusiasm for re-decorat¬ 
ing has given way in your kaleidoscope of 
enthusiasms to something new—a committee 
for the Americanization of aliens, or knitting 
machines, or a course in civics—behold the 
painters at their work! 
Perhaps if you could just give the order and 
have the thing done while you still have some 
semblance of a second maid, and without caus¬ 
ing all that agony through the rest of the 
house—! Well, you can. Wallboard is the 
solution of the difficulty. 
What Wallboard Is 
Nearly everyone is familiar with the appear¬ 
ance and purpose of wallboard. Not every¬ 
body is familiar with its possibilities. It is a 
wood fiber product which has the appearance 
of cardboard about l /F' in thickness. It comes 
in panels about 32" or 48" wide and of varying 
lengths. These panels are nailed directly to 
studding or rafters or over old plaster or any 
foundation material. 
After the wallboard has been nailed around 
the room it is tinted, painted, enameled or, if 
grained, it may be stained or varnished. Strips 
of wood are then nailed over the joinings to 
hide them and carry out the panel effect. Most 
wallboards require the panel treatment to cover 
the joinings, but there are so many varieties 
of panel treatments possible that this is hardly 
a limitation. The panels may run above a 
wainscot, or below a chair rail, or all the way 
from the baseboard to the picture molding. An 
additional yf molding of contrasting color 
inside the wood strips outlining the panels 
gives an opportunity for charming effects. 
If, however, the panel treatment is not de¬ 
sirable in your case there is one wallboard on 
the market which architects are using, where 
they desire a semblance of plaster. The joinings 
(Continued on page 56) 
— 'Z ~—— 
r 
Inside this tiny 
house the dining 
room has been 
finished with 
wallboard set in 
panels 
Wallboard has 
also been used in 
the living room. 
It is painted 
white with gray 
division strips 
A tiny house, a 
summer cottage, a 
bungalow — to such 
h o m e s wallboard 
lends itself admir¬ 
ably 
