No more Ultralight Sheetrock for me!

I hang a couple hundred sheets of drywall
a year. Not a BTO by any means but enough
to know what I'm doing with the stuff.
About all you can buy at Home Depot
anymore is the new Ultralight stuff from
USG - Sheetrock Brand.
No more.
They changed the formula of the gypsum
mix.
Whipped it up so it's porus and thus
significantly lighter. Probably added some
kind of a hardener to it to harden it.
The hardener made it brittle. It fractures
easily. When you screw into a corner the
corner fractures off easily.
The porosity causes the screw head to
puncture through the paper so it loses
most of it's holding power. Make a cutout
like for around a window and the remaining
part of the sheet will shatter as you try
to hang it.
Because it's so brittle if someone
happenens to lean against the wall between
the studs it will crack much easier than
the regular rock. This will happen even
years down the road.
I wrote to them about it on their contact
page about it 3 weeks ago. Never heard
back.
Wrote to them again a week ago. Nothing.
So now I'm going to put the word out.
Avoid using the Ultralight.
Specify to your contractor that you do not
want it used in your home.
It is an inferior product and I suspect
there will be class action lawsuits over
it.
Georgia Pacific still makes the regular
stuff. They sell it at Menards and many
other places.
No more Ultralight Sheetrock brand drywall
for me!

Thank You!! If it had been me, I would probably have loaded up all of it, even the already installed sheet rock and taken it back.

Thanks, I do some of my own home improvements, noticed something was wrong with this stuff. I appreciate the info, will get the other brand for future projects.

Thanks! I will pass it on.

They say hard to paint also.

Come back 4 - 5 days after painting and you can see all the seams

I recently bought a sheet and used it remodeling a bathroom. Yes it did crack easily. Thought it was just me.

Thanks for the post. I'll be using drywall extensively over the next year. Did you complain to USG or HD? Probably won't do much good to complain to the mfr, but if you complain to HD and they quit stocking it because it's not selling..... that'll get USG's attention. :shock:

After 30 years in this game I'm convinced that the
Spec writers are being bought by the sales reps. So
Iin an effort to save the owner a dime on the front
side they Spec this junk and then harp on the
contractors implying they are lazy or inexperienced
when it boils down to product.

You can't build anything in the time frame the
Architects set when you start looking at cure times
necessary for all the components.

I will avoid it in all of my rental projects and spread the word to my extensive family and friends.

So, do they also carry the old stuff or is it a problem finding anything other than the ultra light product.

Same results with me, just like the others, figured it was just me. Wonder if they'll tell you it's because it's designed to be used more with construction adhesive than screws. I had a professional tell me that's what the manufacturers now recommend. Every stud and around every opening covered with construction adhesive and only 5 screws per sheet, one in each corner, and one dead center in the middle.

Must be the stuff you are getting. I don't have any issues with the ultralight I'm getting.

Funny you brought that up, we just redone the kitchen and my plasterer said the ultra lite was fine to use. I had same problems, its weak, breaks easily and in my opinion was softer the regular board.

Good to know ,thanks for the heads up. Spacklers must love the stuff.