Plowing under drywall board

J.Everett · May 1, 2013

I have a few ton of left over drywall board, is it ok to break this up and spread it on the field, then plow this under? Soil is old timber clay, and I'm located in South East Iowa, Thanks for any suggestions. J. Everett

Vito · May 1, 2013

Lime based product.I see nothing wrong with it besides the paper making a mess.

JMHO

Vito

ben there · May 1, 2013

sure,folks pay good money for gypsum to loosen clay soil...paper should be gone pretty quick.

Zachary Hoyt · May 1, 2013

Only question I can see is if it is painted, but if not I agree with the other folks.
Zach

RalphWD45 · May 1, 2013

maybe run it through your hammermill first, if you can take the dust!

Roger in Iowa · May 1, 2013

I spread a couple hundred pounds on a field. Smaller pieces that disappeared in a year or so. Paper was no problem. That much, you might want to use a manure spreader to chew it up and disperse.

J.Everett · May 1, 2013

Yes, thank you everyone. I should have said , It is left over new construction scrap pieces, no paint, and misc. sizes and shapes, and I plan on useing a spreader. I kind of figgured that this could be done and this would be better than putting it in the land fill and haveing to pay the tipping fees. Thank you everyone.

JRSutton · May 1, 2013

do it at night.

there's of course nothing wrong with it, but that won't matter if a tree hugger spots you turning "construction waste" into the earth!

Texasmark1 · May 1, 2013

Paper is bio just like the gypsum. Tell the huggers to mind their own business. Both products occur naturally in nature.

Mark

Geo-TH,In · May 1, 2013

I used my scrap drywall to drywall my garden with before I put mulch over top it. It kept the weeds down, retained moisture and if I'm not mistaken, it's like adding lime. Not much of the drywall left.

Wish I had more.

Anonymous-0 · May 1, 2013

Have built several houses for farmer's in the past. They put it in their spreader and head to the field. Try to spread it out thin as too much in one spot might put your soil out of balance for a while.

Tramway Guy · May 1, 2013

I wouldn't do it if it has lead paint on it. But otherwise it is fine and beneficial as well.

john in la · May 1, 2013

My pond needed lime so I threw a bunch of drywall scraps in it that my son-in-law brought home from a new construction site.
Cleared the water right up.

Greg1959 · May 1, 2013

When I worked in Drywall, for a few years, the fiberglass that holds the Gypsum board together would eat my arms up. Therefore that would be my biggest concern...Fiberglass does not decompose very quickly.. So, when you are tilling the rows, you probably are throwing fiberglass particles into the air and then inhaling them.

JMHO

EJ70 · May 1, 2013

See it done every year around here.

farmerjohn · May 1, 2013

I've done it, not a big deal at all IMO. Fiberglass was mentioned as a possible hazzard but I would think it would be negligible.

John B. · May 1, 2013

When we built our house in 1998 we had a lot of scraps and my brother in law mentioned to spread them in our drive way. That worked great...

Brendon Warren · May 1, 2013

Lots of lime in it better get a soil sample

hrRoss · May 2, 2013

drywall is gypsom. It is mined from the ground. we add gypsom to our clay soil to loosen it up. it adds calciun and sulfer. doesnt work like lime, doesnt reduce acid soil. our gypsom is purchased from coalfired power plant. they take high calcium lime ground real fine, make a slurry out of it and blow it thru the smoke stak, it absorbs the sulfer (cleaner air) and turns the lime chemically from calcium carbonate to calcium sulfate (gypsom). natural gas plants are taking over electrical production, less gypsom, more money. they are starting to use ground drywall as a recycling deal, very dusty, but cheaper.

MarkB_MI · May 2, 2013

Any of my scrap drywall goes into our garden. The smaller you can break it up the better.

Texasmark1 · May 2, 2013

I don't know what kind of "sheet rock" you worked with; maybe special purpose. Mine had gypsum and paper backing. If you bought special purpose, like for high humidity conditions it had something else but that was an extremely small percentage of sales.

Even the guys doing remodeling at work used paper backed gypsum.

Mark

mkirsch · May 2, 2013

Might not be such a good idea if it's the chinese stuff with the formaldehyde in it.

randallinMo · May 2, 2013

Drywall will also seal up a leaking pond. I"ve seen it work.

krm · May 2, 2013

We have a couple of local farmers/carpenters that rent a field near us that has a spot that was ruined with salt water from an old oil well.They have been putting scrap pieces of drywall on the ruined spot for about 3 years now
and just about have it so it will grow something.

Greg1959 · May 2, 2013

TM- Just looking at insulation makes break out in hives. (LOL).

Anyway, I always used USG brand drywall. Standard and moisture resistant. Next time you score and break a piece, hold it up to the light and see the tons of fiberglass fibers sticking up. There is a bunch.

Texasmark1 · May 2, 2013

I have some right here where the dog chewed a hole in the wall in the bath room. No fibers. I just buy it at the big box store. Regular 1/2" SR.

Mark

Greg1959 · May 2, 2013

(quoted from post at 04:21:23 05/03/13) I have some right here where the dog chewed a hole in the wall in the bath room. No fibers. I just buy it at the big box store. Regular 1/2" SR.

Mark

TM1- Here are some close-up pics of standard USG drywall I just pulled from a scrap pile. It's not in perfect focus (cheap camera) but you can see them.

Plowing under drywall board

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