What makes drywall different from plaster?
Drywall is a gypsum-board product similar to blueboard. The chief difference has to do with the paper facing. The paper on drywall is a lower-grade paper made from recycled newspaper. Some sensitive people are bothered by printing ink. As a result, they can also be affected by drywall because the paper contains ink residues. This usually isn’t a strong pollutant source, and paint often seals the paper well enough to prevent it from being a problem. Drywall isn’t as durable as plaster, so it can’t be left unpainted. The other big difference between plaster and drywall is in how they are finished. With plaster, there’s a thin coating over the entire surface of the blueboard. With drywall, a coating of drywall joint compound (often called mud) is applied over paper tape at all the seams and at nail heads—not over the entire surface. The joint compound typically contains a variety of ingredients, such as the minerals gypsum, lime, talc, etc., plus additives such as antifreeze, preservative
