Hey all,
A unique question here. At first glance it might seem bizarre, but please trust me that there’s a totally legitimate health reason for asking it:
Does anyone know of a quarantine hotel in the Taipei or Taoyuan area that has drywall walls, instead of concrete walls, separating each hotel room from the one next to it? (not concerned about the outer walls such as where the window is or the wall between the hotel room and the hallway).
Thanks so much!
I could be wrong but it’s not likely iirc.
Taiwan is extremely humid and I’d reckon drywall would just rot here.
I’ve never heard of a health condition that needs drywall. Would you be willing to share more?
Is it a fungal or lead paint issue? Something to do with dust? I am curious as well.
I cant think of any either, but i have seen drywall used here in recent years.
Drywall is used here, but for some reason it is not often used, instead those 1/8" thick plywood panels are used for wall dividers. I don’t understand the reasoning because drywall is actually a lot cheaper than those 1/8" thick plywood pieces. I suspect the reason is due to the amount of work required for finishing drywall that makes tradesmen not want to use them. Because you must install drywall with screws, not just nail it on with those brad nailers. Then you must carefully plaster over the joints with the proper compound and the drywall tape, finally finishing them with wider and wider compound, and paint or texture them. It makes for a very good looking wall but it’s a lot of work.
Whereas plywood wall just nails on and is ready to go within 12 hours. But not only is the material more expensive it does NOT pass fire inspections because it has zero fire rating (drywall has some fire resistance to it).
Cheap Taiwanese chabuduo for you… But better hotels should not have this problem.
To put into perspective drywall sheet is about 250nt or so a sheet for a 4x8 sheet. 1/8" thick plywood panel with the more attractive wood grain look to it is about 600nt a sheet. I suspect most tradesmen knows how to fit drywall and stuff but will charge much more due to the labor required. Not to mention Drywall sheet weights a LOT, plywood panels not so much! Thus drywall actually has decent soundproofing. Not as good as brick or reinforced concrete but it’s decent. Plywood has zero soundproofing.
Actually, because I just want to avoid concrete walls, either plywood or drywall would be fine. Would anyone know of a quarantine hotel that uses either of those types of walls between rooms?
Taiwan_Luthiers, just to clarify, when you said plywood “wall dividers”, does that include walls separating one hotel room from another? (or just dividers within a room?) And are such plywood panels always used on their own or sometimes added to a concrete wall? (I know this might be a stupid question, but I know nothing about construction.)
Honestly, any hotel in a building taller than 8 floors or so will have “light” room separations and if it’s an international brand something like fireproof drywall. Concrete internal walls make the building too heavy, meaning expensive construction and poor seismic performance, and lead to difficulties in making modifications in the future if needed.
So you won’t have to worry too much about your concrete aversion unless you stay in a low-rise in the countryside.
My money is its not common because earthquakes and mold. Even with the chemicals in drywall, mold can happen easily.
The building will almost always be made of concrete. The wood would be inner wall dividers or just a cover over the concrete walls.
If you really must avoid concrete walls, your best bet is a container building or an old japanese styled wood one (will still likely have to concrete foundation, but some dont). There are some of those little jail cube type bed hotels, but they dont have bathrooms etc so its likely not possible for quarantine. They are often fiber glass and such.
Or one of those tin shacks… that is an oven during the summer and a freezer during the winter.
Drywall is used in plenty of places as humid as Taiwan, and in earthquake prone areas as well… Construction methods tends to vary simply because of what tradesmen and designers are used to in different areas.
Problem is a lot of tradesmen in Taiwan don’t build stick construction to code. They are never ever load bearing anyways. But it seems using wooden stick as a frame for drywall is not in style here, they prefer those metal “studs” that goes together in specific ways. But otherwise they just build a wall with whatever stud spacing, not always vertical (often just in random places), then nail drywall to it (which is also not a proper way to install them).
Does code really matter for non load bearing walls? 
If you’ve ever been around mass residential construction in the US, you know that stud spacing and plumb and general recommendations here too. And nails are acceptable for drywall installation.
Thanks very much for that very useful information. I wish there was an international brand hotel that allows quarantining, but there isn’t any.
A few months back there was an Aloft in Taipei and an Indigo in Hsinchu. Maybe they went back to normal hotel operations since.
The building being made out of concrete is no problem. By “inner wall dividers” do you mean the walls separating each hotel room from the other or just the dividers within each room? And I’m really curious whether most of the wood walls separating hotel rooms would be just wood by itself or wood covering concrete walls; any idea about the rough proportion?
As mentioned above it really depends on the building. Most high rises will be concrete walls, even inner. Then you get those student/worker dorm type setups which might divide a big open space into multiple rooms. These are almost always wood with a very thin veneered plywood. Not sound proof. But neither are the proper concrete walls.
I think you could save much time by posting your needs and people could far more easily tell you whats available rather than this cat an mouse Q&A.
Thanks, Explant, but I had already clearly posted my need/wish above; I had said from the beginning that I am looking for a quarantine hotel that has drywall (later clarified drywall or wood) walls separating each hotel room from the other, without any concern for the outer walls (where the windows are) and the walls separating the hotel rooms from the hallways outside the rooms. Later someone else mentioned that wood is sometimes added to the exterior of concrete walls, hence my most recent question.
The safe answer is no.
The obvious question is why!?
Where are you coming from that any international chain you would recognize would use such a construction method?
It may be pushing a boundary, but what medical condition could possibly benefit from certain construction materials being on the other side of a necessarily impermeable surface? Telepathitis?
Honestly this sounds shady.
(Maybe I’m not in on the joke, but I swear we have both a dedicated, and genuinely talented troll, who once inspired, circles back here with their next hit single)
It wasn’t me but someone else above who mentioned that international-chain hotels would have non-concrete walls separating the hotel rooms. Scroll up.
I never said “a medical condition”. I said “a totally legitimate health reason”. I don’t wish at this time to go into private details of my health concerns, but as I said from the very beginning, “At first glance it might seem bizarre, but please trust me that there’s a totally legitimate health reason for asking it”.