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Comment by pbhjpbhj | Hacker News Reader

In the UK a non-structural wall is called a partition wall -- they're usually plasterboard (I think that is called sheetrock in USA) over wooden studs whilst ordinarily walls are plaster on brick/stone.

I wonder which partitions more VOCs/SOCs, partition or structural walls.

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More generally partition (as a verb) means "to divide into parts" which is used for numerous purposes such as

-- to divide a country into parts (e.g. separate Pakistan and Bangladesh from India)

-- to divide a physical space with walls

-- to divide a population of molecules between molecules floating in the air and molecules stuck on walls

Also to divide digital storage into individually addressable segments (disk partitions).

-- "Divide" an integer into two or more integers that sum to it too. :D

The trivial partition n = n also usually counts as a partition. This is useful if you want to be able to dualize partitions, and want n = 1 + 1 + ... + 1 to have a dual partition.

Also to separate a computer network into two or more disconnected networks, the P in the CAP theorem stands for "partition tolerance" (i.e. that a system can keep working in case its components end up in a partitioned network).

A more generic term is drywall or gypsum board. It generally is covered by a skim coat of plaster and is then painted.

"Sheetrock" is a particular brand of drywall. For instance, see https://www.lowes.com/pl/drywall/sheetrock-brand/4294864808-...

Gypsum board is a considerably more specific, less generic, term than partition. My wooden house has some internal non-structural walls but none of them use gypsum boards (called plasterboard in British English).

Neither are they skimmed with plaster. They are instead faced with a very dense and flat hardboard.

Gypsum board is the term for a type of wall covering, which itself is part of a partition.

A partition is an interior wall assembly typically consisting of framing, (optional) insulation, and a wall covering (like gypsum board, but this could be anything: wood, shiplap, masonry, lath and plaster, etc.)

You only tape the joints, not the whole wall.

There are multiple levels of drywall finishing. A level 5 (highest grade) finish involves skim coating the entire gypsum wallboard with joint compound.

It’s not very common, but it is used in some commercial settings.

I think it would depend on what paint is used. Although I would strongly suspect exposed porous surfaces like plaster, masonry, drywall to have a large reservoir capacity due to their surface area at the microscopic level

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