According to Greg Guarino :


It seems to me that there must be a way to take out larger pieces of
sheetrock rather than pulverizing it and then shoveling up the debris.
How do pros typically do it?

Watch Holmes on Homes sometime. They punch holes if necessary, and
then pull. They'll often get pieces larger than half a sheet off in
one piece. Much faster and less mess to clean up.

The other reno shows use the sledgehammer stuff to add some gratuitous
violence ;-)

It's incredibly annoying to see the occasional idiot take sledgehammers to
perfectly good items that could be easily, more quickly, and with much less
bother removed without destroying them. And resold for a few bucks or
donated.

Eg: demolishing modern cabinetry with a sledge. Why? It'd be faster
to pull out a screwdriver and take them out. Nooo, it's so much more
satisfying to take 5 times as long making a mess that will take another
5 times as long to clean up.
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.