Well after looking at the backside of insulation in my shop for four years I’ve been given “permission” ,by you know who, to finish the walls and ceiling. My Christmas present.
I’am thinking 7/17″ OSB sheathing instead of 1/2″ drywall. The OSB is only about 70 cents more a sheet. Your opinions ??
Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
Replies
Is your shop attached to your home or is it free standing? How is it heated?
If your shop is attached to your home, you may want to consider 5/8" drywall. If lighting is an issue, the drywall paints better than OSB. (OSB often soaks up paint like a sponge). Plus, the drywall will give you a little more fire protection.
If you plan to hang stuff on the walls, OSB may be the ticket, and it would probably hold up better if you have a lot of moisture.
Either way, use some plastic over the insulation before you hang either the OSB or drywall.
Shop is a stand alone 24 X 30. Plans were for a Cape Cod house and I left out the interior walls and added a garage door on one gable end. Heat is three 8' elec. base boards, which are wired up so I can run 1,2 or 3 at a time. All three will roast me out of there. 1 maintains 70 degrees. when 25 degrees outside. All electric rate is cheaper than fuel oil.
Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
Sounds like you have a very good setup! (I was just reading a book that said the ideal shop size is 24' x 30'). Do you have an upstairs?
With the electric baseboard heat, I'd say it would just be your personal preference on whether to go with the OSB or 5/8" drywall. I would still make sure to put up the plastic over the insulation however, as an all important moisture barrier. Don't be surprised to discover that you may need to turn the thermostat down just a tad after you seal the shop all up!
Let me know how it turns out!
Full upstairs ? Sort of, 6' kneewall to 2x8 roof rafters on rear wall, 4' kneewall to 2x8 roof rafters on front wall. Totally open floor space 24' X 30' Mostly lumber storage space now. Down stairs is 9 1/2' ceiling. Wife said, "it didn't look that large on the prints !!!!!!!". I played stupid, and agreed.Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
Send some photos when you have the chance! Do you have it set up the way you want it?
Not that computer literate to do photos, will work on it.
Set Up the way I want ?? Well! As close as I can on my retirement funds. ;-) No, 20"planer, No 12" jointer, No 18-20" bandsaw, No 5hp cabinet saw, No Monster OneWay or PowerMatic Lathe. Just smaller versions of the above. :-( But content and greatfull with what I have.
Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
Amen, brother! Sometimes it's just better to become proficient with what we have than to continue to dream about what we want. It sounds like you have the perfect setup with the perfect attitude.
Haven't painted OSB but plywood soaks up primer and paint. What about ply or OSB with a sheetrock layer on top? Easier to paint and still lets you hang things anywhere without looking for a stud. Or sheetrock and run 2 or 3 bands of 1 X 4 horizontally at different heights to serve as a base to anchor to?
I sheeted my finishing room with 3/8 plywood instead of 7/16 OSB. Same price at Lowes and a lot better looking. I like it so much I did not even paint it. OSB outgases too many toxins for me and I don't like the look.
A few years back I built a 16x24' shop. I used OSB for the walls and ceiling. I never got around to painting it. I like the wood look and it sure is easy to hang things onto. I regularly screw templates and jigs to the ceiling for future use. I never noticed any out gassing or whatever it's called. I can understand how painting it white would probably give a little more reflective light but I don't miss it much. The plus is that I don't have to repaint. I can't imagine all the dings and dents I would have put in sheetrock by now. Good luck.
Bleu
There are more old drunkards than old doctors. Ben Franklin
I think I'd go with drywall just because 5/8" has a 1 hour fire rating, which could make all the difference in the world for containing a small shop fire.
I've got 7/16" OSB on my shop walls, and I painted them white. The painting required no more material than it would have had I hung drywall. You just need a good stain-blocking primer and then a couple of top coats. I used an eggshell sheen.
The white paint sure brightens up the shop, and it probably reduces the need for a lot of extra lighting. Plus, when sun shines in the shop windows, that really bounces around as well. Paint is cheap, and the benefits are many.
Having the OSB on the walls means you can hang stuff anywhere without having to find a stud. That's a major advantage. Plus, the hard walls resist dings better than drywall. Someone can hang drywall over the OSB when you're finished with the shop, to clean things up and create a habitable space.
ZoltonIf you see a possum running around in here, kill it. It's not a pet. - Jackie Moon
Check out "particle board". I have had very good success with it. It's a little coarser than MDF but very acceptable.
Frosty
"I sometimes think we consider the good fortune of the early bird and overlook the bad fortune of the early worm." FDR - 1922
Be careful of using the OSB on the inside without some fire retardent layer. In some localities, this might be considered a code violation. You may try using 1/4 in. or 1/2 in. plywood over the studs, with a layer of drywall over that. I've seen that done in a number of shops, and it seems to meet the fire codes. Plus it gives nails and/or screws solid anchor points, without worrying too much about stud locations.
Good reply..
I know for a fact in my village you MUST have at the very minimum 1/2 inch drywall sealed with tape and finished with compound. No open cracks.
No, they will not come with a warrant to 'raid' your house but you will NEVER be able to sell it! They have some village law (I think a reasonable one). Any house sold MUST meet village standards. I believe the only exception is historical buildings if not entered by the public.I also believe that if you have a fire and the house does not meet code. YOU PAY for it. As in the fire department and police time and whatever.
I for one would go with the 5/8 drywall and paint it white. Light in a shop is wonderful!
My original dream was to use 3/4" random widths of many species of local hardwoods which would have been stunning but pricey. Even T 111 is pricey. So going to go with the OSB. For those who questioned flammability. OSB is no more flammable, probably less, than 1/4" home paneling or thin pine strip beadboard.Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
Bruce, I was faced with the same choice but I found sheets of 3/8" lywood on sale at Lowes. The primer and paint went on easily and I don't have to worry about wall anchors when hanging items on the wall. Good luck with whatever you choose.
Rick
Bruce,
I sheathed my walls with 3/8" ply because it looks nicer. I didn't want to paint the walls - I like the wood look (go figure!) With either OSB or plywood, you can screw anything anywhere easily. Not so with drywall.
Chris @ www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Bruce,
I used 7/16" OSB for my walls and couldn't be happier with it! It will take at least two coats of paint to cover but--- that's okay with me. It holds up MUCH better to getting dinged and bumped than drywall and as someone already mentioned, it will be better to hang stuff from. It is much lighter than sheetrock and if you're handling it yourself that's a big plus!
Best of luck on finishing your shop!
Regards,
Mack
"Close enough for government work=measured with a micrometer, marked with chalk and cut with an axe"
I have 5/8 inch drywall for fire protection. But as others have posted drywall is very subject to dings and worse. I may put a thin plastic over the drywall up to four feet for protection.
I think, if you can afford it , that the ideal would be to use half inch plywood or other and then the drywall or reverse depending on the effect that you want. Then you would have good fire protection, rigidity, and a solid backing to fasten things to the wall.
If you have your wiring in the walls you must plan, in advance, how far the boxes need to stick out to be flush with the finished walls surface.
I can not speak for other locations but around here (Michigan) if you have a house that is not up to code you may have issues selling it (if you have an inspection and IF the code violation was something you did vs something new that went in after the fact, like we know need bigger doors then we used to or longer stairs) but it does not effect your insurance. Now obviously make sure of your own policy, but as one insurance guy (a claims adjuster) said people get insurance to protect them from stupid stuff, if they did not pay for stupidity no one would get insurance as most of the time any claim leads back to someone doing something dumb. It was an interesting point. He used BBQs on decks and balconies as his example something that around here is a leagle no no, but he still has to pay off if you burn down your house.
That being said I am not aware of any code that says that a wall has to be covered in gyp bd (drywall). Heck a wall does not have to be covered in non inhabitable spaces. However if you cover it I would image it needs to be a solid cover with no gaps as such. I do know that walls of a garage attached to a house have to form a complete fire wall. This can be buy cover the wall in gyp bd (typ x) from floor to roof line or you can do a complete envelope. A lot of people think that means every wall in garage and or house has to be the same but they do not. The garage/house wall is a fire wall at the garage house location. That is why that wall needs to be gyp bd. I am not aware of need to use fire resistant material (and frankly normally gyp is not that much more fire resistant that wood) on a wall. Gyp will burn though plenty fast, f you don't believe me I can send you photos of my folks house after the fire. (well the basement anyhow) Heck I have seen houses that don't have gyp just solid wood. Now some materials such as foam board insulation and fiber glass insul. do require something like gyp bd over them to be code. And the laws about habitable spaces are a bit more strict but a garage is not habitable space, no matter what you do to it, as long as you can get a car into it.
So I guess you would need to talk with your Insurance guy and your local code people. I wish we could help more on that issue but this is really something you need to find out locally and then decide for yourself if you care. Maybe it would be simpler to put it up with screws and then take it down if/when you move.
Doug M
Go with the OSB, or some ply if you can afford it. Drywall is (probably) not required by code for an outbuilding, and it won't hold screws and nails.
I did the inside of my shop with some T111 that a local yard was closing out -- got it a few years ago for about $6. I painted it white to add some brightness to the shop. And I have a million things hanging from screws and nails.
Some of the things you can do with nails and screws won't occur to you till you have the wood walls. I added small wood 'shelves' beside the router table -- put them up with pocket screws -- and the shelves have holes for router bit shanks. Bingo -- router bit storage. And a nail holds the router wrenches.
Other shelves and boxes have been added the same way -- custom built to my need, and attached to the walls with pocket screws.
Try it, you'll like it.
The building code where I live required drywall even for a detached building. You might want to check your building code before your final decision.
So much is said about building codes and insurance. Some of us live where there is no building code. If it is not mortgaged, no one is telling us we must have insurance. That said, I chose to use drywall for its added fire protection, not because of a code or an insurance company forced me to do it. I considered going up another story with blocks but backed out on that one. I do not have a fire of any kind inside of the building, don't allow smoking. It is heated with an outside boiler.
Living in an area without building codes would have saved me a bundle. Our fire codes alone required fire sprinklers and Hardiboard (cement board based material) sheeting on the outside of the building. For the sprinklers I had a choice of "exposed" copper pipe (a considerable expense) or specialized PVC (orange pipe) covered with drywall. I chose to use PVC pipe, insulate walls and ceiling, and cover the walls with drywall. On top of all that the permit fees were over $5,000!
Ouch! "permit fees were over $5000"
In my next life, I hope I don't land in your neighborhood. Other than that, a lot of the requirements of codes do have their good points. It forces one to do what he should have done in the first place. Yah, I know there are a lot of things that go overboard, but we just have to live with it
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