Drywall vs. OSB

[jackylcrackyl]

I'm trying to weigh the benefits and faults of drywall vs. OSB for the walls and/or ceiling of my garage project. I like the idea of being able to sink a screw into 1/2" OSB, but drywall will likely look nicer. I really can't afford to do both on the walls as I've seen others do. Sometimes I wonder if I'm having this dilema only because I HATE to tape and mud drywall.

Please tell me what you think.

 

[StaggeringGoat]

Personally, I would prefer OSB over the bad drywall job in my shop. If you're talking about an attached garage you better check the codes, while drywall is fire resistant, OSB is quite flammable and may not be allowed in some places.

 

[cak446]

I used osb in my garage and couldn't be happier. I painted the celing white, and put a clear sealer on the walls, and I think it looks great!

 

[lotsoftools]

I used drywall because it is a little bit more fire resistant that OSB (in my mind at least). The cost for either is about the same. You can just screw in the OSB and go, while you have to do at least a little bit of mudding with drywall.
Now that we live in my shop I'm glad I went with drywall.

 

[Kevin54]

I like drywall but then this is the old drywall vs. OSB debate again. Do a search and you'll find about 50 different threads/ arguments pro and con and the bottom line is....you still won't know much more than when you started the thread

Put OSB up first, then drywall over the top. Finish it off and you'll have walls as smooth as your house yet you can drive a nail anywhere you please.

Just don't ask about using PVC for airlines

 

[dirttracker18]

 

[Tbucit]

I have just gone thru this debate with myself. and after a long time and trying to think of the pros and cons I went with drywall. What I have decided to do about the hanging of stuff is try to use a stud if possible and if not use the plastic "screws" that go into the rock and then you insert a screw. I have used these at work and seen them hold up shelves with over 60 lbs on them. And the rock is a little better if you have a fire but if it starts to burn its going to burn maybe just a couple of minutes faster with OSB.

Just what I did
Randall

 

[Bull]

I went with 7/16 OSB, painted white, and in some places I also caulked the seams.

In the future, I might add some 1/4 or 3/8 rock, but really, for a barn, the OSB looks fine to me. I'm sure you have to take certain extra precautions when doing something like welding.

If you hold a torch to a piece of OSB, how quickly does it go up?

And yes, this thread comes up regularly and people get all twisted up about it, as with too many things.

 

[haugy]

Man, it's a good thing this has never been covered before. I've always wondered why we never talked about this in here. I mean it's such a popular question, you would think that with all the members here someone would have asked that already.

I can't wait to learn new things from this new and fresh thread.

 

[Falcon67]

>you still won't know much more than when you started the thread
I'll jump in so I can be seen in every one of those threads LOL. I keep going back and forth. I did a lot of drywall work in our old house when we put it up for sale. I also did a lot of paneling because parts of the house had that "style" and we finished adjoining spaces with the same overlay (1/2" drywall with panel glued over). Both surfaces wanted primer and 1-2 paint coats. I hate the hell out of tape and bed - it takes forever. Hanging panels is not as bad except for bracing up the panels until the glue dries. (don't believe the Power Grab BS written on the tube). I used a bitty caulk bead between the panels to eliminate panel gaps as much as possible. Looked good when all done.

In the old shop, the walls were about 50% exposed kraft paper and 50% 1/4" OSB. The ceiling was 100% exposed kraft paper backed insulation. Were I did most grinding and welding I had some wall shields made from old steel shelving. So the flammability part doesn't bother me - just be careful. Same way you'd own a circular saw all your life and keep all your fingers.

I'm pretty sure now (new shop) that the ceiling will be drywall in spite of my hate of tape. There's a lot of little things to work around up there and drywall is a bit easier to work around those items. As for the walls - I'm about 80% to doing OSB. The outlets are set for full horizontal panels to lay on top and the cutouts made in the bottom panels, so I can go either horizontal or vertical with panel runs. A little caulk on the seams, oil base primer and white paint and done. I can use drywall on the top row and OSB under, or all OSB. I'm really leaning OSB set vertical.

Also - I had a lot of that 1/4" OSB right on the concrete and several pieces were exposed to water coming in under the wall plates during rains. In the worst spot, it discolored. In the others, once the water dried up you could not tell. After 11 years of that, none of it came apart. I had a piece of OSB covering a hole on a shed. That piece had full weather exposure, no paint or protection and full west sun. The surface would be easy 140F in the summer. It was there for 10 years and it sure looked like hell and was a bit concave, but it never did fall apart.

I may even use OSB for my air lines.

 

[Chris Adams]

I went with OSB with the reflective foil, with the foil pointed out.
It worked great.
Thing is, in my shop, which is a working shop, you can't see the ****** walls anyway.
I had just done a shed with drywall, all walls, ceiling, insulation, etc. And when I was finished I covered virtually every square inch with shelving, so people who go in there never even notice it's finished nicely.

The insulation works behind OSB, OSB is easy to hang things from and it took a fraction of the time and work.

Looking over the latest shots of my shop, I can see about 20 square foot of the wall, total, out of about 800 square feet.
So does it matter?

 

[djd99]

What the hell OSB is my choice.

Last weeks thread with same question. http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56001

 

[ChrisBrooks]

I have a 50x28. One side is OSB(Not painted), and the other side is Sheetrock(not finished). I'm going over both with a 4x8 very thin beadboard, then tin and keep repeating that on the entire wall. I just added a newbee entry to see if someone had any photos of what I'm attempting to do. I have the same issue. Sheetrock dents/scratches easy and OSB is hard to paint and finish up well to my liking.

 

[Northstar]

Last garage, I had osb on the lower half and white pegboard on the upper half. I used OSB on the ceiling and caulked the seams. Was going to paint it white, but then I moved. My new garage is already rocked so I won't change it.

 

[Air_Cooled_Nut]

I have a 50x28. One side is OSB(Not painted), and the other side is Sheetrock(not finished). I'm going over both with a 4x8 very thin beadboard, then tin and keep repeating that on the entire wall. I just added a newbee entry to see if someone had any photos of what I'm attempting to do. I have the same issue. Sheetrock dents/scratches easy and OSB is hard to paint and finish up well to my liking.

Added link to make it easier to find

 

[rlitman]

Put OSB up first, then drywall over the top. Finish it off and you'll have walls as smooth as your house yet you can drive a nail anywhere you please.

In the telecom industry, it's not uncommon to have plywood covered walls so you can screw stuff straight to the walls. The plywood is on top, the drywall is underneath. The drywall is there to protect the structure of the wall (and the other side) from fire damage. You paint the plywood, so it is less susceptible to ignition.

 

[Cyberbear]

I suppose it all comes down to a matter of personal choice, but after covering the inside walls of my 10 x 10' pump house, I'll never do that again.
Being an old professional cabinetmaker I never liked how OSB worked, too rough and splintery and does not give a very good final appearance. Tried painting mine and was not happy, even after two coats there was no smooth surface.
I see no advantage to using OSB and although drywall is a little more labor intensive, the final product is worth it for my needs. Since I'm not a big fan of cluttering up my walls with hanging stuff, being able to sink a nail where ever is a non-issue, there are a dozen different ways to mount things on a wall, just like inside a house, where they don't use OSB.

 

[Falcon67]

Zombie thread!

My response was done before I had finished walls. I'm 100% 7/16" OSB. Again - depends on what you are doing. I've bounced race cars off the back wall and bumped the walls with 5500 lbs of loaded trailer. No damage. Couple of weeks ago I backed the golf cart in the shop, hit the go pedal by mistake and slammed the battery charger rack into the wall. I hit it hard enough to bust the OSB. Had the wall been drywall, I'd have had a golf cart sized hole in the back wall of the shop. I will never have a shop with drywall, ever.

YMMV as they say.

 

[synchro7]

My shop is 40X64X12. I went with OSB the first 4' up from the floor, then drywall the rest of the way. Reasoning behind this is the OSB is stronger than drywall. Which makes it harder to accidently damage it.

 

[JoeFin]

1 spark from your welder and its ALL Gone

Explain that 1 to the wife with your "attached" garage. We just had a guy on here less then 2 weeks ago showing pictures of what was left of his garage after a welding spark got away from him.

No amount of convenience can out weigh peace of mind

Personally my garage was bare studs until the kid pulled his race car in and promptly caught the engine on fire

About 1 week later the kid was over helping me hang 5/8 fire rock

 

[rburke65]

Yep....with drywall it will NEVER burn down! And you will NEVER get insurance with OSB!

 

[Diesel Dan]

Steel?

 

[Kevin54]

Yep....with drywall it will NEVER burn down! And you will NEVER get insurance with OSB!

Wrong on both counts. Homes burn to the ground everyday that have plaster walls and that drywall walls. Others have insurance on their garages that have OSB walls. Is one safer than the other? No one can really say for sure. It all depends on what is lining the walls inside of the garage. If you have a bunch of stuff sitting around that can ignite inside of the garage, then one material over another, may only slow a fire down by a few minutes. There have been all metal garages burn to the ground, or almost burn to the ground just because of the contents in the garage.

As far as insurance goes, many people have all sorts of different materials for a garage wall, yet the policy itself does not designate whether there is a different material from the norm or whether one will burn quicker than the other. What the insurance company WILL look at though is whether you are set up to cause a fire. An insurance company may deny insurance on an outbuilding if you have a barrel stove in the garage, or if you have ANY woodburning stove in a garage.

The best thing to do is call your agent and ask them personally if one material matters over a different material.

 

[Pat Brady]

I'd go with the drywall. I just never cared for the look of OSB when it was used as a wall. Or anywhere for that matter.

 

[BellyUpFish]

Yep....with drywall it will NEVER burn down! And you will NEVER get insurance with OSB!

LOL.. Do you honestly believe both of those statements?

 

[bop_pa]

I suppose you could do both if you wanted the benefits they OSB and Sheetrock offer. You could use strategically placed strips do OSB in placed like standard cabinet hanging height and other planned areas where you might mount or attach something. Then sheetrock everything else. Or use 1/4 plywood underneath in certain area covered by 1/4 Sheetrock for a more finished look. Last idea is to just bury 2x4 horizontally between the studs in the hanging area then cover with drywall.

 

[JoeFin]

Wrong on both counts. Homes burn to the ground everyday that have plaster walls and that drywall walls. Others have insurance on their garages that have OSB walls. Is one safer than the other?

Not if your insurance company finds out you altered the construction in any way violating the codes that can be directly attributed to the loss of the structure.

Better check the fine print

The best thing to do is call your agent and ask them personally if one material matters over a different material.

Pops sold insurance for 50 yrs. Seen him walk into a restaurant built out of converted antique rail cars cobbled together. Had lunch, walked around, went up to the owner and told him - "No one will underwrite a $250,000 policy on this structure"

 

[Falcon67]

Not if your insurance company finds out you altered the construction in any way violating the codes that can be directly attributed to the loss of the structure.

Better check the fine print/QUOTE]

And the fine print in the local codes doesn't say anything about requiring drywall or OSB either. Nor does the UBC 2009 that we're on locally.

 

[Modern Jess]

The only thing I hate more than taping and mudding drywall is the look of OSB. And I really hate taping and mudding.

Yuck.

I've seen unfinished OSB used as a finish surface in a few restaurants. I cringe every time I see it used that way. It may or may not be more likely to spontaneously ignite -- I won't argue that point -- but it looks like a tree vomited after a long night of binge drinking apple cider and eating pizza.

 

[JoeFin]

And the fine print in the local codes doesn't say anything about requiring drywall or OSB either. Nor does the UBC 2009 that we're on locally.

Actually it does

If there is an attached garage (gasoline storage) there must be a 1 hour rated firewall between the garage and the living spaces on the dwelling

R309.2 Separation Required


The garage shall be separated from the residence and its attic area by not less than ½-inch (12.7 mm) gypsum board applied to the garage side. Garages beneath habitable rooms shall be separated from all habitable rooms above by not less than 5/8-inch (15.9 mm) Type X gypsum board or equivalent. Where the separation is a floor-ceiling assembly, the structure supporting the separation shall also be protected by not less than ½-inch (12.7 mm) gypsum board or equivalent. Garages located less than 3 feet (914 mm) from a dwelling unit on the same lot shall be protected with not less than 1/2–inch (12.7 mm) gypsum board applied to the interior side of exterior walls that are within this area. Openings in these walls shall be regulated by Section 309.1. This provision does not apply to garage walls that are perpendicular to the adjacent dwelling unit wall.

and here is for the doors

R309.1 Opening Penetration



Openings from a private garage directly into a room used for sleeping purposes shall not be permitted. Other openings between the garage and the residence shall be equipped with solid wood doors not less than 1-3/8” (35 mm) in thickness, solid- or honeycomb-core steel doors not less than 1-3/8” (35 mm) thick, or 20-minute fire-rated doors.

 

[rburke65]

No I do not believe these statements......just reiterating what you read on here every time this question comes up on this forum, between the"Drywall" vs "OSB" teams.

 

[Kevin54]

Not if your insurance company finds out you altered the construction in any way violating the codes that can be directly attributed to the loss of the structure.
Better check the fine print




Pops sold insurance for 50 yrs. Seen him walk into a restaurant built out of converted antique rail cars cobbled together. Had lunch, walked around, went up to the owner and told him - "No one will underwrite a $250,000 policy on this structure"

The problem there is, the insurance company doesn't know whether you altered a structure, if the previous owner altered a structure, or if it was built that way originally.

When we bought out house and I talked with our agent. Back at that time, no one ever came to the house and checked things out on a personal basis. The agent had access to the tax records through the Auditor which shows the basics of the property. When I switched insurance companies, it was the same thing. This year, when I wanted to make sure that we had adequate coverage, it took quite a bit to get our agent to come out and see the property for himself.

Our house garage, when the house was built, the garage was completely finished off in OSB. No 5/8" drywall between the garage and the house shared wall. When we bought it, there was no problem getting insurance. I have since drywalled over the OSB.

So to say that an insurance company WON'T pay because things are the way they are, is a fallacy. If it was fact, then anytime that anyone switched insurance companies, that company would come out and go over things with a fine tooth comb. They might refuse to pay if things are very suspicious as far as a fire goes, but if you have a grease fire in the kitchen and it spreads to the rest of the house and totally destroys it, they are not going to refuse to pay out because you have OSB on the walls or something completely irrelevant to the cause of the fire.

When it comes to building a house, Building Codes change yearly if not monthly. An insurance company isn't going to refuse to pay out because of a fire today because of how a place was built and wired 50 years ago. If it is suspicious they may refuse to pay, but if it is a legitimate tragedy, you won't have a problem.

 

[JoeFin]

The problem there is, the insurance company doesn't know whether you altered a structure, if the previous owner altered a structure, or if it was built that way originally.

When it comes to building a house, Building Codes change yearly if not monthly. An insurance company isn't going to refuse to pay out because of a fire today because of how a place was built and wired 50 years ago. If it is suspicious they may refuse to pay, but if it is a legitimate tragedy, you won't have a problem.

IFy at best

The 1 hour rated firewall regs have been in effect for over 50 years now. Did all jurisdictions adopt them then, I can't tell you, I know they did here

Did you purchase your home within the last 20 yrs without a termite report, disclaimers, or an appraisers report - probably not.

Does the bank holding the mortgage have all these documents ..... Good question. I know they would have had all those and more 10 years ago but now with all these banks trying to foreclose and not being able to produce the original mortgage title - who knows


Will the carrier of the insurance company request all these documents in processing the value of your claim - absolutely. Otherwise we would have a kitchen fire every time some one wanted to remodel and that's what they are really looking for. They don't want to pay off on some thing that wasn't there

Is it worth it to find out the hard way .....


On Edit

I see your point and in essence your correct. My father sold mostly industrial and commercial policies and only sold Home and Auto as a favor to his clients. A good client he would bend over backwards to make sure the carrier paid off just so the client didn't move his policy

Me on the other hand - he made me list all my toys by serial number or vin number with their approximate replacement value

 

[BellyUpFish]

No I do not believe these statements......just reiterating what you read on here every time this question comes up on this forum, between the"Drywall" vs "OSB" teams.

Ahh well then, well played!

 

[Jackfre]

I'd do sheets of melamine

 

[Falcon67]

Good point on the attached - have to remember to think a little broader than detached.

 

[JoeFin]

Good point on the attached - have to remember to think a little broader than detached.

Yep - not everyone has all them "Wide open spaces" like you do in Texas.

BTW: I miss the BBQ

 

[Falcon67]

Yep - not everyone has all them "Wide open spaces" like you do in Texas.

BTW: I miss the BBQ

 

[rancherbill]

Drywall definitely!!!

This house will be sold at some time in the future. It's a 3 car, so it is reasonable to assume it's not in a trailer park. OSB will drive your value down significantly. To protect your investment drywall is the only path.

 

[NUTTSGT]

As far as insurance coverage goes, residential and commercial is totally different animals, the same goes for codes concerning either one.

I've seen plenty of houses (and other structures) that burned, which had been cobbled up and the insurance still covered the claim.

Houses burn down everyday in the US that have drywall. If the fire wants what you have, it will get you. It's covered in Chapter 13 of Murphy's Law.

If you have an attached garage, the wall separating the house should be drywalled to slow the fire down. My garage is detached and has OSB. If it ever catches on fire, it's going to be gone more than likely. I've already come to that conclusion and am fine with it.


Figure out what you want, what fits your application, put it up, enjoy and be happy.