Fire resistant office cabinet?

[turbowoodworker]

I am planning a built-in cabinet for my office on one wall. I hate the look of file cabinets so I will be building an enclosure for two of the four drawer cabinets. I will make them out of plywood and face frame construction. Rough dimensions are 30 W x 27 D x 55 T.

My question for the forum, if I wanted to make the cabinet fire resistant (I know, not fire proof in any way), what would I line the plywood cabinet with? My thoughts are 5/8" drywall like the garage spec wallboard, or cement backer board, or Hardiboard. This will be inside the structure and have no cosmetic effect except when doors are opened.

By "fire resistant" I'm just trying to buy a little time for the Fire dept. I have a Liberty safe for the important stuff.

What would you do? Thanks in advance.
Rick

 

[southalabama]

Fire rock. Type of Sheetrock. It's fire rated not fire proof.

 

[matt_i]

Around here typically called Type X and usually sold in 5/8". Double layer is typically what's specd for a wall separating an attached garage and a residence.

I think the hardi or the cementious backer board is also a good choice.

 

[turbowoodworker]

Thanks for the input.

 

[ddawg16]

Yep....type X 5/8" drywall. A couple of layers and you will have about 2 hours of protection. Make sure you stagger the joints and use tape and mud to seal.

Make sure you also do the bottom.

 

[southalabama]

Strange how things called different names.

We've always referred to it as fire rock.

Then you have wet rock.

Finally regular sheet rock.

 

[turbowoodworker]

Funny thing. when I asked the "more experienced" guy at Lowe's about garage fire rated sheetrock, he pointed to the 5/8" and implied the only difference was the thickness.
I think I know my answer but I will do a little more research and update. Thanks everyone for the input.