Garage wall material choices

[straightsix]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this board, but have been reading for a few weeks now. Ihave a 24x32 ft. garage,8ft. cetling, 2x4 studs, vinyl siding over foam sheathing. After reading the thread abaut theives stealing...everything, I realized that even with my doors locked and bolted, you could probably bust through my walls bare handed. I'm insulating now, and wondered if there is any up or downside to using o.s.b. over drywall. Still won't stop a chainsaw. Anyway, thanks for any opinions. Steve.

 

[5wndwcpe]

I remember years ago in a development of high end homes in NJ, thieves were doing just that. These houses had security systems on the doors and windows which proved useless as the crooks simply cut through the vinyl siding and foam board, pulled out the insulation, cut through the sheetrock and walked in through the stud cavity. Burlary tool ? A utility knife.

If you're that concerned about your particular situation, you can always nail up a layer of chain link fencing to the studs after you insulate. Nail furring strips over that and then sheetrock. Chances are a would be hooligan won't be carrying bolt cutters.

 

[5wndwcpe]

Oh, and welcome to the board.

 

[boiler7904]

Welcome to the board. Some of the Chicago suburbs were having that exact problem a few years ago. Thief would get into a fenced backyard or work in a corner of the house that wasn't visible from the street or neighbors. Some didn't even use tools - they take too long when you can simply kick the wall in. They only cut the hole to gain access. Everything was loaded out through the doors once they had access.

5wndwcpe's idea of chainlink fence is pretty good except it makes for doing any thing in the future (wiring, plumbing, air lines come to mind) real difficult. If you want a drywall finish, you could go with impact resistant gyp which has a plastic sheeting on the back side. Otherwise plywood / OSB would be a good choice and add shear strength to your foam sheathed walls at the same time.

 

[Franz©]

First accept reality, if somebody wants in they are coming in. Metal buildings open with canopeners or wrenches, concrete blocks come out with a Sledge wrapped in a sweatshirt, and anything short of poured reenforced concrte opens up with hand tools. Today decent theives stop at the box store first and pick up some battery tools.

For a few hundred bucks you can install a simple alarm system with a few PIR detectors and multiple sirens that will destroy their hearing once they came in, and a couple hundred more will buy a time lapse VCR + camera that captures their image for identification.

Of course if you happen to be around when they enter, and have difficulty taking them into custody there may be blood to clean up. Always remember, you don't admit anything to the cops and swear you were in great fear for your life, especially if you're on tape too.

 

[Jess]

This has been a problem with commerical buildings for years. The thieves get into common spaces and break into separate businesses through the interior partitions. One hobby shop had this happen and the solution was to use 4x8 expanded metal sheets screwed horizontally across the wall about a foot off the floor and drywll over it again. They had alarms, but by the time the police reacted, they had taken whatever had been previously scoped out and were gone. So far, there hasn't been any successful breakins through the back partition. As everyone else has said, a determined thief will get into anything, but we don't have to make it easy for them.

Regards, Jess

 

[Lu47Dan]

Another option would be Tile Backer board under the drywall , it is fairly dense and is hell on knife blades . Plywood screwed to the studs will slow them down , and a good alarm system with the one siren inside the build could chase them away .But make sure you conceal the wiring and hide the control panel , or have it protected by a locked box for added security . Dan

 

[Kevin54]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this board, but have been reading for a few weeks now. Ihave a 24x32 ft. garage,8ft. cetling, 2x4 studs, vinyl siding over foam sheathing. After reading the thread abaut theives stealing...everything, I realized that even with my doors locked and bolted, you could probably bust through my walls bare handed. I'm insulating now, and wondered if there is any up or downside to using o.s.b. over drywall. Still won't stop a chainsaw. Anyway, thanks for any opinions. Steve.

Just make sure you have everything insured. Chances are that no one is going to know from the street,how the garage is constructed anyways. Unless someone was watching it being built and had plans on breaking in after it was complete, most would not even know or attempt to break in through a wall. I can see a housing development with high end houses all being built the same that something like that would happen, but for a garage to be targeted due to the build, I would think the odds of that happening would be pretty low. I would just finish off the garage with whatever you would like and not worry about someone coming through the wall. They'll kick a door in before they do that. If security remains to be the issue though, screw OSB to the wall, then cover it with drywall. If not to deter thieves, it makes it pretty handy if you want to hang something on the wall, depending on what it is, you don't have to shoot for a stud to hang something.

 

[GaryRoushkolb]

I've got building metal on the inside of my shop that is a match to the outside. The great part is that it goes up quickly and is easy to wipe off when it gets dirty like around a lathe that sling oil. My shop doesn't have windows anywhere and if you can't look in you don't know what's there to steal. Coupled with the R-30 insulation it's energy efficient also. The inside roof is covered also with metal and it's easy to put up.

 

[Daboss]

I've seen some high end structures that used 3/4" "or 5/8 " plywood on both sides of the studs . It would be pretty tough to get past that !

 

[V-10 Killer]

I always wondered why you couldn't just run a 18ga wire around the perimeter at a few different levels and tie it into the security system. If the circuit gets opened (cut) before the thief realizes its there (aka, chainsaw, demo saw), the police might be there by the time he see's it. Just make sure the wire sheathing wouldn't get damaged by the external sheathing (notch the studs 1/8" deep with a circular saw).

 

[PAToyota]

There are a number of discussions on the board about interior wall material choices. You may want to search them out and check through them to see some of the options.

One issue for using drywall over OSB, plywood, etc. is that even 1/2" drywall is fire resistant and 5/8" drywall is fire rated. Definitely something to consider when there is a wall that separates the garage from the rest of the house.

As for issues of thieves and such, as Franz and others point out you are only going to slow down a determined thief. But I do agree that these new houses with nothing more than foam insulation board on the outside make it entirely too easy...

 

[Franz©]

V10, you're reinventing 1900 vault protection wiring. 22 or 24 ga wire is used and when you install it prior to concrete being poured smart people install multiple runs in paralell so you can use the one that still works when the concrete crew is finished and the pour drys.

The invention and perfection of the Passive Infrared Detector pretty much eliminated vault wiring.

You may also recall skylights and windows with bargrates of what looks like halfround molding. The wood has 24 ga wire embedded that breaks when the bar is broken. It was a major pain in the *** as well.

A good quality PIR costs 20 bucks and takes a lot less time to install.

 

[Steve in Mi]

Why mess with walls containg power, air, conduit, shelving etc. or even service doors with double bar locking when the soft spot is that overhead door (the wider the better) that will pop open with a gental nudge from the get-a-way vehicle. Security systems are fine for lowering the insurance rate to cover any loss but a good insurance policy might be the best one can do to minimize the sting.

 

[J Man]

I have a metal building. I am going to insulate it with rolledfiberglass then a vapor barrier. I am using OSB for my walls. I figured the thinnest OSB would be strong thanthe thickest drywall whan it comes to hanging cabinets and anything else on the walls.