gumbudah
Well-known member
Hi there!
Looks like this subject has been discussed rather thoroughly on this board, but I think I have a new angle on it. After reading a ton of posts on OSB and Drywall, and trying to decide what to do for wall coverings in a new garage I'm planning, I came across another product that many may have overlooked. I'll get to that later.
For the purpose of this email, I'm considering only OSB and Drywall. CDX or BCX plywood can be thrown in the same pile as OSB other than surface finish really...
So, as many indicate OSB is good because you can screw into it anywhere, and it is stronger than drywall. I reallllly like this about OSB. However, I really like the idea of taping seaming and painting drywall with a smooth finish and high gloss white paint. What I really don't like is seeing fastners and seams. After doing a bunch of brainstorming, I've only come up with two systems to get the best of both worlds.
1. Placing 1/2" (or 5/8") drywall over 1/2" OSB. This could then be finished and have all the benefits of drywall and the strength of osb. The problems are then you have a thickness of 1" on the wall, which means custom jamb widths. To rectify this problem (which maybe isn't a bad idea) A person could go with 2x4 walls, 1/2" osb interior, covered by 1/2" drywall, then 1/2" exterior osb covered by 1-1/2" rigid pink insulation. This would then give you 5.5" wall thickness, allowing one to order standard 2x6 jambs. The downfalls to this would be cost, also, I have no idea how drywall would perform over OSB, for example will they shrink/grow at different rates developing cracking? will the osb expand, possibly popping drywall screws? having insulation on the outside seems like a good idea, but will it create condensation somewhere in the wall?
2. The second solution, which I happily discovered today is using a product by USG called Fiberock VHI. I've not used this stuff before, so I don't know if it's what I'm thinking it is, but it really just looks like high high strength drywall. The cutsheet for the stuff is here: http://www.usg.com/USG_Marketing_Content/usg.com/web_files/Documents/Prod_Data_and_Submittal_Sheets/FbrkARVHIInterior_Panels-Submittal_Sheet_F218.pdf .
By doing a look around their website at impact testing, it appears to be able to typicall take twice the impact load as standard drywall, with the same joint treatment!
All this being said, I've not even touched this stuff and I could be missing something huge here... That's why I'm posting. Has anyone used this stuff or an equivalent by another vendor?
On the note of cost, I havn't found a local vendor yet, but I did come across a rate sheet on the web which had this stuff listed as about 3 times the cost of standard drywall. Might be sticker shock, but with the low prices right now, it might only be the same cost as what the jobwould have been last august!!!
It really looks to me like a person could use either the 1/2" or 5/8" fiberock VHI please let me know what you think.
The other thing about rock vs osb is anchoring to it. I like the EZ Anchor. These work well even for rather heavy loads. In this VHI stuff, I'd think they'd be gorilla tough (Assuming these work on this VHI stuff). I'm going to be working on finding some other drywall anchor solutions. Maybe i'll post when I find something better.
Looks like this subject has been discussed rather thoroughly on this board, but I think I have a new angle on it. After reading a ton of posts on OSB and Drywall, and trying to decide what to do for wall coverings in a new garage I'm planning, I came across another product that many may have overlooked. I'll get to that later.
For the purpose of this email, I'm considering only OSB and Drywall. CDX or BCX plywood can be thrown in the same pile as OSB other than surface finish really...
So, as many indicate OSB is good because you can screw into it anywhere, and it is stronger than drywall. I reallllly like this about OSB. However, I really like the idea of taping seaming and painting drywall with a smooth finish and high gloss white paint. What I really don't like is seeing fastners and seams. After doing a bunch of brainstorming, I've only come up with two systems to get the best of both worlds.
1. Placing 1/2" (or 5/8") drywall over 1/2" OSB. This could then be finished and have all the benefits of drywall and the strength of osb. The problems are then you have a thickness of 1" on the wall, which means custom jamb widths. To rectify this problem (which maybe isn't a bad idea) A person could go with 2x4 walls, 1/2" osb interior, covered by 1/2" drywall, then 1/2" exterior osb covered by 1-1/2" rigid pink insulation. This would then give you 5.5" wall thickness, allowing one to order standard 2x6 jambs. The downfalls to this would be cost, also, I have no idea how drywall would perform over OSB, for example will they shrink/grow at different rates developing cracking? will the osb expand, possibly popping drywall screws? having insulation on the outside seems like a good idea, but will it create condensation somewhere in the wall?
2. The second solution, which I happily discovered today is using a product by USG called Fiberock VHI. I've not used this stuff before, so I don't know if it's what I'm thinking it is, but it really just looks like high high strength drywall. The cutsheet for the stuff is here: http://www.usg.com/USG_Marketing_Content/usg.com/web_files/Documents/Prod_Data_and_Submittal_Sheets/FbrkARVHIInterior_Panels-Submittal_Sheet_F218.pdf .
By doing a look around their website at impact testing, it appears to be able to typicall take twice the impact load as standard drywall, with the same joint treatment!
All this being said, I've not even touched this stuff and I could be missing something huge here... That's why I'm posting. Has anyone used this stuff or an equivalent by another vendor?
On the note of cost, I havn't found a local vendor yet, but I did come across a rate sheet on the web which had this stuff listed as about 3 times the cost of standard drywall. Might be sticker shock, but with the low prices right now, it might only be the same cost as what the jobwould have been last august!!!
It really looks to me like a person could use either the 1/2" or 5/8" fiberock VHI please let me know what you think.
The other thing about rock vs osb is anchoring to it. I like the EZ Anchor. These work well even for rather heavy loads. In this VHI stuff, I'd think they'd be gorilla tough (Assuming these work on this VHI stuff). I'm going to be working on finding some other drywall anchor solutions. Maybe i'll post when I find something better.
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