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So I want to insulate and close up the walls of my garage (removed by previous owner for some odd reason) and trying to get some opinions on which material to go with.
Would you do with Drywall, OSB, or Plywood and why?
Is there a proper fire break from the house, if it is attached to the structure? If not, use drywall of the proper thickness and tape and mud all the seams well.
As previously mentioned-
If the garage is attached to the home, the common wall AND attic common wall have to have 5/8" X drywall. If there is living area above the garage the ceiling will require the same drywall.
If the other walls are exterior walls and carry no substantial load you can basically cover them with whatever you want. However; just from a common sense perspective I'd want all walls covered with drywall just for the fire rating- it's a lot easier/less expensive to install just drywall than to have to rebuild a whole garage.
Now there are those that will argue so lame-ass excuse about not being able to hang stuff on the walls because they need a stud "here X" but it's over there! There is every kind of wall anchor imaginable- so I call BS on that. But if you absolutely must have suitable anchoring material everywhere within the wall- cover it with OSB, then drywall.
Another vote for drywall, for fire resistance purposes. You could certainly put some insulation under it on the outside walls, and not insulate the wall between the garage and the house, (opposite of the usual) if you want house heat to go out into the garage.
I am not saying leave the drywall off between house and garage, but just leave insulation out. Then insulate the outside walls of the garage. What's the problem with that?
The drywall between the garage and the house should keep out any CO (there should not be much if any CO unless someone is dumb enough to run the car inside the garage with the door shut).
If your studs are 16" OC and you are going to insulate, I'd be using OSB. That combination gives you a 14 minute fire rated wall assuming 1/2" drywall on the inside. I would never put drywall in any area where there are no environmental controls. Can't tell you how many homes I've gone into that the drywall is falling off of the ceiling and walls due to moisture in the air which can sometimes be 100% humidity. Even my own garage I had to tear down what wasn't falling down due to moisture in the air. The current production of drywall is rather poor and moisture makes it incredibly weak. The real issue is the drywall makers whips air into the slurry before they extract the mud core for drying. It makes the drywall lighter which means they can ship more sq ft on a load. Per their reasoning, it doesn't effect the structural integrity of the panel. But moisture does effect the panel especially with nails/screws pulling thru the panel. If you intend to tape and float the walls, then you have the issue of the materials that no longer have any sealing properties. Moisture again will weaken the mud. If you intend to prime and seal afterwards, then there is no issue but few want to spend the bucks to do a complete job on a garage. Just make it look nice for now and we'll worry about the crap falling off of the walls later. I'd make it OSB and not have the issues of the drywall.
If your studs are 16" OC and you are going to insulate, I'd be using OSB. That combination gives you a 14 minute fire rated wall assuming 1/2" drywall on the inside. I would never put drywall in any area where there are no environmental controls. Can't tell you how many homes I've gone into that the drywall is falling off of the ceiling and walls due to moisture in the air which can sometimes be 100% humidity. Even my own garage I had to tear down what wasn't falling down due to moisture in the air. The current production of drywall is rather poor and moisture makes it incredibly weak. The real issue is the drywall makers whips air into the slurry before they extract the mud core for drying. It makes the drywall lighter which means they can ship more sq ft on a load. Per their reasoning, it doesn't effect the structural integrity of the panel. But moisture does effect the panel especially with nails/screws pulling thru the panel. If you intend to tape and float the walls, then you have the issue of the materials that no longer have any sealing properties. Moisture again will weaken the mud. If you intend to prime and seal afterwards, then there is no issue but few want to spend the bucks to do a complete job on a garage. Just make it look nice for now and we'll worry about the crap falling off of the walls later. I'd make it OSB and not have the issues of the drywall.
Jeez- being a little dramatic aren't we?
There are literally millions of homes across the country that have drywalled garages without any such problems.
I’m facing this issue as well, as the outer walls of my garage are also unfinished. I have actually thought about using painted metal since I can have it cut to 10’ lengths. The metal would also be a bit more fire and water resistant. There are times when I leave my garage door open (rear entry) and a storm comes along and the rain blows in, so drywall is a bad choice.
I had to redo my garage ceiling several years ago due a branch failing through the roof, and I wish I had used the metal for the ceiling. So much easier to keep clean, fire resistant, and never needs painting.
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