Man Cave/Garage question(s)

[Meat-Run]

Wow, I just poked my nose in the forum for the first time and there's some cool stuff going on in here. Anyways my question is I have a nice 30x32 detached garage that is MY garage for my truck, boat, lawn mower, hunting clothes etc you get the idea MY STUFF Any ways my question is, I want to insulate and sheet rock the walls, what "R" value is the minimum I should go with for insulation and should I use sheet-rock or could I use clean OSB board? I've seen a former employer use OSB chip board on his walls and it looks great and you can hang more stuff any ware you want and not have to always depend on the studs for support. Thoughts? Experiences? Suggestions and of course if you have pictures to show your garage that helps even more.

I like the idea of sheet-rock for the sake of brightening the garage and maybe keeping the garage warmer when I heat it. Oh, that too is a question, I have an older hanging propane heater, will that collect moisture? More info, the garage was built in 2009 with peak-roof-top venting and 1ft over hang...if that matters?

Thanks,

Meat Run

[delcecchi]

You can paint osb white, just like sheet rock.

[BuckSutherland]

I would think R13 will be just fine. 15 would be even better, but only if the attic is done correctly. If you skimp on the attic and do a great job on the walls you are wasting your money. Heat goes to the easist spot to escape. I have seen some interesting videos reguarding heat loss in building classes and at the lumber yard.

If you really want to do it right spray a thin coat of spray foam in the attic and then blow in the rest. It is becoming extremely popular. That thin layer of foam seals of everthing and then you have no weak spots.

If it was me I would hang pole barn steel. I did it in the gf dad's man cave. It turned out awesome. Hung it horz on the walls. No taping, mud, painting, dust, mess and it not hard. Then u still know where every stud is and its super easy to clean.

The steel and foam might cost you more, but u will love it. Plus you can order the steel precut and there are no seems.

[CAMAN]

You can paint osb white, just like sheet rock.

Yes you can BUT be prepared to put 3 or more coats on as the glue bleeds through and turns everything a beautiful pee yellow, and the stuff soaks up a TON of paint. I put 2 coats of primer on mine and 2 coats of a semi gloss latex and a couple spots till bled through. I used 3 five gallon buckets (2 primer, 1 latex ) on the two walls of my 3 car garage.

I like it because it was cheap and easy to install and can hang stuff anywhere. But dislike it because it isn't as clean looking as drywall and painting it was a PITA, also cleaning it sucks but I knew that going in.

[cavalierowner]

Like others said, I would insulate the walls with whatever fiberglass insulation fits in the stud cavity without compressing it. Then add the extra insulation in the attic. I had not heard of spraying a thin layer of foam before, but it sure sounds like a good idea; might be worth checking into.

As for walls, I prefer plywood over sheetrock. I can hang stuff anywhere and it's way more abuse resistant. And it takes paint well as opposed to OSB. Plywood is a little more expensive than OSB, about $4 per sheet last I looked, but it's worth it in my opinion. Oh, and don't forget a poly vapor barrier.

[Tom7227]

Once again the garage insulation issue. How far you should go in insulating the garage IMO is dependent on how often you intend to use it when you need to heat it. Does it make sense to spent $1,000 to insulate if you heat it 5 times a season and you have a heating device that's big enough to get it warm enough without the insulation? Do you routinely do things out there that require a certain temp like painting? There has to be a balance in the economics of the solution IMO.

Do you need to insulate it all? That's a big building. Can you partition off a shop area and only heat that? Floor is dirt, concrete ????

My brother in law spends a lot of time in his partitioned pole barn and he put ceiling fans in the half he uses for his car restoration area. He also used white steel on the walls and loves it because of the low maintenance and ease of cleaning. I think he has a 6 inch gap between the inner and outer walls and insulated that with glass.

[Gordie]

Don't forget a vapor barrier either and if I had to do my shop/garage over again I would sheet the walls with white steel easy to clean and no worries on finishing as in mud, taping ,SANDING, painting and all the clean up due it

[BuckSutherland]

I will get you some pics of the white steel I hung in that garage today. Dont forget that it is gonna add good resale to your property should you ever have to sell. Anyone like a cabinet maker or someone who needs heated space would love a nice garage like that if they were looking for a place.

[Meat-Run]

Yeah, post pictures of the steel, I'm not sure what you're referring to since that's the first time I've heard of using that material other than sheetrock and osb. I have "plastic" on the ceiling trusses already but do I need to put plastic on the walls too???

MR

[cavalierowner]

Yeah, post pictures of the steel, I'm not sure what you're referring to since that's the first time I've heard of using that material other than sheetrock and osb. I have "plastic" on the ceiling trusses already but do I need to put plastic on the walls too???

MR

Yes, definitely!! The good thing is that poly is cheap. I haven't looked in a few years, but last I knew, code said minimum 6 mil poly; not the cheapee 2 or 4 mil you see so much. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on the mil thickness.

[JeffB]

My first choice would be steel then osb. I think the humidity gets to high in my garage for the sheetrock especially with the slop and slush hitting the floor with floor heat. The sheetrock and tape is starting to let loose on the ceiling in my old garage. I've added screws to the sheetrock on the ceiling, but the sheetrock just seems mushy.

[BuckSutherland]

Here it is. Most of the steel was precut. It is the same stuff you would use on a pole shed roof. We insulated, then I used the break and bent a piece of flashing to go up onto the wall then down over the block to the floor. Then we polyed it. Technically if he taped off the outlets he could powerwash the steel and nothing structural would get wet. Where the roof and the wall meet that is a special double J channel to accept both at once. I highly recommend spraying a thin layer on your ceiling. You would poly the ceiling and spray your foam after the steel was up. And you could probably easily get away with screwing every other rafter and stud. You will notice from the pics we only did every 4 ft on the ceiling cause that all that was there.

Sorry the pics arent better.

How tall are your walls?

[BigSwen]

I have done the OSB route for my workshop and I have been very happy with it. I painted it white and it is easy to hang things up and doesn't dent easily. I restore old tractors, so it gets used hard.

[Gordie]

That looks awesome BuckSutherland, I really wish I would of gone that route, but I bought my sheet rock when it was really cheap like 2.99 a sheet so it was hard to go with steel as it really wasn't in my budget but I now wish I would spent that extra few bucks.

[cavalierowner]

That steel looks really good! Do you use self-tapping screws to attach stuff or something else?

[BuckSutherland]

Thanks guys,

They are just regular white pole barn screws, nothin special. I have tried to convince other people to go this route to. Most get scared away by the up front cost of the steel. But, its easy to work with, easy to clean, no finishing required. If you ever needed to you can take sheets down to access the wall and easily put them back up. Not like cutting drywall and taping, mudding, sanding and painting.

The horizontal steel works good for running air lines or conduit too. And it is brighter than anything else out there. If you were to hire steel vs drywall done 100% by the time you are all done with everything steel shouldnt be that much more.

[BehindtheHead]

i like vertical ribs because dust doesnt collect on the ribs. but if you dont do alot of metal work or wood work you pry dont have that much dust in the garage. you can still run conduit on top of the ribs and have a gap behind, good spot to hang stuff.

[Biggerfish]

I worked with a guy who did his garage with composite panel.

One of the nicest garages I ever saw. Lucky for him he worked in that industry and got one heck of a deal on the materials.

I also like your rib panels. do you know what that costed per sq ft once done?

[Meat-Run]

That's really cool Bucksutherland. So let me get this straight, you insulated, poly layered, and then steel on the walls correct? I wouldn't be using my garage for any kind of wood working but like to have a consistent warm temp to keep truck, boat, sleds "unthawed", temp set at 45-50degrees. Do you have air exchanger in your garage, does it hold moisture?

Thanks for supplying photos.

MR

[dougger222]

Painted sheetrock looks the best, just like a house.