Drywall vs metal for interior walls

[urnesBeast]

I am outfitting a former stable to be my smithy. I am concerned about stray sparks, appearance to some degree, and maintenance.

Right now, I have clapboard exterior with bare stud interior. I plan to insulate, as it does get cold up in Boston. It seems there is a "fabral grand ribbed" interior wall that covers three foot wide at a cost of $2.43 per LF. ($0.81/sqft) Installation is well within my skills, no painting needed. Can take a beating. If I need to get into the walls for anything, it is relatively easy.

Drywall is also fire resistant, but is harder to wipe down and repair.

Anyone had both at different times?

Any simple sound proofing, etc I should consider before putting the interior up?

Doug

[Bentiron1946]

What is the cost difference between the drywall and the fabral grand ribbed interior wall ? As to the sound proofing I think that if you put insulation in the stud space you would have a lot of sound deading with that right there. In the summer you're going to doors and windows opens so there's not much you can do with them open. Half inch dry wall only gives you a half hour fire barrier while 5/8" drywall will give you a one hour fire barrier. What kind of fire rating does the fabral grand ribbed interior wall give you? :blink:

[pkrankow]

Insulate with fiberglass for soundproofing. I have installed concrete board as a heat shield for limited clearance wood fueled stove installations per fire code.

Drywall has a rather short fire rating as the paper faces are still flammable.

Phil

[urnesBeast]

Since this is a detached building, the fire proofing I am concerned about is not about containment of a possible fire, but more keeping rolling sparks away from flammable wood studs and such.

This forge set up in the last smithy kept the nearest wall cool to the touch after sustained forging. Adding heat shield to the nearest wall underneath the metal would be a good idea.

Just the 5/8 drywall is $0.24/SF (not including taping, painting, mudding) I was given a back of the envelope estimate of $1.25/SF installed.

[Robert Mayo]

If it were me i would install the metal it will last longer and it does not burn.
I have built shops and garages using both materials and the drywall is always beatup looking after a couple of years if you actualy work in the building.
Bob

[canada goose]

If it were me i would install the metal it will last longer and it does not burn.
I have built shops and garages using both materials and the drywall is always beatup looking after a couple of years if you actualy work in the building.
Bob

[canada goose]

why mud the joints? paint to harden the surface and fix really bad dings when they occur.should give a lot of service at 1/3 the cost of metal.

[Dragons lair]

Just a thought, My shop is rough sawn pine with spray foam insulation in the walls and roof(4 inchs thick} Stays cool or warm and is fire resistant. Do it in the spring its cheaper. Whole shop is paneled inside.
Ken.

[DennisG]

drywall with a tin coating is what I have, works well.

[clinton]

I am outfitting a former stable to be my smithy. I am concerned about stray sparks, appearance to some degree, and maintenance.

Right now, I have clapboard exterior with bare stud interior. I plan to insulate, as it does get cold up in Boston. It seems there is a "fabral grand ribbed" interior wall that covers three foot wide at a cost of $2.43 per LF. ($0.81/sqft) Installation is well within my skills, no painting needed. Can take a beating. If I need to get into the walls for anything, it is relatively easy.

Drywall is also fire resistant, but is harder to wipe down and repair.

Anyone had both at different times?

Any simple sound proofing, etc I should consider before putting the interior up?

Doug

http://www.naima.org/pages/resources/faq/faq_mineral.html
You might want to look into using mineral wool insulation, it will no doubt cost more but it has excelent sound and fire proofing qualities. I would go with that and 5/8'' sheetrock

[Don Shears]

Shop Lining - I live well North of you in Ontario (near Toronto), so for my shop I insulated and vapour barried; then lined with 1/2 inch Oriented Strand Board (OSB) and covered the areas most likely to be subjected to sparks and radiant heat with printers plates.

The OSB sheets were construction surplus (new not used) and cost me at the time CDN$7/sheet - I lucked out with those.

The printers plates are thin 24 inch by 30 inch (my guess 30 AWG sheet) from the local town paper at 15 cents each (3 years ago.) The plates range from nearly a perfect clean face to almost solid black or other colour depending upon page being printed at that stage.

Throw in assorted sizes of screws and paint from "The ReStore" (a construction salvage store run by Habitat for Humanity) and not counting the insulation and vapour barrier, I lined my 10 foot square shop including the ceiling for under CDN$250.

The OSB is a bit more robust then drywall in taking those minor dents and dings as stock lengths get moved around.

My advice is be patient, think it through, ask questions (you're already doing that), think over the answers, then decide what you want to do and be ready for any deals that come along.

As a caveat, check with your insurance company representive, they can save you some grief over something coming back to bite you later, especially if your working space is attached to your home!

[Ed Steinkirchner]

in my shop i have tin walls, and i wouldn't trade them for anything! fire proof, to a reasonable extent, hard to damage, it was cheap(got it used), and my favorite part is, with magnets you can use all of the walls to post drawings, patterns, small tools, etc. if price is an issue, look in your newspaper's "for sale" section, or find somewhere that sells seconds, because cosmetic seconds may not work for a roof, but inside they work great.

by the way, the one wall in my shop is 3 railroad ties high for a base, 2x6 framed concrete forms to make it 7 feet, and the inside is 0ld 3 inch thick foam board with the tin nailed on. it is the right side in the picture. the other side is different tin and is 10 feet high. concrete block up 4 feet and old concrete cement forms, each was 6 feet x 8 feet, made of 2x6 boards and 3/4 plywood (the whole garage that my shop is attached to is made like that)insulated on the garage side and tinned on my side. my shop is 7 feet by almost 30 feet which is why it looks so cramped.
wow it looks like i am rambling...
i just never thought i'd have a real shop.
uh. in short, i would look for used tin instead of drywall.
Ed Steinkirchner

[urnesBeast]

I just did a little bit of calling.

I am surprised, but Grand Fabral interior siding is $0.81/SF (0.0135 thick)

http://www.fabral.com/product.php?id=10

Aluminum or steel (0.025 thick in 4x8 sheets) is $0.78/SF

So, the paint, design etc of the siding only adds 0.03/sf. There is a difference in thickness which might account for it. However it looks like the stuff designed for this is the way to go.

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For those that have put drywall covered by tin like this. Do you screw right into the drywall, or put furring straps in front of drywall? Alternatively, I could see thicker sheet metal screws going through drywall and into furring strips.

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Was there concern with the sheet metal conducting electricity during welding, or the sound level increasing INSIDE?

[divermike]

In the areas prone to impact and damage, I have used sheetrock with durrock (cement Board) covering it.

[urnesBeast]

As a follow up to this, the ribbed material is great, EXCEPT when needing to cut around electrical outlets. They always seemed to fall in the middle of a rib. There is not a great way to cut around these. I ended up having to fill in the rib area with joint compound and silicone. It tieded it up quite a bit.

Doug

[Sask Mark]

Most of the buildings that I have seen with metal clad interiors have surface mounted electrical boxes with the wire run through conduits.

[petere76]

Doug,

Faced with a similar situation on a 24' x 36 garage I went with standard FG wall insulation, sheet rock painted white (semi gloss) and I sheathed the walls around the forging area with standing seam roofing steel. Heat is not the issue, you dont have design it like a wood stove install. Its the sparks and slag that fly around that cause problems. The steel is cheap enough and readily available at the building supply stores. I overlapped the sheets (2in) and nailed it off with flat head roofing nails. Between the painted white walls and the steel there is plent of refelected light. The semi gloss paint alows for easy blow off of accumulated dust.

As an added feature I strapped those wall areas with oak strapping (3/4 inx 2 in). Just rip standard hardwood flooring so you get square edges or rip boards if you want to any convient width. Space the strapping off the bulkhead with oak blocks (3/4") . Pilot drill the oak and use torque type screws to attached the asssembly to the studs. Oak being rather tough it will just shear regular shee trock scrrews. This system offers a rail upon which you can hang any manner of tooling, makes for great storage space and it keeps the deck clear of clutter. You make the hooks to accomodate the 3/4 in strapping. Its an effective an inexpensive storage system.

Photo attached.

Peter

[archiphile]

Half inch dry wall only gives you a half hour fire barrier while 5/8" drywall will give you a one hour fire barrier.

To achieve a 1hr fire rating you need a double layer of 5/8" type F Gyp Bd.

[ianinsa]

I would sugest that you check with your insurer, I'm not sure of how they work stateside but here if you take certain precautions in your shop they will actually 'reduce' premiums visa vie lowere fire risk.
Ian

[Dragons lair]

Alright, My welding shop/smithy is rough sawn siding with paneling inside. Spray foam(fire retardent) inside. Metal roof. Weld and run a gasser inside. (with gas and carbon monixcide Detectors) inside. Yehh they went off today.
Too much OA/ACT brazing. OPEN THE DOORS AND VENT. It's a bitch to open the doors when it's in the 40s outside
and 70s inside. But it's better than being DAID.
Ken.

[Sweany]

metal is noiser.
IMO you would have really work at setting the place on fire forgeing. sparks traveling any distance don't have much fire starting capacity left

Most area's of fire danger are on the floor, piles of flammable materials including steel stacked on wood, gas cans and the proverbial oil soaked rags.

My shop is rough old barn boards and exposed studs (never got around to finishing it)it's been up 6 yrs no fires.

[urnesBeast]

One of the goals, as someone who has burned a smithy to the ground, was to sleep well after forging. That has been achieved.

The final construction ended up like this:

Bare studs and clapboard

add insulation

add 5/8 fire code drywall

8 inches of air clearance and then cement board around side draft forge chimney (chimney supported in this area by metal studs)

Heat shield on outer wall nearest the chimney (inspector's idea, not mine)

Metal on all walls, 8 ft up.

Cement floor in half

Dirt floor in other half. Though I am building up coal dust and clinkers. From the floor discussions, this seems to be fine. Not sure how I feel about covering the floor with flammable material (though it will not really burn without much effort)
----

For the sound, not an issue. I wear earmuffs all the time I am in there anyways.

[maddog]

If you are concerned about sound transmission through the walls, fiberglass insulation will only have a limited effect. Use decoupling clips to mount the boards (whatever material you choose) to the studs without turning the whole wall into a sounding box.

[Fosterob]

I think he is using earmuffs because the metal walls are like an echo chamber and the noise he makes bounces around alot with no soft surfaces to absorb it.
Rob

[urnesBeast]

I am using ear muffs because I want to be able to hear in 50 years. I would wear ear protection if I was out on an open field smithing.