I am building a work shop for myself. The walls are 12 feet 6 inches tall, 2 x 6 studs. I will be using 5/8″ x 4′ x 8′ T-111 plywood as sheathing and siding combined. The front wall is 44 ft. long with three, 10 ft wide door openings for insulated carriage doors. The wall length between each door is 30 inches. The 3 foot wide service door is also in this wall. At either side of an opening I’m using HDU hold downs that are tied to the foundation anchor bolts. I was planning on sheathing this wall with 1/2″ OSB (vertical orientation) construction adhesive, and 6d nails, 3″ o.c. On top of this I will apply the T-111 siding, 8d nails, nailed 3″ o.c. I live in Michigan, so no worries about seismic activity or especially high winds.
Will this wall be strong enough to resist racking ? Any other thoughts on ways to strengthen this wall?
Marty
Replies
You should use 10' t-111. You will have no waste. With 8' you'll either piece it or waste almost 1/3. You should use the osb on the inside. You can get that in 10', too. That way you'll be able to hang stuff anywhere you want. I built a shop once with the sheathing on the inside for this very reason. Even if you hang drywall, it still gives continuous backing for anything you want to hang. Be sure to block all the horizontal plywood edges. With those tall narrow shear panels resistance to racking would be questionable. It should be engineered.