Single skin garage wall - attaching wood to it help

[richatnort]

Hi all,

I’m going to get solar and a battery installed shortly and I’d like the gubbins to go onto ply rather than the contractor blast loads of holes into my single skin wall and I think it’ll generally look neater too.

I’m stuck as to what I should do though to prevent any issue going forward, am I over thinking it and can I just whack some thick ply onto the wall and assume it’ll be ok? It’s an integrated garage it’s just the external wall only has 1 layer of bricks and no cavity, etc.

Do I need to build a frame and put insulation on it?

[Simpo Two]

if you're worried about moisture, you could screw two battens to the wall and the screw the plywood to that, so that air can circulate behind it. Or use marine ply, or use the internal wall.

[mikebradford]

If you have suffient space just build an independent timber frame and face in plywood.
That way no fixings are required into your existing wall.

[Cow Corner]

Has the installer confirmed that the equipment can be installed onto plywood (ie a combustible material)?

[dxg]

Simpo Two said:

if you're worried about moisture, you could screw two battens to the wall and the screw the plywood to that, so that air can circulate behind it. Or use marine ply, or use the internal wall.

Run some DPC vertically between each batten and the brick.

Although, surely the batteries will have to sit on the floor. They're heavy and a single skin wall isn't all that strong.

[Simpo Two]

Cow Corner said:

Has the installer confirmed that the equipment can be installed onto plywood (ie a combustible material)?

Actually, what about the rest of the garage? If the lithium battery grenades itself a bit of plywood will be fairly irrelevant, and there's a house attached.

[119]

I thought battery storage had to be outside now?

[dobly]

^ Doesn’t have to be, is recommended though.
Items such as a Tesla PowerWall 3 are designed to be outdoors (can cope with up to 600mm of flooding), but you can have them in an outbuilding such as a garage..
Latest regs are to stop idiots from putting batteries & inverters in loft spaces…

[pghstochaj]

Normally installers use cement board.

[Belle427]

Fix the ply to the wall and move on with life, if you are that concerned get some pressure treated 3x2 timber up there first and fix to that.

[richatnort]

Thanks all so far, i am fairly certain i'll go with sticking it to the wall.

I'll look at cement board vs ply but as you've said the battery will be on the ground but all the isolator switches, the inverter, their own consumer unit, etc will all need to be attached to the wall and i'd rather now have 100's of holes in my brick work and I think it'll generally look better on a bit of ply as they might even feel the need to make it look good as it'll be on there.

[4Q]

If the installer is MCS registered then he will have to follow the correct standard and mount the inverter on a heat resistant surface, not plywood. Direct to the brick wall would be fine btw as would cement board or plasterboard. If he suggests its ok to use plywood I would question what other standards he's ignoring.

[Rushjob]

4Q said:

If the installer is MCS registered then he will have to follow the correct standard and mount the inverter on a heat resistant surface, not plywood. Direct to the brick wall would be fine btw as would cement board or plasterboard. If he suggests its ok to use plywood I would question what other standards he's ignoring.

This^^^^^

[richatnort]

Rushjob said:

4Q said:

If the installer is MCS registered then he will have to follow the correct standard and mount the inverter on a heat resistant surface, not plywood. Direct to the brick wall would be fine btw as would cement board or plasterboard. If he suggests its ok to use plywood I would question what other standards he's ignoring.

This^^^^^

Ah ha! Noted! I guess there's no harm in my doing ply and then adding cement board to just where the inverter is going on top of the ply?

[dhutch]

Cow Corner said:

Has the installer confirmed that the equipment can be installed onto plywood (ie a combustible material)?

Mmmm

[dhutch]

richatnort said:

Thanks all so far, i am fairly certain i'll go with sticking it to the wall.

Might not be your intention, but I would certainly not be relying on adhesive to bond the mounting to the wall.

Mechanical fixings all the way, and as said, if driving rain or wanting rear entry of cables, space the board off the wall.

[richatnort]

dhutch said:

Might not be your intention, but I would certainly not be relying on adhesive to bond the mounting to the wall.

Mechanical fixings all the way, and as said, if driving rain or wanting rear entry of cables, space the board off the wall.

Sorry bad wording! Most definitely going to be screwed to the wall haha!