Garage wall with baord

Hi,

We have a garage wall and behind the wall is our bathroom. I removed the sheetrock from the garage wall (wall which has bathroom on the other side) as I wanted to see if there was a water leak. When I removed the sheetrock, I was expecting to see insulation but I found that there is another wood sheet behind the sheetrock. and also there is metal strip (2 inch) which is nailed to the wood board from bottom on the wall going upward (verticle).

Question:
1- why we have wood sheet behind the sheetrock, as inside (room) walls have insulation behind the sheetrock.
2- what is the metal strip for ?
3- Is it ok to cut a 6 inch by 6 inch hole in the wood sheet so I can see if there is a water leak - I suspect that the leak is from the washer hose. I see the water on exterior wall but we have concrete outside so thught I woulkd check from inside befire breaking concrete.

I am a newbie, so would appreciate your help, see pitures below.


thx

noman

Post edited by: wallnom, at: 2008/10/28 20:26

Post edited by: wallnom, at: 2008/10/28 20:39

here is the picture, hope it goes through this time.,

picture again trying,

Wallnom, welcome to the forum

My best guess for having this wood sheet with iron grip is that perhaps it is stronger to uphold and besides one might think that in a garage one doesn't need insulation material - and so one would go for a 'cheaper' method.

But I am open to hear from other members what they think of it.