I have an attached garage ,where my room is right above the garage.
My neighbors have the exact garage with there bedroom overtop the garage. They reciently had a fire and the home is being repaired. I had noticed that the contractors had put up two layers of 5/8 fircode sheetrock. I was planning to do the same to my house but was wondering why 2 layers or 5/8 was necessary. Couldn't they have put up one layer of 5/8 firecode the a 1/2 inch over top that , also they put the sheetrock perpendicular to the joist , joists on these homes are 16 on center. The house is 24 feet wide with a steel I beam running down the middle.I live in PA . In case you need to know about building codes.
Any help would be great.

Thank You
Rob

How old is this home. Attached garages with living space above have required fire rated drywall for a very long time. The more drywall you install the longer before fire burns through to the living space. Code is a safety minimum and assumes you will get yourself out of the home is a fairly short amount of time. Drywall is not fire proof, its fire resistant and will eventually fail in a fire left burning

The house is a late 50 rancher , the garage is all cinderblocck except for the ceiling of course.I 'am little worrierd about the weight of 2 layer of 5/8. Each run of 2x8 joist is about 11 feet from the wall to the steel Ibeam then aouther 11 feet from Ibeam again to the otherside of the garage(16" OC).You think It will be OK or should I put the fire rated 5/8 then 1/2 over that .
Thank You
Rob