best material for shop walls?

[Tom Jones III]

I have a 3 car unfinished garage. LOML recently gave me a 20,000 BTU window AC for the shop. Here in TX, the heat is so oppressive that the AC isn't going to do much unless I finish in the shop. I plan on putting sheetrock and insulation on the ceiling ASAP. After the ceiling I'll insulate and cover the walls but I am hesitant to put sheetrock on the walls. The only reason for covering the walls is for insulation. I'm not crazy about sheetrock on the walls b/c it is so hard to attach things to the wall (lumber rack, etc).

What are your favorite materials for shop walls? It seems like I've seen some pictures with peg board. What about OSB plywood, which is almost as cheap as sheetrock, it seems like it would be easy to install and better for attaching things to the wall.

[Mike Weaver]

I used 3/4" T & G OSB subfloor for the wall in my basement shop. I screwed it every foot with 2" screws.

The beauty of that, as you alluded to, is that when I want to hang something - I just screw it to the wall.

If you wanted to, you could add bracing between the wall studs at ~6 1/2' high and then attach cleats all around at that height for even more over-engineered strength when hanging things.

I've never been accused of under-engineering anything...:D

Cheers,
-Mike

[jay hanks]

I have sheetrock which will be coming off to insulate behind it, hopefully this summer. Just a few thoughts here, you might want to add extra 2x4 studs and maybe cross peices for any area where wieght might be or an area where you will be hanging cabinets. That is one thing I plan to do.
I also dont know about TX but I understand here in Oh I have to put drywall up for fire protection, I can add whatever over that but drywall has to be the base.

[Peter Mc Mahon]

I used drywall. It is much cheaper than osb [around here] and I think looks a lot better. I painted it white and my shop is significantly brighter. I attatch everything to the walls with french cleats. I installed a cleat around the entire room at 7' height. I have also installed other ones at lower heights. I have a small stack of cleat material sitting around for any future changes. Good luck. Peter

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Tom,

I would go with OSB on the walls. I still would not want to attach anything real heavy to just the OSB. If you are talking about attaching a lumber rack or cabinets to the wall, I would still hook them to studs, not the OSB. The OSB is great for haning up small things, you can do it anywhere.

Good luck!!

[Jim Hager]

I used OSB 7/16" when I did my shop walls. I then sprayed the whole project with white latex paint that I bought at an auction for $2 a gallon. Sorta made the project pretty cheap to do. The osb will hold a bit more dust than sheet rock but sure is a lot more durable and in the long run durability is a more important feature at least for me.


OSB paints well, you can either use a flat or semi-gloss finish, holds screws for the mounting of certain stuff to the wall. Be sure to hunt a stud for heavier items but the OSB by itself will hold a bunch of weight.

http://a6.cpimg.com/image/BC/E5/37671356-c409-02000180-.jpg

One of these days I'm gonna put a ceiling in my shop. That is gonna be a dandy task.http://sawmillcreek.org/images/smilies/redface.gif

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Tom I just finished the interior of my new shop. The walls are 1/2" CDX plywood and the ceiling is 5/8" sheetrock. I'm wishing I'd put plywood on the ceiling too!

[John Dingman]

Tom,

I am in the process of building my basement shop and I used 7/16 OSB. I will be adding a couple more lights and plan to paint the entire space bright white on Thursday.

http://www.johnswoodshop.us/Images/Basement%20Shop%20West%20-%20East%20View.jpg


Good luck to you!
John

[John M. Cioffi]

Hi Tom,

My 2-car garage was gutted out & I used 1/2" ac plywood for the walls. I used a good primer & 2 top coats of Gliddin exterior acrylic enamel, gloss white.It is really worth it when you can nail/screw anything to the wall & not worry about it pulling off.
Have fun building your shop. Be safe!
John

[Ron Taylor]

7/16" OSB here, and if I were doing it again, I'd do the same.... cheap, versatile, sturdy as long as it is dry, paintable, etc., etc.

This is my first attempt at posting a pic, so if it works, notice that I'm still in the process of putting up walls. I did 9 foot ceilings and am having to put in a 1 foot piece at the top of the wall.

[Mac McAtee]

I used the cheapest, light colored, 4X8 slick surface "panneling" that I could find at the local HD or Lowes. Put it up with the nails that you use for that, about 1" long. Anytime I decide that I want to change wiring in the walls I just pop off a 4X8 pannel and make the changes and nail the sucker back up.

The pannels around my main electrial pannel in the shop are put on with screws, figuring that I would take those off more often than any other ones.

The slick surface doesn't collect dust. It is light weight and easy to put up and take down if necessary. I forget exactly but at the time it was in the $6-7 per sheet range, got it on sale. I like the light color because it helps improve lighting.

If I want to hang something heavy on the wall I screw a wood batten to two studs. Larger things get screwed directly to the studs. If I ever need to get in the wall to change the wiring or run wires for a new outlet, I just unscrew and pull the pannels off.

[larry merlau]

i too have osb on the walls not painted but wished i had, and steel on the ceiling. ceiling cleans easily and reflects the light well. and in michigan you will insulate or freeze. i alos always anchor to studs fo rthe heavy stuff. the french cleat method is a good one, but before my knowlege of it i used just the studs.

[George Summers]

I used OSB and fastened it with screws so that I can easily remove a panel to get behind it to run more wires or whatever.

George

[lou sansone]

As you can see from the photo, I like to use nautural wood siding that has been surfaced.


lou

[John Dingman]

Lou,

What a fantastic looking shop!

John

[Scott Coffelt]

I was thinking more like what a big arse bandsaw. Look at the motor in that thing, dwarfs the DC hose. Wow.

[Jim Dannels]

When I bought my place the garage/shop was already finished with panneling on sidewalls & pegboard across front.

My only objection is the outlets in the sidewall are too low. Knowing what I do now they would be over 48" above the floor incase you want to set sheetgoods along the wall. The outlets being blocked can be a pain!

Looks like everyone covered the sheeting options.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Jim.....I put my outlets 48 1/4" above the floor in my new shop. Wished I'd put them 53-54" instead!

[JayStPeter]

I had trouble getting a definitive answer if OSB was a violation of fire code in my basement. But, I stopped trying when I realized soundproofing implications and the cost differential. Drywall is a better sound deadener (if that makes a difference to you). Plywood and OSB act as a sound board transmitting vibration to your studs. If I remember right, OSB was also about 3x as expensive as drywall.
That said, I would rather have some form of wooden walls (and ceiling) in an ideal shop.

Jay

[Ellen Benkin]

I put in insulation and 1/2" plywood screwed to the studs. I used the plywood so that I could screw hangers wherever I wanted to. It's worked well. Everything is painted white (with very cheap paint) to reflect the light. I also had the electrician put the outlets about 49" above the floor so that a 4' sheet of wood would not cover them.

[Bob Wingard]

I used 4'X8' sheets pf Hardi-Panel .. .. .. very heavy & durable, good looking, and it holds paint very well. Will not rot or burn, and bugs won't touch it. At about $20/sheet, it seemed like a pretty good compromise.

[Roger Bell]

I used sheetrock for one "finished" room. And 1/2" AC ply on the remainder of the walls...screwed. While the sheetrock itself was cheap, the amount of work involved with hanging, taping and mudding and taping and mudding and taping and mudding, sanding, nasty dust, priming and painting made the ultimate "cost savings" questionable in my mind. And I have walls that are probably too fragile for a shop.

The AC ply with screws went up fast and can come down even faster for access to wiring. When I had a nasty piece of turning stock fly off the lathe and mess up a wall....no problem at all to fix it. I didnt paint the AC ply but still looks nice and closer to that appealing "woody" look that Lou's walls sport than either sheetrock or OSB I think.

I also installed french cleats all the way around all walls. Cabinets, pegboard, tool racks installed on cleats so the wall layout is flexible as it needs to be.

[Peter Mc Mahon]

Very nice Lou. How about some pics of the rest of the shop?

[lou sansone]

Very nice Lou. How about some pics of the rest of the shop?

hi peter and others

here is a link to my previous shop tour

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=19846

enjoy
lou

[Rick Thom]

What Jay St. Peter said wrt potential problems with 'fire code' and also your home insurance. Fire resistance is one of the reasons dry wall is used.

[Bob Borzelleri]

I used 4'X9' 3/8" OSB over insulation and then covered the OSB with 3/8" Plytanium™ Ply-Bead® Panels from Georgia Pacific. I'm about 1/2 finished with the Ply-Bead. A bit more pricy that other options, but I like the look and feel.


...Bob

[Robert Johnstone]

Has anyone tried putting on a skim coat of plaster or joint compound over OSB to cut down on dust adhesion?

[Craig Salyers]

This may be a dumb question, but what is a french cleat?

[Steve Aiken]

The French Cleat is a special genre of attachment originating from French-speaking lands such as France or Quebec:D

Take a length of 1x6, set up your tablesaw blade on a 45 degree and rip the board. Attach one half to the wall, such that the pointy end faces up, and attach the other half to your cabinet with the pointy end facing down, and hang the cabinet on the wall.

Voila, French Cleat.

Steve

[Steve Stube]

Has anyone tried putting on a skim coat of plaster or joint compound over OSB to cut down on dust adhesion?


Yes, a skim coat works on OSB but I didn't try it until I was finishing the last small room and the rest was already painted. If I were to do it again the whole shop would get a skim coat. I used Glid-Seal to keep the screws from bleeding where I used Latex or skim coat - It wasn't necessary where I painted with oil base enamel. The drywall bath did get a skim coat too.

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned this about OSB. It is purposely made undersize to allow for the metal tabs used with it in roof applications. An eighth inch under 48" in width and if you stand the sheets up on your walls after 6 sheets you are off the stud. I measured a lot of OSB by different manufactures and finally found some that measured a full 4' X 8' and was square (determined by diagonal measurements). I haven't heard anybody complain about being short sheeted.

[Aaron Montgomery]

I used drywall in my basement shop. The reason I did was that I wanted the room easily convertable to living space when i sell the house. I understand that not everyone would be interested in a dedicated shop space in the largest room of an exposed basement that had the only exterior access (slider). To that end I also kept my 110 outlets at the standard height, though they are numerous and each wall is on it's own circuit. The 220 runs in surface conduit that's easily removeable. The only thing I would change now would be to use 5/8" on the interior walls instead of 1/2" - and that's mainly for noise supression.

http://home.insightbb.com/~apmonte/Graphics/WoodShop_20.jpg

[Frank Pellow]

I used thin (5 mm) plywood on my wall and ceiling and painted both white. The plywood was inexpensive (about $15 Canadian a sheet) and suprisingly strong. I really appreciated how light it was when nailing the sheets to my cathedral ceiling.

I find that I can screw light things to the plywood without having to bother connecting to the underlying studs.

I have bumped into plywood on both the wall and ceiling a few times with heavy things that I know would break through drywall, and there has been no damage.

[Joe Mioux]

When we purchased our house two years ago, the garage had 1/2 inch OSB on the walls. Personally, I don't like the way it looks but it was there and it is functional.

The ceiling was unfinished so last year I had the ceiling finished with dry wall. It still needs to be taped and mudded. I chose dry wall on the ceiling because it was a lot cheaper than osb.

Joe

[Bill Lewis]

When finishing my basement shop this past winter, I looked in to using OSB and plywood for the walls. It was too expensive. OSB was around $20 a sheet. So I went with drywall. I do like the finished look, and it could be living space for a future owner, but they get to move the outlets.

During construction, I used 1/4" Luan plywood under 5/8" fire rate drywall for the adjoining garage wall. I installed the luan to provide a "backer" to spray the icynene foam insulation before the drywall went up. Unintentionally it has worked out pretty good. You can screw stuff in to it better than just drywall alone.

[Bob Stroman]

I am going with slatwall on the top 4' and drywall on the bottom 4'. It's a 9' foot wall so the middle foot will be removable plywood. The removable plywood will allow me to add electrical wire around the walls whenever necessary. The bottom 5' of the wall will be uninsulated to facilitate additional wiring. It's a basement shop. I plan to paint the bottom 5' white. Oh, and the ceiling is drywall.

Slatwall is the generic term for the commercial display material. I chose MDF core with a maple melamine finish. I think Rockler calls it slotwall. GarageTek is the same idea.

Bob Stroman

[Frank Pellow]

I am going with slatwall on the top 4' and drywall on the bottom 4'. It's a 9' foot wall so the middle foot will be removable plywood. The removable plywood will allow me to add electrical wire around the walls whenever necessary. The bottom 5' of the wall will be uninsulated to facilitate additional wiring. It's a basement shop. I plan to paint the bottom 5' white. Oh, and the ceiling is drywall.

Slatwall is the generic term for the commercial display material. I chose MDF core with a maple melamine finish. I think Rockler calls it slotwall. GarageTek is the same idea.

Bob Stroman
The slatwall should work well, but I continue to recommend plywood rather than drywall for the rest.

and, oh yes, I see that this is your first post Bob, so welcome to Saw Mill Creek!

[Ole Anderson]

I went with OSB, I hate it when I put the corner of a sheet of plywood through drywall, plus I like the wood look. Ok so this shows the metal shop portion of my shop...


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v152/CJ7ole/shop2sm.jpg

[Jim Becker]

If I had a choice, I'd use 3/4" T&G pine. But OSB, plywood, T1-11 or other sheet goods that can hold screws is a good choice. In some areas, you may be required to install drywall under it, however, if your shop is also a garage attached to your house, at least on common walls and ceilings. Pegboard would be my last choice...I prefer cabinets, etc., for tool storage.

[Lisa Starr]

My building is pole style, so the insulation package is the following. The spaces between the exterior purlins have 1-1/2" polyiso insulation board insulation. There are then purlins on the inside face of the poles and 7/16" OSB. Between the 2 walls in blown in cellulose. My ceiling is also OSB, as it doesn't mar when I hit it with a long board. The ceiling is painted white and the walls a light tan. I like the horizontal purlins, as I can usually utilize one or two when hanging heavier items. The OSB is sufficient for the lighter things.

[Al Launier]

Regardless of your choice, if the wall which is common to the house is not already finished, you might want to check the building code to see if fire resistant drywall is required. It is here in NH.

[Jim Becker]

This thread is from 2005 and was bumped by a spammer.

Jim
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