Your opinion on my method for making a "wood wall"

[Barry Lyndon]

Hello all,

I thought I had everything planned out but now I'm starting to second guess myself. I wanted to get people's opinion on here. I've got a wall that's 64 sq ft (~9 ft high x ~7 ft wide) and I'm covering the wall with walnut boards similar to this:

http://www.marioncrown.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/w/a/walnut_sleek_natural1.jpg
http://woodflooringtrends.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/photo-2-21.jpg

I would like to have no nail/screw holes or plugs or anything other than the face of the walnut so my plan is/was to use this stuff:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Loctite-9-fl-oz-Clear-Power-Grab-Heavy-Duty-Construction-Adhesive-12-Pack-1589157/203011334

and just stick it right up on the painted drywall. My boards vary in length/width/thickness. Lengths from 1ft to 4 ft, widths from 3" to 7", and thicknesses from 1/8" to 1". Will this be too much weight on the drywall? Is there a (good) chance of the drywall paper pulling away over time from the weight? I've seen (and made) large drywall walls covered in tile which I imagine can get quite heavy and they seem to be fine. But I think this walnut wall will be quite a bit more weight than a typical tile wall.

Has anyone done this? Any thoughts (whether you've done it or not)?

[Myk Rian]

You could always put 1/4" cement board up first. That would give the glue teeth to attach to.

[Peter Quinn]

Cover the wall with 1/2" plywood screwed to the studs primed flat back to hide any voids in shadow. Should a 9' wall of wood come tumbling down on you, that's bad. I would spline the rear edges together to give a place to toenail the pieces of mechanical connection,this would be blind, keep it back 1/4 off the wall and avoid it where the stock is too thin. I would not trust drywall alone as the substrate.....it's chalk wrapped in paper.

[Barry Lyndon]

Thanks for the responses. Is there any reason to go with 1/2" plywood vs. 1/4" cement board? Or vise versa? Cost isn't really a factor for me with just this single wall. Would one hold better than the other? Thinner would be ideal because it's a recessed area and I'd like to keep as much of that recess as possible but I don't want to go with thinner if it is very inferior to the thicker plywood.

[scott vroom]

I pity the poor soul who buys your house and tries removing all of that glued/screwed structure from the wall....he's not gonna be happy with the previous homeowner.

[Dan Neuhaus]

I think you could probably get away with leaving the drywall alone but if your going to add something first i would use plywood, mostly because its easier to work with and would give you a backer to toenail through the back edges should you choose to. I would use PL Premium Fast grab to attach to the wall and use a little TBII to glue the boards to each other. I doubt the drywall is going to fail, the stress is mostly being pulled straight down and I'm pretty sure most tile is actually heavier then walnut. Thats just a guess based on lifting boxes of tile.

[Barry Lyndon]

I pity the poor soul who buys your house and tries removing all of that glued/screwed structure from the wall....he's not gonna be happy with the previous homeowner.

Yeah, it does sound like quite a nightmare for anyone wanting to take it down. Hopefully the wife doesn't get sick of it a year from now.

[Barry Lyndon]

I think you could probably get away with leaving the drywall alone but if your going to add something first i would use plywood, mostly because its easier to work with and would give you a backer to toenail through the back edges should you choose to. I would use PL Premium Fast grab to attach to the wall and use a little TBII to glue the boards to each other. I doubt the drywall is going to fail, the stress is mostly being pulled straight down and I'm pretty sure most tile is actually heavier then walnut. Thats just a guess based on lifting boxes of tile.

I'd really like you to be right since it would be less work. There is a buffet against that wall and it's recessed so the likelihood of someone standing in an area where a falling piece (or pieces) would hit them is very unlikely. We do have little ones though, so I'm not sure if it's worth the risk.

[ken masoumi]

I wonder if it is possible to see small gaps due to wood movement( after a few months)?specially if the pieces are mounted on plywood which moves at a different rate.:confused:
Just thinking outloud.

[Matt Day]

Sounds like you have some good advice on how to adhere it.

I have a question about the layout though. It sounds like your pieces are all different in every dimension. Isn't that going to be a real bear to install and have tight joints? Wouldn't it be a heck of a lot easier to make them all say 4/4 and varying the other 2 dimensions? More curious about your installation method than anything.

[Barry Lyndon]

Sounds like you have some good advice on how to adhere it.

I have a question about the layout though. It sounds like your pieces are all different in every dimension. Isn't that going to be a real bear to install and have tight joints? Wouldn't it be a heck of a lot easier to make them all say 4/4 and varying the other 2 dimensions? More curious about your installation method than anything.

I've ripped everything to 3 set widths. So, there are a bunch of:
3" wide pieces that are varying lengths and thicknesses,
4.5" wide pieces that are varying lengths and thicknesses,
and 7" wide pieces that are varying lengths and thicknesses.

So, basically each row will be all same width pieces (either 3, 4.5, or 7). Otherwise, yeah, it would be a lot of work to make tight joints without a bunch of gaps.

[Bill Orbine]

Usually the adhesives are pretty good stuff and it's near impossible to pull the boards off without breaking some. The Loctite is a good solution. But if you're worried about any hint of failure and need to use "abundance of caution" (I heard that phrase recently), you could use 2,3 or maybe 4 or 5 dowels pins depending on the length of the boards. simply make yourself one drilling jig that will allow you put a line of holes in the back of the board you're installing. Use this drilling stick to transfer the holes to the wall..... are you getting the picture?????? or do I need to elaborate???

[Barry Lyndon]

Usually the adhesives are pretty good stuff and it's near impossible to pull the boards off without breaking some. The Loctite is a good solution. But if you're worried about any hint of failure and need to use "abundance of caution" (I heard that phrase recently), you could use 2,3 or maybe 4 or 5 dowels pins depending on the length of the boards. simply make yourself one drilling jig that will allow you put a line of holes in the back of the board you're installing. Use this drilling stick to transfer the holes to the wall..... are you getting the picture?????? or do I need to elaborate???

I get what you're saying. To clarify though, I'm not worried about the Loctite adhesive that I purchased failing. I'm confident that it will hold the boards up just fine. I'm worried about all the weight of every single piece of walnut testing the strength of the drywall layers. I don't want the weight to cause the outer paper layer of the drywall to pull away from the plaster center. Make sense?

[Barry Lyndon]

I've been brainstorming... tell me what you guys think about this.

I get 4 or 5 strips of 1x material (pine or whatever, or maybe even thinner like some 1/4" or 1/2" plywood) the full width of the wall (~7ft) and screw them into the studs going horizontally. Then, as I'm gluing the walnut up there, when I get to the horizontal "cleats" I will glue on the face of the cleat for that row. The row above that will basically be sitting on top of the cleat. So, if there are 4 or 5 cleats, that should take enough weight off the drywall right? I guess there will be some logistic stuff to figure out to make sure that the row above and below are thick enough to cover the cleat fully. Basically, the cleat rows will just make that walnut row slightly thicker which is fine because I have varying thickness in the pieces.

[Bill Orbine]

I get what you're saying. To clarify though, I'm not worried about the Loctite adhesive that I purchased failing. I'm confident that it will hold the boards up just fine. I'm worried about all the weight of every single piece of walnut testing the strength of the drywall layers. I don't want the weight to cause the outer paper layer of the drywall to pull away from the plaster center. Make sense?

Some people were concerned about a piece(s) falling down....too this is what I'm offering a possible solution. Either way, piece(s) or the whole wall, I'm not worried at all.

[Peter Quinn]

I can easily peel the paper off of drywall with my bare hands. I don't know any decent tile installers that tile whole walls anymore by using mastic to drywall directly. Drywall can support paint and not much more. I suggested plywood over cement board because it's much easier to works with and takes fasteners better. Cement board is great for thinset applications like tub surrounds or fireplace areas, otherwise......skip it. Or buy a piece and experience the joy it presents first hand. If the 1/2" plywood is really too thick....and that strikes me as odd, what real difference does 1/4" make at this point?......you could use 3/8" sheathing. My suggestion was to prime the substrate flat black so the inevitable gaps in the walnut tiles show a dark shadow beneath. Whatever the substrate this is a good plan.

on a completely different bent.....it occurs to me you could make tiles.....say one or two rows width, maybe three, by roughly 1/2 the walls width. Rip 1/4" plywood strips the width of the number of courses you choose, secure the walnut to these backers in the shop on the bench using adhesive/screws/nails/staples/ fastener of choice. Then attach the "panels" to the walls with the metal cleats, like z clips. Think shingle siding panels.....you can buy them in 2X4 panels with the shingles preattached for rapid and secure installation. No reason you can't do the same....then when you want to change back to plain wall, you just have to pull off the panels, patch a few screw holes.

[Rich Engelhardt]

The commercial ones you can buy at any home center are T&G.
You're not supposed to glue each one since that will cause them to buckle when they expand and contract.

You nail and glue the starter in a corner, then free float 3 pieces, then nail and glue the fourth after adjusting it for plumb.


[QUOTE][ I don't want the weight to cause the outer paper layer of the drywall to pull away from the plaster center. Make sense?/QUOTE]
Never happen.
The cap molding on top and the baseboard on the bottom will support the wood easily.

Some time - just for grins and giggles, use some TBII or Elmer's and glue a piece of 2x4 to a garage wall - or some other place where there's drywall that you don't mind messing up.
Let it dry, then try to pull it off and make the paper come off the drywall.

Removal is easy. Rip it out down to the studs and hang new drywall. You're only talking about 2 sheets of drywall - about $15.00 and $10 worth of mud.

[william biba]

Nice project! If your worried about weight then screw 1/2 sheathing plywood over the sheet rock or remove the rock first (a bit of a mess) and you wont add to the thickness of the wall. I have used the power grab on a lot of projects and it seems to hold real good. post pics when complete.

[Barry Lyndon]

Thank you all for the advise! Sounds like enough people think the drywall will hold up just fine so that's what we're going to try. Rich brought up a good point. It's the base board that's really holding all the weight. In our case, we took the base board off and will put it back on the face of the bottom row, so really, the floor is holding all the weight. All the wall is really doing is stabilizing the walnut so it doesn't topple over. If I get 1/3 up the wall with the walnut and feel a little uneasy about it I'll put a cleat there and another at 2/3 up to help with the weight.

I plan to have it done tomorrow evening (so in reality, that could mean mid next week). I'll definitely post pictures when it's finished William!

[mreza Salav]

Put a 1/2" plywood up and screw to studs. Then simply get walnut hardwood floor and install them using nails (as if you were installing it on the floor). I would NOT use glue.

[Jason Roehl]

Apparently not many here have remodeled a '70s or '80s-era house. People use to glue all kinds of stuff to drywall, including mirrors. 64 s.f. of walnut isn't a whole lot of weight.

I would paint the wall black or dark brown first, though--that is a good suggestion for if gaps open up due to seasonal movement.

As for the future tear-out, who cares? It's a time-honored tradition to curse the previous remodeler. Besides, even if the face paper of the drywall rips off with the glue, all that needs to be done is to seal the paper that's left, mud, sand, prime and paint. No need to rip out the drywall to the studs.

[scott vroom]

As for the future tear-out, who cares? It's a time-honored tradition to curse the previous remodeler. Besides, even if the face paper of the drywall rips off with the glue, all that needs to be done is to seal the paper that's left, mud, sand, prime and paint. No need to rip out the drywall to the studs.

I'm guessing that would be in response to my earlier post. Actually I was responding to the folks who suggested screwing plywood to the studs over the drywall, and then using construction glue to attach the walnut to the plywood. As someone with extensive remodeling experience that scenario would be a nightmare to dismantle and would involve a circular saw to cut out strips between the studs (and the associated risk of cutting romex/telecom) and then a reciprocating saw to cut each screw behind the remaining strips covering the studs.

IMO a better way to do that job would be to attach 1x horizontal furring to the studs over the drywall (or remove the drywall, add 1 or 2 courses of horizontal blocking between the studs) and then nail the hardwood boards to the furring (or blocking) with 18 gauge FN's. A matching wood filler would hide the small holes. If exposed nail heads are unacceptable then glue the boards to the furring(ugh).