Shop Walls

[Bob Marino]

Ok, moving right along with the shop. For the shop walls - drywall, slatboard, T 1-11? Whatever the material, I am going to paint it an off white/ Festool light gray - nice, bright and clean. My initial thoughts are drywall will get banged up in a hurry. I may use French cleats for some wall cabinets, so slatboards, T1-11, something else?

Bob

[Keith Burns]

I used 3/4" plywood on mine. That way I can hang anything anywhere without having to worry about hitting a stud. If I need to move something just take the screw/hanger out and move it.

[Mike Weaver]

Bob,
I used 3/4" T&G OSB Subfloor on mine...

This thread may be useful:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=22587

Cheers,
-Mike

[Charles Bruno]

Bob,
When moved in to my house I used dry wall. I wish I had used t1-11 our something more solid. go with the T1-11. I think Norm did a shop wall on one of the NYW. It worked great, you can hang thing with no worry.

[Jim Hager]

I used 1/2" osb for my shop walls and screwed it all to the studs with drywall screws so I can get it off there in case of repairs and redos.

http://a9.cpimg.com/image/65/E2/37671269-d72e-02000180-.jpg

I bought 20 gallons of flat white mixing base for $2 gallon at an auction and painted it all before moving in. Still got a couple of gallons for touch ups. I like the osb because I can put anything I want to on the walls without worrying about it holding. Of course the heavy shelving is mounted to the studs. OSB will take quite a whoopin before it is damaged.

Sure wish I could get some more organization time in my shop. Work flow is good but the mess, oh, the mess.:o

[lou sansone]

here is how I have done the walls.

lou

[John Renzetti]

Hi Bob, For the walls you may have to put up firerated 5/8" drywall initially over the studs. I writing this on the fly and can't remember if your shop/garage was attached to your house or not. If it is attached in anyway then the firerated drywall will be required. Might still be required even if completely detached.
After that you could leave areas with just drywall and then put cabinets on the walls. Slatwall looks good. Wall paneling is also nice but can get expensive.
take care,
John

[Larry Norton]

Bob, I wasn't worried about "Pretty" on my one inside wall. I used OSB. The rest of the walls are white pegboard.

[Bob Marino]

Thanks guys - wow, there are a lot of nice shops there.

John, the garage is unattached, but I will check into the codes regarding drywall over the studs as a fire protectant.

Bob

[Kelly C. Hanna]

I vote on Lou's solution. I'll be doing the same thing someday with my little red barn shop...I love the look.

[John Gregory]

Bob,
I used 3/4" T&G OSB Subfloor on mine...

This thread may be useful:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=22587

Cheers,
-Mike

I did the same thing Mike did and I am very please with it. I can put a nail or screw anywhere I want to. Of course hanging heavy cabinets, I use french cleats and screw the cleat into studs. But most tools will hang anywhere with a nail or screw. One note. If you are going to paint it like I did. use a oil base primer, water base primers raise the "grain" (various shaped wood chips really)and makes the walls very rough.
John

[Jim Becker]

The "original portion" of my shop is T1-11, although I made the mistake of using the thinner stuff. If you do this material, get the thicker version ~ 3/4". The newer portion of the shop has 7/16" OSB as it was cheap and available at the time. It does require "a lot" of paint to cover as it soaks in big-time. One option is to use OSB or any other inexpensive 1/2" nominal material and overlay that with the least cost unfinsihed bead-board paneling you can find. I only mention this because you are not just building a shop for personal use, but also a space that you will have customers in from time to time. Regardless, french cleats are the way to go for hangin cabinetry and other things on the wall...the WOOD Magazine Idea Shop #5 has a lot of great ideas toward that end.

[larry merlau]

Bob i too have 1/2" osb. but if i had to do over again and had the availbilty of lumber i would go with lou's idea it just looks better.. :D but the construction would dictate what would work better for you. pole construction or timber construction works well with vertical siding, but horizontial works better for stud construction or ply siding. i wouldnt go with t1 -11 its not worth the cost in my book.

[Jamie Buxton]

In my shop, you mostly can't see the walls. They are obscured by cabinets, storage racks, lumber, sheet goods, and the like. That is, sheetrock would be fine. Heck, no interior covering would be fine, except that you'd need to run power in conduit.

[Bob Wingard]

I used "Hardi-Panel" .. .. .. same size, look, and feel of T-111 but super fire resistant, won't rot & bugs won't touch it !! !! !!

[Ellen Benkin]

You'll find lots of previous threads about this very popular topic. After all the electrical work was done I considered lots of wall options. I was going to use T111, but decided to go with 1/2" cheap plywood. I also got fairly cheap white paint and painted all the walls. I wouldn't have them in my house, but they function well for a garage workshop. The white makes the room look bigger and certainly brighter and having plywood means I can hang light things wherever I want to. Heavier items (like cabinets) are hung using french cleats attached to the studs. Note: I also insulated before putting the plywood on the walls. I'm not sure the insulation in the walls does anything in the garage (concrete floor, high uninsulated roof/ceiling), but it made me feel better about the job.

[Christian Aufreiter]

Ok, moving right along with the shop. For the shop walls - drywall, slatboard, T 1-11? Whatever the material, I am going to paint it an off white/ Festool light gray - nice, bright and clean.

While it will certainly look nice and clean at the beginning, I'm not quite sure if you will be able to keep that look in the long run. We have white painted drywall in the shop and while it's certainly bright it's quite hard to keep it clean and white.
If the walls should be white and still easy to clean I'd consider tiles. They don't offer a woodshop-atmosphere though.

Regards,

Christian

[Scott Coffelt]

so you painting the trim Festool lime green? with large Festool decals?

[larry merlau]

so you painting the trim Festool lime green? with large Festool decals?

thats a good one scott :D but you do bring up a good point i would like a nice pretty decal fer my shop. that said "festool" :D you dont know where we could get one from do you?/ ;)

[John Bush]

Hi Bod,
I built my shop using old beams and wanted the inside to mimic an old barn. I had access to slotwall and used it on all the walls. I insulated and placed a vapor barrier then screwed the slotwall sheets on and the wall was done. The sheets are MDF, I left them unpainted and they resemble an old corn crib.
Aesthetics aside, I can position hangers (http://timinthq.com/?go=hangers) in any configuration, and I just had to unscrew the sheets to access the electrical panel when I rewired for the DC and 4 new 220v circuits. Definetly worth considering. The materials are more spendy initially, but time is less and reaccess is simple. Good luck, John

[Chris Padilla]

Bob,

Whatever you use for your walls and while I really like your color idea, you can beat a pure white finish for good light reflection! I did my whole (5/8" fire-rated X sheetrock) garage in an exterior grade of pure semi-gloss white.

I also went a little nuts with the Home Depot $40 T8 light fixtures. My GOD, my garage is bright with all the light on...simly incredible.

[Martin Lutz]

here are the walls in progress in my shop, T and G Aspen. This was two years ago. Sorry no current pics yet. I used 1/2'' soundboard over the 2 X 6 framing, heavy plastic, and insulation, then 1 x2 cleats for the aspen, (providing dead space as an additional sound barrier and the Aspen.

[Bob Marino]

[QUOTE=Scott Coffelt]so you painting the trim Festool lime green? with large Festool decals?[/QUOTE

Hi Scott,

Ha! :D Ha!:D

"thats a good one scott :D but you do bring up a good point i would like a nice pretty decal fer my shop. that said "festool" :D you dont know where we could get one from do you?/" ;)

Larry,

I think I know.;) :D ;)

Bob
<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

[Bob Marino]

here are the walls in progress in my shop, T and G Aspen. This was two years ago. Sorry no current pics yet. I used 1/2'' soundboard over the 2 X 6 framing, heavy plastic, and insulation, then 1 x2 cleats for the aspen, (providing dead space as an additional sound barrier and the Aspen.

Martin,

Very impressive, beautiful space, but my shop is so small if I added space for soundproofing I probably would have to eliminate tools!!

Bob

[Bob Marino]

Bob,

Whatever you use for your walls and while I really like your color idea, you can beat a pure white finish for good light reflection! I did my whole (5/8" fire-rated X sheetrock) garage in an exterior grade of pure semi-gloss white.

I also went a little nuts with the Home Depot $40 T8 light fixtures. My GOD, my garage is bright with all the light on...simly incredible.

Chris,

I will be using a bunch of those T8's - I think that's what my electrician said.:)
Rough wiring will be done Thursday.

Bob

[Bob Marino]

Hi Bod,
I built my shop using old beams and wanted the inside to mimic an old barn. I had access to slotwall and used it on all the walls. I insulated and placed a vapor barrier then screwed the slotwall sheets on and the wall was done. The sheets are MDF, I left them unpainted and they resemble an old corn crib.
Aesthetics aside, I can position hangers (http://timinthq.com/?go=hangers) in any configuration, and I just had to unscrew the sheets to access the electrical panel when I rewired for the DC and 4 new 220v circuits. Definetly worth considering. The materials are more spendy initially, but time is less and reaccess is simple. Good luck, John

John, I am going to have the walls insulated, sheetrocked and then use slatboard over most of the walls.

Bob

[Jim Becker]

...and I just had to unscrew the sheets to access the electrical panel when I rewired for the DC and 4 new 220v circuits.

I hope you don't mean that your electrical panel is covered by your slot wall...that would be a "no-no"...

[Andy Hoyt]

Whatever you do (and I vote for the OSB route) paint it white. Anything to brighten a shop (even if well lit) is always a benefit.

[John Bush]

Hi Jim,

The panel is mounted within the stud space with the door faceplate mounted on top of the slotwall in the usual fashion. I was referring to gaining access to the panel from above(and below) to add new circuits. I was able to add enough 220's so each machine has its own breaker. I wired to boxes above each machine and made custom cords that are cable tied to the DC drops down to the machine. Being able to modify the electrical this easily was sweet. I did, however, forget that the sheets weigh 90# and that's a load while lowering from a 13ft on an 8ft. ladder.

Bob,
Is there a code requirement for the drywall? The slotwall is solid enough to create a good seal and not needing to drywall is a great feature.
John

[Bob Marino]

Bob,

Is there a code requirement for the drywall? The slotwall is solid enough to create a good seal and not needing to drywall is a great feature.
John

John,

Not sure if there is a code requirement - probably is, but I was going to drywall the entire walls (and ceiling, 8') and place the slatboards about 12" from the ceiling and 3' from the floor.

Bob

[Andy Hoyt]

Bob, Your first stop is to your local building department.

More than likely, the local building code will mandate the use of (at minimum) 5/8" GWB throughout the interior of the shop if it's attached to the house. This is especially important since slotboard is notoriously flammable/inflammable/nonuninflammable (where's George Carlin when you need him?). GWB is cheap, so go for it. By covering with slotboard you won't have to do a pretty job, but you will have to do at least one tape and mud layer.

If it's detached, you might be able to avoid the GWB. But you'll still have to cover those areas that won't get slotboard unless you're planning on floor to ceiling slotboard around the entire perimeter. Yikes, that stuff ain't cheap.

Your second stop is to your insurance agent. Make sure that you coordinate your findings at the building department with your insurance agent. You may find that while satisfying your local friendly ever-smiling civil servants and their requirements, it could be an altogether different story with your local scowling ever-with-his-hand-out insurance pal.

And then, forget the slotboard altogether. It's expensive and the specialized hangars are where they'll really bite you in the rear. So like so many have said before, "use wood sheet goods like osb or cdx." Then paint it. And yes, you'll still have to install the GWB first.

[John Bush]

Hi Andy,
You are right about the cost of the slotwall material and the hangers (http://thefullm.com/?go=hangers). Fortunately I had access to the manufacturer out here and got the sheets @~ $9.00/sheet. There is a commercial display co. here that sells used/returned hangers (http://cimpanst.com/?go=hangers) for significantly less as well. I used 24 sheets and the retail costs would have encouraged me to consider other wall coverings. Good luck, John.

[larry merlau]

so you painting the trim Festool lime green? with large Festool decals?

hey scott quess what? i found one of those pretty green decals in my mail box :D must be the festool fairy was near my area latly// i want to thanks her or him for it. got just the right place for itto show of proudly its green color :D