Painting a Plywood Room?

[Hayden Hawkins]

First time poster, long-time reader here!

Years ago, my father-in-law built a fishing camp and, out of practicality, built an upstairs loft nearly completely out of plywood. The room has served solely as a place to crash at night for a decade or so. Now, with family dynamics changing, the wives and children of the family have started visiting the camp regularly and would like to paint the sleeping loft. Admittedly, it could use some sprucing up! Problem is, I have never painted a plywood room.

I am assuming I would use loads of primer and then paint it, but I am wondering everyone's thoughts on how to go about it and, more importantly, what the final product would look like. My family hopes that painting it would make it look like a regular painted (drywall) room in any given house. I have my reservations, but would love to paint it to make it more welcoming for the whole family. Please help!

[Tom M King]

There are many choices in paint, and primer, mostly dependent on budget. It will look like painted plywood (OSB).

I would spray it with airless, but a roller will work.

[Jim Becker]

That's OSB, as Tom noted, not plywood. While never intended as a product to be "show/finished", it can be painted just fine. It will generally really soak up the first coat of primer, but will take paint from there no problem. Spraying with an airless followed by back rolling is generally the easiest way to paint this stuff and insure that all the "nooks and crannies" receive paint.

[Hayden Hawkins]

Thanks Tom and Jim! The term plywood is tossed around lightly, so apologies for misidentifying!

Do you have any specific brands in mind? I am totally out of my element in terms of painting a room. What do you mean airless? Do I use latex paint?

I am thinking two coats of a thick primer and then several coats of paint. Thanks again! Y’all are life savers.

[Jim Becker]

Yes, "latex" primer and paint. You can certainly roll/brush it on. An airless sprayer sucks paint out the can and directly sprays it on whatever you're painting without adding compressed air. Not necessary, but nice for this kind of job.

[Jamie Buxton]

If they really want it look like drywall, go ahead and cover the OSB with drywall.

[Brian Tymchak]

I'm guessing that there is no HVAC since you called it a fishing camp. When I painted my garage 9 years ago Sherwin Williams suggested using an Exterior primer and Exterior Acrylic Latex to better hold up to higher humidity levels. It has done very well. Might be a good idea for your situation. I used SW A100 Exterior Acrylic.