Wall Details For New Shop

[Rob Will]

Hi All, I would like to share the way that I recently installed 1/2" BC plywood on the interior walls of my new shop.

As it turned out, I needed to cover 9' up the wall with plywood. However, I did not want the horizontal seams as would be necessary with 8' sheets so I created a little illusion with my base and crown to get the 9' height.

The base is a poplar 1 x 8 that recieved a 1/4" roundover followed by an 1/8" deep rabbet. This rabbet is just deep enough to hide the lower edge of the plywood.

The base went down first and the plywood sits on top of the 8" base.

At the cieling, a poplar 1 x 6 is done the same way except it is flipped over with the roundover and rabbet facing down. This creates a cover for the top edge of the plywood and gives me a total of 9' height with no horizontal seams:) . The final product has a nice base / crown look yet only protrudes from the plywood by 1/4".......thus it is not in the way and with the 1/4" roundover edge, little room to collect dust:) .

The wall paint is MAB "Dillard" (light gray / green) in a gloss latex house paint. The upper part of the 16' high walls will be white corrugated metal to match the cieling. I hope you like this.

Rob

[Reg Mitchell]

laughing....Hi Rob. I been wondering where you been putting all that arn. Nice looking digs
Reg

[Kyle Kraft]

Rob,

Great idea! By the way, you'll never regret the steel ceiling, it's the only way to go!!

[Dick Sylvan]

Two questions:
1). What did you do to hide the vertical seam so well?

2). For both of you, why do you like the metal ceiling so much? Where do you get it and how much does it cost?

Thanks.

[Jim Becker]

Very clever, Rob! A nice room that's going to be, too. I really like it and the color is one of my "soothing" choices!

[glenn bradley]

Looks great. Love the "illusion". Any particular primer for the bare wood? Or none?

[Kyle Kraft]

Dick

1. The metal ceiling goes up fast.
2. When it is in place, you're finished.
3. It's about the same cost as 5/8" sheetrock when you figure in your time, materials, primer, paint, sandpaper, dust in your face, rental of a drywall jack, crappy looking over head joints, etc.
4. You can span 24" trusses and blow your insulation on top.
5. It's easy to handle, if you don't order it too long.
6. It doesn't damage as easily when you bump it with a long board.

I bought mine at Menards, a BORG, and you can order any length from 1" to 40', cost is about $55 per 100 sq. ft....less if you get it on "sale".

Let me put it this way...I will never install another sheetrock ceiling in a non-living (utility, workshop, or the like) area again....ever.

[Rob Will]

Two questions:
1). What did you do to hide the vertical seam so well?
2). For both of you, why do you like the metal ceiling so much? Where do you get it and how much does it cost?

Dick, one side benefit of the small rabbet in the base that hides the lower edge of the plywood is that you can adjust the plywood sheets when installing them so that the side seams align well. If this causes the bottom edge to vary just a bit, who cares because the 1/8" rabbet completely covers that edge. Aside from that, the seams were caulked after priming the wall. More on that later.

On the metal ceiling, my building is a pole barn with 4' truss spacing. The metal ceiling easily spans the 4' between trusses. Insulation is blown in directly on top of the metal. Some around here have used fiberglass but I used celuose. Allthough celuose is a little heavier than fiberglass, the ceiling supports it just fine. The entire white metal ceiling for my 48' x 80' building was a $3000 add-on (installed). So if you figure the ability to span 4' without additional support, durability, labor savings, and the allready white finish.......metal is hard to beat.

Rob

[Rob Will]

Looks great. Love the "illusion". Any particular primer for the bare wood? Or none?

Thanks Glenn,
After installation with a framing nailer (using 6d ringshanks), the bare plywood was lightly sanded with a palm sander and 100 grit paper. Then a coat of Zissner (water based) Bullseye 123 (tinted 1/2 of paint) was applied with an 18" roller. After priming, all of the nail holes and vertical seams were caulked.

The finish coat is gloss latex house paint. I can't tell you guys how happy I am with the decision to use exterior house paint for this interior application. The heavy consistency covers wood grain and any exposed seams. The flexible nature of latex works nicely over the seams and from what I am told, latex also holds it's gloss quite well.

Rob

[Don Bullock]

Rob,

Great idea! By the way, you'll never regret the steel ceiling, it's the only way to go!!

How do you keep water from condensing on the underside of the steel ceiling? I used to have a patio with a steel cover. Whenever it got humid water would condense on the underside and drip down.:confused:

[Rob Will]

How do you keep water from condensing on the underside of the steel ceiling? I used to have a patio with a steel cover. Whenever it got humid water would condense on the underside and drip down.:confused:

Don, condensation has not been a problem. My builder says insulation is the key to avoiding this problem.
Rob

[Tom Maple]

Very Nice! I've been trying to decide how to finish off my shop (also a pole barn) and this gives me some additional alternatives.
Thanks,
Tom

[Rob Will]

Very Nice! I've been trying to decide how to finish off my shop (also a pole barn) and this gives me some additional alternatives.
Thanks,
Tom

The hardest part of this method was that we installed flat blocking between the studs out of scrap 2x4's and 2x6's. This gave us something to nail to and it keeps the plywood nice and flat where it meets the base.

Rob

[Kyle Kraft]

Never had condensation. My shop is heated all winter, and if anything, it's too dry.