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Economical Slatwall
My brother in law recently finished his new 1 car garage in the city, and it looks very slick. Hes a car guy, so he spent a decent amount on flooring and fixtures. Anyways, it makes my shop space look like bombed out Mosul in comparison. In particular, he has a gray plastic-like slatwall that is great for organizing things and it looks slick. I would love to cover a few of my exposed block walls with something similar. I would do away with the grungy dirty look of 60 year old white and brown paint, and gain a ton of instant wall storage for small to medium items. Of course, his product he used costs $150-200 for a 4x8 sheet. Fine for him, because he only has it on a 8x8 wall, but not so fine for me. My first thought was this has to be readily available on craigslist from remodeled or closing retail stores, but that is not the case. Does anyone have any tips for cheap or effective means of acquiring slatwall? I know there has to be a ton of this stuff out there, but i wonder if it ends up in a dumpster before making it to a reseller.
While im on the subject of facelifts, what are my options for coloring old brown and yellow floor tile? I dont want to remove it, because im sure floor tile from the 50s has asbestos in it. Fine while its a tile, not so fine when im breaking it up and causing particles to become airborne.
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I believe some places sell the router bit in which you can make your own out of sheet goods. Rockler, Whiteside and many others make a T Slot cutter. There was a place called US Slatwall, and a 4x8 sheet started at $42 a sheet. The router bits cost around $30.
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In my area Menards sells white slatwall 4x8 panels for about $35 bucks. They are MDF so are not the most durable, but for typical shop use they should be fine. The also sell the aluminum liners you can slide in the slots. They increase durability a lot, but also increase the cost. A buddy of mine lined a garage wall with the panels and he put the aluminum channels in every 4th or fifth slot. If he has to hang something unusually heavy he makes sure to use one of the lined slots.
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I used to work at a computer store that was located in a shopping mall. The mall maintenance crew was constantly remodeling spaces as stores closed/opened/moved. I was able to get several sheets of like-new slatwall for free from the maintenance supervisor. I also picked up 20 feet of commercial racking in 5 sections that I used for garage storage. They were just going to throw it out as the new store had their own racking and slatwall they were using.
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Check out this thread by Mike Heidrick. He made his own slat wall.
https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....-Barn-40X64X16
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rip 4" pieces of 3/4" plywood at a 45 deg angle. Can get 100ft for $40. at one every 12", thats 40 cents a sq ft. then you don't have to buy the expensive hangers either.
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The slatwall for me is sorta 60:40 aesthetics versus organization. Anyone that has glimpsed my basement space can tell that i put zero effort or funds into things looking good or being organized. Now that i have just about all the tools i can fit down there, i want to spruce the place up a bit. Im afraid that even with painting the block walls white or gray will still leave me with a space that looks like a prison. Im hoping to run the slatwall from the ceiling down to 3', and then paint the lower 3' of block. It will be nice to get all the coiled bandsaw blades off the ground next to the bandsaw and all the other accessory crap that goes along with most tools. Anyways, i want the paneling to cover most of the block wall, which is why i dont want to do a french cleat system. If i had wood framed walls with drywall, then homemade french cleat would make all the sense in the world. A local slatwall distributor has 4x8 panels of MDF faced with brushed aluminum that might look pretty cool. $70 a sheet, and i need 4.
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Mike, that is soooo much plywood. Your system is the better one with greater weight capacity, but that is more expensive than buying slatwall.
Thankfully, I got lucky this week and found 10 sheets of slatwall for $10 a sheet. Bought them all, and will have a nice coverage with plenty of storage options. Has anyone used the insert strips to increase the weight bearing of specific slots? This MDF slatwall can only handle 10-20lbs per linear foot, I think. Not much, but enough for blades and push sticks and other accessories. Thank God for Craigslist.
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I bought 32"x48"x3/4" marine grade ply 1/3 sheets for $1 each. I bought 1600 of them. Spent about $0.25 to paint each one. Just selling what i did not use i have made over $5000 selling them or projects made with them. Still have 250 sheets. Best investment in the shop for the shop.
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Where did you get a deal like that???
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CL. Took 7 car hauler trips full.
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It seems like it would be pretty easy to make your own .. base of your choice, maybe 1/2" plywood. 1/2" MDF spacers and 1/4" or 1/8" hardboard (Masonite) on top. Rip into slats and screw together, directly to the wall. Lining up is all in the placement of screw holes.
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Menards sells a metal insert that strengthens their slatwall 300% they claim.
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I’m going to drop these pics here and then go up to the computer to add comments.
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Okay- Edit:
DO NOT BUY SLATWALL AT HOME DEPOT!!!! It is horribly routed, has tons of dust left in the routed grooves, and it smells like formaldahyde. Go to a "real" supplier and make sure you get the stuff with the metal inserts. They make a huge difference in the strength. It's a little harder to install because you need to screw through each metal strip- I guess you don't have to, but I did- when you install.
I installed over stone walls in a very old home. What I did is put 2x4 studs screwed into the walls on the flat side with tapcons to create a 2" air gap. Then I put a vapor barrier over that, then screwed the slat wall into the studs by predrilling through the aluminum slats and screwing in with stainless screws.
DO NOT buy Norsk drill hangers. They don't have enough room for the drill handle to fit. Just get the prongs for store displays. For your clamps, use shelf hangers with added supports (see image- hangers are white- supports are chrome). They hold a lot of weight as you can see. For the larger clamps I added another shelf hanger to keep them hanging straight because they wanted to hang at an angle, and that hurts my OCD. :-)
Some of my shelves and hangers came from these guys in Kansas City: https://kc-store-fixtures.com/?gclid...CAAEgKZ0fD_BwE My brother lives there and picked them up and met me for Christmas and I flew home with them. They had great prices. I think they do ship, but I live international, so that made shipping more complicated.
Most of my stuff came from these guys in Miami. They were familiar with shipping overseas by boat (everyone in Miami is) and they had a great price on slatwall with the inserts. I got the faux maple veneer, and I love it. It looks great, and it's easy to clean. https://www.displaysdepot.com/
Check your local area. Most large cities seem to have a supplier for slatwall. Shipping, of course, is a challenge for 4x8 sheet goods.
Fair warning- do not go cheap. Believe me- there is a huge difference in the quality.
