best material for shop walls?

[Scott Coffelt]

I was thinking more like what a big arse bandsaw. Look at the motor in that thing, dwarfs the DC hose. Wow.

[Jim Dannels]

When I bought my place the garage/shop was already finished with panneling on sidewalls & pegboard across front.

My only objection is the outlets in the sidewall are too low. Knowing what I do now they would be over 48" above the floor incase you want to set sheetgoods along the wall. The outlets being blocked can be a pain!

Looks like everyone covered the sheeting options.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Jim.....I put my outlets 48 1/4" above the floor in my new shop. Wished I'd put them 53-54" instead!

[JayStPeter]

I had trouble getting a definitive answer if OSB was a violation of fire code in my basement. But, I stopped trying when I realized soundproofing implications and the cost differential. Drywall is a better sound deadener (if that makes a difference to you). Plywood and OSB act as a sound board transmitting vibration to your studs. If I remember right, OSB was also about 3x as expensive as drywall.
That said, I would rather have some form of wooden walls (and ceiling) in an ideal shop.

Jay

[Ellen Benkin]

I put in insulation and 1/2" plywood screwed to the studs. I used the plywood so that I could screw hangers wherever I wanted to. It's worked well. Everything is painted white (with very cheap paint) to reflect the light. I also had the electrician put the outlets about 49" above the floor so that a 4' sheet of wood would not cover them.

[Bob Wingard]

I used 4'X8' sheets pf Hardi-Panel .. .. .. very heavy & durable, good looking, and it holds paint very well. Will not rot or burn, and bugs won't touch it. At about $20/sheet, it seemed like a pretty good compromise.

[Roger Bell]

I used sheetrock for one "finished" room. And 1/2" AC ply on the remainder of the walls...screwed. While the sheetrock itself was cheap, the amount of work involved with hanging, taping and mudding and taping and mudding and taping and mudding, sanding, nasty dust, priming and painting made the ultimate "cost savings" questionable in my mind. And I have walls that are probably too fragile for a shop.

The AC ply with screws went up fast and can come down even faster for access to wiring. When I had a nasty piece of turning stock fly off the lathe and mess up a wall....no problem at all to fix it. I didnt paint the AC ply but still looks nice and closer to that appealing "woody" look that Lou's walls sport than either sheetrock or OSB I think.

I also installed french cleats all the way around all walls. Cabinets, pegboard, tool racks installed on cleats so the wall layout is flexible as it needs to be.

[Peter Mc Mahon]

Very nice Lou. How about some pics of the rest of the shop?

[lou sansone]

Very nice Lou. How about some pics of the rest of the shop?

hi peter and others

here is a link to my previous shop tour

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=19846

enjoy
lou

[Rick Thom]

What Jay St. Peter said wrt potential problems with 'fire code' and also your home insurance. Fire resistance is one of the reasons dry wall is used.

[Bob Borzelleri]

I used 4'X9' 3/8" OSB over insulation and then covered the OSB with 3/8" Plytanium™ Ply-Bead® Panels from Georgia Pacific. I'm about 1/2 finished with the Ply-Bead. A bit more pricy that other options, but I like the look and feel.


...Bob

[Robert Johnstone]

Has anyone tried putting on a skim coat of plaster or joint compound over OSB to cut down on dust adhesion?

[Craig Salyers]

This may be a dumb question, but what is a french cleat?

[Steve Aiken]

The French Cleat is a special genre of attachment originating from French-speaking lands such as France or Quebec

Take a length of 1x6, set up your tablesaw blade on a 45 degree and rip the board. Attach one half to the wall, such that the pointy end faces up, and attach the other half to your cabinet with the pointy end facing down, and hang the cabinet on the wall.

Voila, French Cleat.

Steve

[Steve Stube]

Has anyone tried putting on a skim coat of plaster or joint compound over OSB to cut down on dust adhesion?

Yes, a skim coat works on OSB but I didn't try it until I was finishing the last small room and the rest was already painted. If I were to do it again the whole shop would get a skim coat. I used Glid-Seal to keep the screws from bleeding where I used Latex or skim coat - It wasn't necessary where I painted with oil base enamel. The drywall bath did get a skim coat too.

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned this about OSB. It is purposely made undersize to allow for the metal tabs used with it in roof applications. An eighth inch under 48" in width and if you stand the sheets up on your walls after 6 sheets you are off the stud. I measured a lot of OSB by different manufactures and finally found some that measured a full 4' X 8' and was square (determined by diagonal measurements). I haven't heard anybody complain about being short sheeted.