New Shop - Wall question

[Hans Reed]

I am building a new Garage-mahal and would like a litte SMC input. I have been a long time member, but absent here for a while...

I insulated my new shop, and hung 1/2" ply for my interior walls. I was thinking about leaving them raw and wanted some input. I have been debating whether or not I should "tape and float" the joints as you would with dry wall, or leave them. If so, what would I use, silicone similar to a window or door, or other? If I seal them, then does it force my hand to paint as wouldn't your eyes be drawn to the color of the sealed joints? If I paint, do I need to texture? If texture, what would you use to ensure it sticks to the ply wood? Anyway, you should get the idea of my debate...

What have others done with plywood walls?

See attached for reference.

[Jamie Buxton]

Construction plywood strikes me as a good wall surface in a shop. I'd leave it just as it is.

If you do want to tape or texture or paint, the plywood is so rough that its texture will telegraph through. You should probably apply sheetrock over the plywood, and then paint it. Seems like a bad idea to me.

[Matt Meiser]

I'd paint what you've got myself. That's what I did with my OSB walls.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

If you do anything with the seams, they will be glaringly obvious, painted or not.

[Bill Edwards(2)]

Whatever floats your boat:

uc001.jpg

[Jerry Olexa]

the beauty of ply walls is you can hang tools anywhere...I'd paint or seal.

[Roy Harding]

My shop is finished with OSB. I did nothing on the seams, but did paint it a flat white (I think I actually just used a primer - can't remember how many coats). I wanted the brightness imparted by the white, but didn't want glare from a sheen. Five years later, it's stood up well.

Having looked at Bill Edwards photo, however, I MAY (if I ever get time) do something similar to what he did with the seams - it just looks neater. I'd still go with the flat white paint, though.

[Michael Heffernan]

I hung 1/2" AC ply on my garage shop walls, then painted them with a satin latex. I used a light 'champagne' color for the walls. Better light reflection than unfinished ply, which is good for when you are sanding & finishing pieces. Also cleans up better.
IMO, I wouldn't seal the seams, it'll just look bad. I screwed the ply on, so if I ever have to re-run wiring, I can pull panels off with no problem.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Whatever floats your boat:

uc001.jpg

I like that, will be stealing that idea!

[Hans Reed]

Thanks guys...decisions, decisions. I like the idea of raw, but some of the best sides also had the nice lumberyard printing on them so I wasn't sure if it would eventually be a source of aesthetic frustration...hence do I paint.

@ Roy...how is the white with incidental bumps and scuffs? i was thinking a light Tan/Khaki color to hide that a bit...i should have plenty of "bright" with the tin ceiling once i get my final lighting installed.

@ Bill...very nice! Do the raised seams ever get in the way?

@ Steve...that is my concern...i don't want them to pop out, but I also don't want to leave them raw and then regret adding all my tools, benches, and wall art to then be frustrated by the mill printing.

[Roy Harding]

Thanks guys...decisions, decisions. I like the idea of raw, but some of the best sides also had the nice lumberyard printing on them so I wasn't sure if it would eventually be a source of aesthetic frustration...hence do I paint.

@ Roy...how is the white with incidental bumps and scuffs? i was thinking a light Tan/Khaki color to hide that a bit...i should have plenty of "bright" with the tin ceiling once i get my final lighting installed.

...

There have been some scuffs over the years, but nothing serious. If they bother me, I can always spot paint them.

The BIGGEST problem has been the light coating of sawdust that builds up on them. (I have good dust collection and air cleaners - but there's no such thing as "perfect" dust collection/cleaning). It doesn't become noticeable until I rub some off the wall by brushing by it, or whatever. (Kind of like the dust on your television or computer monitor - you don't notice until there's a clean spot). When that bothers me, I vacuum the walls.

I like your idea of a khaki colour - it would hide the build up quite a bit - and over time the walls take on a tan hue from the dust anyway.

[Matt Meiser]

If you paint a light color it will make a huge difference in brightness. The day I painted mine it was like turning lights on as I went. I've repainted once was I did a significant rearrangement--I'd just do a section at a time. Other dings/scuffs/screw holes get touched up when I have white paint handy.

If you really want it to look good, just put drywall over it. You still get the advantage of the plywood underneath and you can get a good initial finish and use regular techniqes for repair of dings.

[Hans Reed]

Thanks Michael...do you have any pics of your walls? I also screwed mine on...but I ran my wiring vertical to junction boxes in the attic, so I have no horizantal runs...the idea was I could pull and re-run or even add w/out having to pull the panels off. Of course that is the theory...time will tell how it works in the real world.

[Lee Reep]

My shop is half drywall, and half concrete wall. It is half of my basement, and oustide the shop is a finished room that was our kids playroom, and now that they are grown and on their own, the room is more of an exercise and crafts room. (It is carpeted and trimmed like our upstairs, so I have not convinced my wife yet that my shop needs to be expended into this space.)

The shop's drywall walls were painted white for years, and frankly, I got sick of them. Too sterile. I have a lot of lighting, and the basement escape window with window well is in the shop, so some natural light comes in. I ended up painting the drywalled walls a medium blue. I do not have a picture of the entire shop, but I did snap a picture of the sink area. It was pretty ratty, with texture missing from splashes. I decided to tile, and that meant fixing up the wall texture, and painting. At first jsut this was was blue, and then it spread. You can see that the walls outside the shop door are white, and I'm guessing we wil leave them that way for now. But I really like the darker colors in the shop. This woudl not have been such a great idea, I don't think, without having a lot of lighting in the shop to make it easy to see what I was working on.

I left the concrete walls natural, and they actually look pretty good with the blue. At some point they make get drywall, but I need to devote more time on remodeling other rooms of the house first. By the way, having a sink in the shop is a MUST, in my opinion. There is a restroom adjacent to the recessed utility sink, just outside the shop. But for cleanup, and especially cleanup of painting equipment like roller trays, it is really nice. I still plan to trim out around the sink with some maple trim I bought on clearance, but those little projects always seem to get delayed.

Regarding the plywood, I think I'd maybe leave it as-is. Maybe add some slats to make your own slat wall system for hanging cabinets, tool racks, bins, etc.? There are some great ideas in woodworkign magazines on slat wall systems. The other option, if you wanted a relatively cheap coverup, which can be painted, is bead board. We did our kitchen walls half way up, trimmed the top edge, and painted white. I think the sheets are still in the $10 range, so it is pretty cheap, and looks very finished with just paint. They come primed white, too, so they do not take much effort to finish,and would look OK plain for awhile.

shop-sink.jpg

[Zane Harris]

My shop ceiling is OSB and my walls are mostly poured concrete, partially drywall. On both the OSB and the drywall, I ran two inch masking tape across all the seams, for the sole purpose of controlling dust infiltration. Then I painted the ceiling and every wall with latex primer. That gave me enough reflectivity in the room that I didn't do any more. Been this way for 17 years now. Since I didn't mud over any of the screw heads, wall or ceiling, if I need to get at something it is not a terribly big project (so far this has only happened once, and it was a false alarm at that). I did use painter's caulk at the joints between wall and ceiling, and where the drywall butted up against the poured concrete. And then painted over that also.