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Thread: Your opinion on my method for making a "wood wall"

  1. #1

    Your opinion on my method for making a "wood wall"

    Hello all,

    I thought I had everything planned out but now I'm starting to second guess myself. I wanted to get people's opinion on here. I've got a wall that's 64 sq ft (~9 ft high x ~7 ft wide) and I'm covering the wall with walnut boards similar to this:

    http://www.marioncrown.com/media/cat...k_natural1.jpg
    http://woodflooringtrends.files.word...photo-2-21.jpg

    I would like to have no nail/screw holes or plugs or anything other than the face of the walnut so my plan is/was to use this stuff:

    http://www.homedepot.com/p/Loctite-9...9157/203011334

    and just stick it right up on the painted drywall. My boards vary in length/width/thickness. Lengths from 1ft to 4 ft, widths from 3" to 7", and thicknesses from 1/8" to 1". Will this be too much weight on the drywall? Is there a (good) chance of the drywall paper pulling away over time from the weight? I've seen (and made) large drywall walls covered in tile which I imagine can get quite heavy and they seem to be fine. But I think this walnut wall will be quite a bit more weight than a typical tile wall.

    Has anyone done this? Any thoughts (whether you've done it or not)?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
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    You could always put 1/4" cement board up first. That would give the glue teeth to attach to.
    Never, under any circumstances, consume a laxative and sleeping pill, on the same night

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    Cover the wall with 1/2" plywood screwed to the studs primed flat back to hide any voids in shadow. Should a 9' wall of wood come tumbling down on you, that's bad. I would spline the rear edges together to give a place to toenail the pieces of mechanical connection,this would be blind, keep it back 1/4 off the wall and avoid it where the stock is too thin. I would not trust drywall alone as the substrate.....it's chalk wrapped in paper.

  4. #4
    Thanks for the responses. Is there any reason to go with 1/2" plywood vs. 1/4" cement board? Or vise versa? Cost isn't really a factor for me with just this single wall. Would one hold better than the other? Thinner would be ideal because it's a recessed area and I'd like to keep as much of that recess as possible but I don't want to go with thinner if it is very inferior to the thicker plywood.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Three Rivers, Central Oregon
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    2,340
    I pity the poor soul who buys your house and tries removing all of that glued/screwed structure from the wall....he's not gonna be happy with the previous homeowner.
    Scott Vroom

    I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    Durham, NC
    Posts
    39
    I think you could probably get away with leaving the drywall alone but if your going to add something first i would use plywood, mostly because its easier to work with and would give you a backer to toenail through the back edges should you choose to. I would use PL Premium Fast grab to attach to the wall and use a little TBII to glue the boards to each other. I doubt the drywall is going to fail, the stress is mostly being pulled straight down and I'm pretty sure most tile is actually heavier then walnut. Thats just a guess based on lifting boxes of tile.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by scott vroom View Post
    I pity the poor soul who buys your house and tries removing all of that glued/screwed structure from the wall....he's not gonna be happy with the previous homeowner.
    Yeah, it does sound like quite a nightmare for anyone wanting to take it down. Hopefully the wife doesn't get sick of it a year from now.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Neuhaus View Post
    I think you could probably get away with leaving the drywall alone but if your going to add something first i would use plywood, mostly because its easier to work with and would give you a backer to toenail through the back edges should you choose to. I would use PL Premium Fast grab to attach to the wall and use a little TBII to glue the boards to each other. I doubt the drywall is going to fail, the stress is mostly being pulled straight down and I'm pretty sure most tile is actually heavier then walnut. Thats just a guess based on lifting boxes of tile.
    I'd really like you to be right since it would be less work. There is a buffet against that wall and it's recessed so the likelihood of someone standing in an area where a falling piece (or pieces) would hit them is very unlikely. We do have little ones though, so I'm not sure if it's worth the risk.

  9. #9
    I wonder if it is possible to see small gaps due to wood movement( after a few months)?specially if the pieces are mounted on plywood which moves at a different rate.
    Just thinking outloud.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    West Lafayette, IN
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    6,529
    Sounds like you have some good advice on how to adhere it.

    I have a question about the layout though. It sounds like your pieces are all different in every dimension. Isn't that going to be a real bear to install and have tight joints? Wouldn't it be a heck of a lot easier to make them all say 4/4 and varying the other 2 dimensions? More curious about your installation method than anything.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Day View Post
    Sounds like you have some good advice on how to adhere it.

    I have a question about the layout though. It sounds like your pieces are all different in every dimension. Isn't that going to be a real bear to install and have tight joints? Wouldn't it be a heck of a lot easier to make them all say 4/4 and varying the other 2 dimensions? More curious about your installation method than anything.
    I've ripped everything to 3 set widths. So, there are a bunch of:
    3" wide pieces that are varying lengths and thicknesses,
    4.5" wide pieces that are varying lengths and thicknesses,
    and 7" wide pieces that are varying lengths and thicknesses.

    So, basically each row will be all same width pieces (either 3, 4.5, or 7). Otherwise, yeah, it would be a lot of work to make tight joints without a bunch of gaps.

  12. #12
    Usually the adhesives are pretty good stuff and it's near impossible to pull the boards off without breaking some. The Loctite is a good solution. But if you're worried about any hint of failure and need to use "abundance of caution" (I heard that phrase recently), you could use 2,3 or maybe 4 or 5 dowels pins depending on the length of the boards. simply make yourself one drilling jig that will allow you put a line of holes in the back of the board you're installing. Use this drilling stick to transfer the holes to the wall..... are you getting the picture?????? or do I need to elaborate???

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Orbine View Post
    Usually the adhesives are pretty good stuff and it's near impossible to pull the boards off without breaking some. The Loctite is a good solution. But if you're worried about any hint of failure and need to use "abundance of caution" (I heard that phrase recently), you could use 2,3 or maybe 4 or 5 dowels pins depending on the length of the boards. simply make yourself one drilling jig that will allow you put a line of holes in the back of the board you're installing. Use this drilling stick to transfer the holes to the wall..... are you getting the picture?????? or do I need to elaborate???
    I get what you're saying. To clarify though, I'm not worried about the Loctite adhesive that I purchased failing. I'm confident that it will hold the boards up just fine. I'm worried about all the weight of every single piece of walnut testing the strength of the drywall layers. I don't want the weight to cause the outer paper layer of the drywall to pull away from the plaster center. Make sense?

  14. #14
    I've been brainstorming... tell me what you guys think about this.

    I get 4 or 5 strips of 1x material (pine or whatever, or maybe even thinner like some 1/4" or 1/2" plywood) the full width of the wall (~7ft) and screw them into the studs going horizontally. Then, as I'm gluing the walnut up there, when I get to the horizontal "cleats" I will glue on the face of the cleat for that row. The row above that will basically be sitting on top of the cleat. So, if there are 4 or 5 cleats, that should take enough weight off the drywall right? I guess there will be some logistic stuff to figure out to make sure that the row above and below are thick enough to cover the cleat fully. Basically, the cleat rows will just make that walnut row slightly thicker which is fine because I have varying thickness in the pieces.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Barry Lyndon View Post
    I get what you're saying. To clarify though, I'm not worried about the Loctite adhesive that I purchased failing. I'm confident that it will hold the boards up just fine. I'm worried about all the weight of every single piece of walnut testing the strength of the drywall layers. I don't want the weight to cause the outer paper layer of the drywall to pull away from the plaster center. Make sense?
    Some people were concerned about a piece(s) falling down....too this is what I'm offering a possible solution. Either way, piece(s) or the whole wall, I'm not worried at all.

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