Finishing Birch Ply Workshop Walls

[Adam Levitt]

I'm at the finishing stage of my new soundproof (hopefully) workshop. 2.4m by 5.5m.

My floors and walls are Birch ply, ceilings are drywall painted white.

For the floors I'm going to use matte yacht varnish. I am undecided regarding how to finish the walls. I'm considering using a diluted white milk paint or a matte colorless varnish.

What finish would you use? And generally matte or gloss?

Cheers

[Kent A Bathurst]

I have a ply wall covered with my tools, above a HM countertop and ply base/drawers.

I just made up a batch of varnish/blo/turps 1:1:1 - home-brew danish oil - and slapped it on with an old brush, then wiped it down after a while. Gives it some depth and color, and dust doesn't adhere as easily.

But I did not get carried away with a high-quality finish - - its just the shop wall, fer cryin out loud, with a jillion screw holes in it for tool brackets - and where tool brackets used to be.

[Jim Becker]

I personally prefer light colored walls, so I'd go with some form of white or off white. This provides more reflectivity from your lighting, making it more efficient. Honestly, I'd do a flat or eggshell finish rather than gloss...reflectivity is nice, but glare/hot-spots isn't.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I would paint them for sure, and although white is good, you might consider a very pale color- yellow, blue, green... but very pale. One thing for sure, this shop will be sturdy!!! If there is a tornado and I'm in your area I know where to run.

One drawback is it may echo inside a lot.

[Jim Andrew]

Birch ply is pretty light colored. A nice clear finish would show the beauty of the wood. And it is light colored enough the shop would still appear light. I like the idea of tools mounted to the ply.

[Thomas Wilson]

Personally I would prefer the wood grain to show. I like Polycrylic Low Luster from Benjamin Moore. It is a polyurethane and acrylic, water-based varnish. It is clear so it is almost invisible on the wood. It just protects a bit. I apply with a brush (because that is all I have) but you could spray a room more quickly. It is easy to apply, easy to clean up, and it dries fast. Start early in the morning, you could knock it out in a day.

TW

[Adam Levitt]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions.
I decided to go with an almost transparent white varnish. After applying it to a few walls I wasn't so sure any more so I'm going to leave as is and start working in the shop before deciding whether to sand them back to birch color or paint the rest.
For the floor I went with a matte yacht varnish which came out well.

[Mike Heidrick]

I am doing this with marine grade ply. I am using the $25 for 5 gal Menards paint. It is kinda like whitewash anyway lol. Actually I am doing a slatwall design that was in woodsmith. So the solid back wall is dk grey and then the slats are white. Here is a picture with demo piece I made up you can see on the right against a stack of ply. That is 2 to 3 coats of white.

[Adam Levitt]

Looks great Mike. You can probably fit 10 of my workshops in one of yours. Size doesn't count, right?