New shop,,, what to do with the interior walls?

[Scott Dorrer]

I'm building a new shop. My old shop had sheetrock walls and ceilings and I want to do something different this time around. I was thinking white steel for the ceilings not sure about the walls. So what do you have and what are the pro and cons.

[Jim Dwight]

My current and former shop both have 5/8 fire rated drywall ceilings because there is living area above them. The walls in both (that are done in the case of the current shop) are 7/16 OSB with a skim coat of drywall compound and painted white. The OSB is cheaper than drywall and far sturdier. So if I hit it with a board it may scratch the paint but doesn't make a hole in the wall. I can hang things anywhere. It's slightly more work to make the holes for electrical fixtures in the OSB but otherwise it is no harder to work with. I just use a jig saw and a oscillating saw. The oscillating saw is also my first choice with drywall (although I just use a knife sometimes and have used a special drywall saw). I have about half a dozen sheets up in the current shop - I am less than half done. One of these days I will hang another half dozen. I do not tape the seams, the drywall compound gets forced in there too. So the process is overall less work than drywall.

I tried just painting the OSB but I didn't like the appearance. It has too many voids. But a quick go-over with a 6 inch knife followed by a light sanding leaves a smooth enough surface for me. You can easily see it is OSB but there aren't visible voids. From a distance it looks like drywall. I expect to use less than one 5 gallon bucket of mud on the entire 14x24 shop.

[Robert Engel]

Definitely wood on the walls looks nicer or you could just do some of them.

I also used OSB painted white. Looks ok.

Surface mounted all elec boxes and ran all clad WHOLE lot easier than running romex thru studs and cutting box holes.

Very nice looking building there. I'm envious. I work out of a converted horse barn.
Huge downpour today counted no less than 5 leaks fortunately none over machines.

IMO covering the ceiling with metal is money you could use for the walls?

[Jesse Busenitz]

My "new to me" shop was also a horse barn once upon a time that the PO put galvanized tin on the ceiling.... seems like it would help reflect light but no facts on that one.

[Martin Wasner]

I'm looking into using frp panels in my new shop for the walls. Put them up, and your done. Very nice white finish. I skinned the inside of my delivery trailer with it and I've been very happy with it. You can get 12' sheets which is nice if it fits your needs. The downside is it's about the most expensive option. I think the texture of it will absorb sound a bit as well.

Steel is durable, relatively cheap. It reflects sound a little too well. It's not that pleasant to hang conduit, (or anything else), on either.

Most of my current shop has steel on the walls, the rest is sheetrock. Sheetrock is dirt cheap, but foolish in a commercial environment unless you and your employees are really good at not dinging walls up. I realize you're not talking about commercial, but dings happen.

I would do the ceiling steel though. It won't sag over time, reflects light well, and goes up quickly. There is a version that is perforated for sound reasons, but I don't know if that is a good long term idea in a dusty environment.

[Michael W. Clark]

I think T-11 siding or brick would be nice in a bench area.
I have 5/8 drywall on the ceiling and OSB on the walls.

[Larry Edgerton]

I'm looking into using frp panels in my new shop for the walls. Put them up, and your done. Very nice white finish. I skinned the inside of my delivery trailer with it and I've been very happy with it. You can get 12' sheets which is nice if it fits your needs. The downside is it's about the most expensive option. I think the texture of it will absorb sound a bit as well.

..

I was wondering about those one piece semi side panels. 45' long, 8' high plastic, laminate it to a sturdy substrate, done!

You can have them printed with any picture you want before delivery. I'm thinking a lonely beach scene in Hawaii would be an awesome shop wall about the time snow is up to your butt.

[William C Rogers]

I went with OSB for the walls. Maybe someday I will paint them, but for now bare. Hard to beat the price of OSB. For my ceiling I was able to get drop down tiles free from a Boarders building that was being redone. There was also 3 boxes of cross rails I got. I had to buy the long rails, but I only spent about a $100 for my ceiling. It sure changes the looks dramatically and does have some R value and noise reduction properties. However it would be very expensive to buy new. I agree with Robert on the electrical. My previous shop had it in the walls and it was a pain to do any mods. This shop they are surface mounted.

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[dennis davidson]

I put OSB on the walls and covered that with drywall, nice off white paint to keep it light and still can attach stuff to the walls with screws, nails, etc. A little more work to install but I love it and would do it again.

[glenn bradley]

I did wood on the walls painted them brutal semi-gloss typing-paper-white. The increase in light with the same fixtures is quite significant. I'd do the same again.

[Ole Anderson]

OSB painted with two coats of pure white satin or semi gloss. Sturdy and nice and bright.

[Kent Adams]

Congrats firstly for having such a nice building to put a shop in. I'm envious. I used 3/4 plywood in my shop. I can literally put anything on the wall I want without worry. I painted the wood a very light color, sort of a sand color. The only drawback was that you can't get a perfectly even smooth surface like you can with drywall. However, it'd be tough for most people to tell when looking at my walls because I managed to mud it up pretty good and smooth out most of the edges. With your building, I think pine paneling with a light clear coat on it would look fantastic. If I had your building, I'd also probably replace the 6x6 PT timbers with real tree trunks like you see in Timber frame homes out west.

[Mike Cutler]

Scott

Beautiful building!
My personal choice is to finish a shop the same as the interior of a house, including lighting. This you know what a project will look like once it's moved into the house.

[Scott Dorrer]

Thanks for the suggestions. A little more background.... this will be a bit of a downsize for me as the old shop was 3600 sq/ft and this one is just 2000 with the second floor. I'm in the boat building and restoration business with a strong motorcycle hobby. Old shop was too big and just ended up being a catch all. I hated the sheetrock interior of the old place for various reasons. Kinda leaning toward painted osb this time around.

[Mike Heidrick]

I am planning dual 3/4 plywood slat wall in grey and white. Still doing electrical work though. Going to take me a long time.