Shop wall covering idea

[Anthony Whitesell]

Many years I removed the popcorn painted drywall, did some electrical modifications and installed new drywall. Over the past few weeks I have been renovating again. Drywall was removed and more electrical changes. I don't know if I will have the need to do this a third or fourth time. But was thinking about putting up a wall covering that is not destroyed to remove it (as is drywall). I would like it to be flat like drywall. I have seen a system that is removable but uses a raised batten at the seams, which would not work for me. Does anyone have any ideas?

One thought I had was to use hidden fasteners for decking to hold up 16" wide pieces of plywood with a rabbeted edge. In the rabbeted edge(s) I would install a filler piece to cover the fasteners and fill in the rabbet(s). Thoughts?

[Prashun Patel]

T&G paneling?

[Anthony Whitesell]

It would have to be 16" wide. Removing a piece of the center would mean cutting off the tongue. Are we thinking the same thing?

[Brian Hood]

In my shop I've started to cover the walls with pre-finished 'shop ply' at the mill, easy to clean and good for holding things. In my garage I had to open a chase in the ceiling to run wiring and will cover it with 24" wide strips of the same ply.
I use exposed black flathead screws. Where two panels come together I put a 3" wide by full height strip behind the edge of the first sheet with 4 screws per 8', such that 1.5" is behind the first sheet and 1.5" is exposed, then the second sheet is screwed to the strip.

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[marty shultz]

If you don't have fire restriction concerns you could use 1/4 or 3/8 plywood and run a pc of flat molding down the joints to cover them up.

[Rick Potter]

I would be very tempted to install pegboard from the ceiling down four feet, and plywood on the bottom half, then paint it.

[Nathan Callender]

This doesn't answer your question, but I sort of like drywall. I opted to run electrical in surface mount conduit just to have the flexibility to change it as needed. Just a thought. You need to mention if this is a garage or not.

[Anthony Whitesell]

It is a basement shop. I thought about the surface conduit, but the space is small so prefer a smooth surface and to use the space behind the wall covering to run the electric. The 4" or so consumed by the electrical boxes on the wall could consume some very valuable space.

[Peter Aeschliman]

I say just use neatly drilled, visible screws. Line them up nicely in rows, and use good looking pan head fasteners. K.I.S.S.!

[Jim Dwight]

My shop in the last house was a basement garage with living space above so it needed 5/8 fire rated. I didn't want to tape all the seams so I ran 3/4 battens over the seams in one direction and 1/2 inch thick in the other direction. I removed a sheet once and managed to put it back up. Screws were exposed but painted over. In a shop I thought it was fine.

[Jim Finn]

I have built three workshops and I use pre painted Masonite on the walls and mounted elect. conduit outside the walls. Screwed the panels in place. The walls are then de-mountable as is the elect.