Alternatives to drywall for shop walls?

[mobetta]

If you do go with Drywall, I'd consider 5/8 everywhere.

the 1/2 lightwieght board is pretty soft. 5/8 will be more impact resistant.

And on the chance you do need to use a wall anchor it will hold up better.
The 5/8b is rated for longer exposure to fire.

I dont mind a plywood wall. Painted OSB would almost be acceptable, though I am not a fan of the product.
the current price of ply in my area would steer me to drywall.

 

[Alanbach]

My alternative to drywall is patches of Baltic Birch plywood over Sheetrock as needed. My oversized two car garage (no longer a garage) shop was already sheetrocked, taped floated and painted white when we bought the house. Whenever I have something substantial to mount, I cut a piece of good plywood large enough to span more studs than I need. I rout the edges, sand, prime and paint to match the walls before mounting. It works great, looks fine and is inexpensive. Used in this manner one or two sheets will go a long way. I can do it spot by spot for specific items or I can cut long strips and mount them at a designated height to create a flexible mounting surface.

 

[southrider]

We used 1/2 B/C plywood which is sanded on one side, screwed to 16" on center studs with 1 5/8 torx screws.

As mentioned above the screw lines show you where every stud is.

Can mount lighter items wherever you want, and bridge 2 studs with a cleat for heavier items. A French cleat system would work just fine if desired.

We didn't finish ours, but easily could have.

 

[JimD]

I used 7/16 OSB, the stuff sold for roofs, skim coated with joint compound and painted white.  A quick glance and you think it's wallboard.  But I can hang tools anywhere I want.  Moved my battery chargers just today.  Plenty of strength and cost pretty close to drywall.

The skim coating helps the appearance and saves paint.

 

[Kevin D.]

I went with T1-11 as well for my shop.  I did sand the surface to get rid of the burr face before installing.  That way when I need to fill a hole I just use wood filler and it pretty well disappears. 

 

[ERG]

[member=45813]JimD[/member] What did you use for the skim coat?

 

[Michael Kellough]

For art galleries they imstall plywood first to ho;d anchors and then cover that with drywall for appearance.

 

[JimD]

I skimmed the OSB with joint compound.  I only did one coat so it isn't totally smooth.  But one coat filled in the holes well enough that it painted much better.  And joint compound is cheap.  I also filled in the joints between the sheets so they are less apparent too.  I don't think I used it but if you want more water resistance you could use setting compound.  It goes on as easily and dries much faster but you have to mess with mixing it with water.

 

[Scorpion]

Interesting seeing so many looking to plywood for their shop walls.  Having been in the metal fab business for years, I’m hesitant to not have the most fire resistant walls possible.  Since plywood is fuel and provides zero fire retardant properties, and drywall is actually designed to retard fire...it seems to me like there’s only one good choice.

As for needing plywood so you can hang things anywhere - is this really a problem?  Any cabinet would still need to go into a stud (if you want to put anything heavy in it).  Use french cleats?  Work just fine spanning studs.  Is it a tool display wall thing?  Using April as the example - in her vids, what’s hanging on the wall that she couldn’t have hung via studs? 

 

[RussellS]

I did not know what T1-11 is.  So I used Google to look it up.  Its exterior house siding for those others who don't know.  But the funny part is both Home Depot and Lowes sell the 19/32" x 4' x 8' sheets for exactly $34.12.  Both the exact same price down to the penny.  Apparently Festool is not the only one who uses price fixing for its vendors.

 

[DeformedTree]

I did not know what T1-11 is.  So I used Google to look it up.  Its exterior house siding for those others who don't know.  But the funny part is both Home Depot and Lowes sell the 19/32" x 4' x 8' sheets for exactly $34.12.  Both the exact same price down to the penny.  Apparently Festool is not the only one who uses price fixing for its vendors.

HD, Lowes and Menards keep their prices identical(nearly identical) for basically everything they all carry. It's also not like there would be a reason for the prices on the same stuff to be any different.  Also with the case of HD and Lowes since they have return policies that allow you to return anything as long as they sold it at least once, it means no one will try playing an exchange game returning something they bought at lowes to a HD to come out 3 cents to the positive and such.  Also I just don't want to think about people cross shopping lumber, buying some at one, and other part of their needs at the other outside of a situation where the quality at one is junk that day.

 

[Farming_Sawyer]

If you can find it at a lower price, my lowes will match the cost. But generally if I find things at a lower price I buy them from the store offering it to support and keep the prices low and quality higher then HD, lowes, etc.

 

[bruegf]

I built a 24x50 shop about 5 years ago and used 5/8 osb and then 1/2 drywall over that.  Drywall gives me some fire protection along with a nice finished look and the osb gives me the ability hang things anywhere I want.  Been very pleased with the way it worked out.

 

[Farming_Sawyer]

Rather than the expense of double layering the walls with plywood and sheetrock, why not just add a few rows of blocking in obvious places? When I frame a kitchen, or bathroom if I have the option I put in as much blocking as I can to catch cabinets, towel bars, etc. It makes life so much easier.....

 

[kevinculle]

In my basement shop I used 1/2" MDF on the walls dividing the shop area from the mechanical equipment and storage area.

 

[Bob D.]

It is possible to buy plywood that is treated with fire retardant. In many places I have worked that is all that we were allowed to use for scaffolding or any temporary structures like ramps on construction sites. It cost more, way more, but if it's all you're allowed to use (which was our situation) it's what you buy.

It's out there you just wouldn't want it for home use based on cost is 3x that of regular plywood plus you usually have to order it, at least around here, and the minimum is a draft or full bundle (40 sheets of 3/4") so a lot of plywood and a couple thousand dollars. I think they were hitting us for something like $100/sheet for 3/4" but wasn't involved in the purchasing so not positive on the price.

 

[RussellS]

Rather than the expense of double layering the walls with plywood and sheetrock, why not just add a few rows of blocking in obvious places? When I frame a kitchen, or bathroom if I have the option I put in as much blocking as I can to catch cabinets, towel bars, etc. It makes life so much easier...

Because maybe there will come a day when he wants to install something in a NOT obvious place.  You yourself say you put in as much blocking as I can.  Does that mean blocking 100% everywhere?  To catch cabinets and towel bars everywhere and anywhere.  The double layering just eliminates any future problems with installing anything anywhere.  Its not the easiest or cheapest method, but is the most foolproof.

 

[duburban]

Agreed. Best blocking in kitchens etc. is full plywood.

Rather than the expense of double layering the walls with plywood and sheetrock, why not just add a few rows of blocking in obvious places? When I frame a kitchen, or bathroom if I have the option I put in as much blocking as I can to catch cabinets, towel bars, etc. It makes life so much easier...

Because maybe there will come a day when he wants to install something in a NOT obvious place.  You yourself say you put in as much blocking as I can.  Does that mean blocking 100% everywhere?  To catch cabinets and towel bars everywhere and anywhere.  The double layering just eliminates any future problems with installing anything anywhere.  Its not the easiest or cheapest method, but is the most foolproof.

 

[DeformedTree]

There is always extreme options such as covering the walls in 2 bye material.  Room covered in 2x12s is a room that isn't messing around, mount anything anywhere, plus can always take up axe throwing.

Slightly less extreme would be some sorta of profiled siding.  "car siding".  You can get it in pine, and it lays flat.

Slightly more extreme...Brick?  Good if you branch out to metal working/forge work.

 

[bruegf]

At the time I built the barn the cost of osb + drywall was only 2 or 3 bucks a sheet more than 5/8 plywood and cheaper than decent quality 3/4 plywood.  The small amount of extra cost was insignificant to the total cost of the barn.