Alternatives to drywall for shop walls?

[ryanjg117]

Random update, but I went with drywall. Used 5/8" firecode for the ceiling as the trusses we're 24" OC to avoid sagging, and 1/2" on all walls. Insulated before drywalling and installed a little Cadet 240v dual-element wall heater fully understanding it wasn't going to make the shop comfortable but "bearable." Totally works for that intended purpose in our mild west coast winters.

Drywall was simply WAY cheaper than some of the other materials we've talked about here, the only really downside being how fragile it is, and the fact you have to find studs if you're mouting anything heavy. I still plan to wall-mount a few French cleat lengths and build some cabinets and tool hangers. Going to keep those cabinets lightweight and simple. Will take some pics when it's all done.

What's amazing is how much larger the shop feels when you get the drywall installed--white makes such a huge difference compared to the exposed studs and insulation. Also, gives me appreciation for the work of drywall pros. I enjoyed taping... Once you figure out how to use a curved trowel, things get a lot easier.

Onward to getting the 6" dust collection ductwork installed and copper fixed air lines... My project for the next three weekends.

 

[demographic]

I've fitted out a few pubs over the years and in the toilet areas we often put plywood over the studs then plasterboard (drywall to you lot) over that.
Gives it the clean look but when some drunken headbanger has an argument with his girlfriend and punches the wall he only damages his fist.
Plus over the life of a pub they often want to attach quite a lot to the walls, hand dryers, sinks, sanitary product dispensors, condom machines and so on.
I've never seen a pub yet where the designer knew exactly where things go on the walls when the draw the plans up so it pays to just do the lot with ply before the plasterboard. That way everyone has a good fixing.

Plus it stops the rough arse plumbers from just braying a hole in the wall with a hammer for the waste pipes.

Finding studs isn't rocket science either, a magnet on a string finds the screws and you know the centres they are at so once you find one the rest are pretty easy.
Steel studding is even simpler.

 

[Kevin D.]

I put the T-11 siding over my drywalled walls in my garage that I converted to a shop, but I also added an interconnected with my house's other smoke detection system a smoke detector in there as well just to be extra safe. 

Part of the idea was with the dust collection system whereby I read that if you MAYBE sucked up some metal into your collection bin, a spark may start a slow smoldering fire that may go undetected for hours after one leaves the shop and is sleeping away upstairs.  The chances of this happening are frankly remote for many reasons that are arguably valid, but it really was cheap piece of mind for me to do such along with having a fire extinguisher, eye wash station, first aid kit, telephone, and a power outage emergency light in my shop for overall safety reasons. 

The biggest risk of fire in a shop in my mind is leaving rags to dry that have had volatile finishes on them.  Those I just put outside on the grass or snow and lay some rocks on them for disposal the following day.