Asked of those who...

[Mike Davis]

have lined your shop with OSB. Are you happy with it? Would you rather have something else?

I've always been partial to plywood. My floor is OSB and I hate it. I thought a friend was going to bring me off cuts of oak flooring, but he moved and I didn't get the wood.

I want to line the shop at some point and while I hate to spend money I think I would hate OSB walls worse. So, what makes a good shop wall for the least amount of money?

 

[McRabbet]

I know that Tom Ferone lined the front wall of his shop with OSB and painted it white (I visited him there for lunch today) and it looks fine. He has his lumber rack up against it and I mentioned that I have a bunch of it for the walls of my shop -- I've been stockpiling the 7/16" stuff from Lowe's because it is less than $5 a sheet -- I think I've got about 30 sheets. I also just picked up 6 sheets of MDF Slatwall from a store that is being renovated in Hendersonville's Blue Ridge Mall (thanks to dacam for the heads up) -- it was on the Asheville CL Freebie list and I got it! I'm planning on using the OSB for the majority of my walls since at the time I bought my first 20 sheets of OSB, a 4x8 sheet of drywall was nearly $12 (it has dropped a bunch this year to about $7 because of the building slump). OSB ain't pretty, but it'll work just fine and with a coat of white paint, it is tolerable.

 

[Nativespec]

I think it is great. I can put a nail anywhere I want to hang something. Never understood why people would buy pegboard.

David

 

[BarryC]

I have lining the walls in my shop and I like it. I thought about painting it white or someother neutral color but I will never get around to doing it. I also have OSB on the ceiling and like it up there too and I may get around to painting the ceiling. I like being able to put a nail anywhere without having to worry about finding a stud.

 

[RandyJ]

Mike,
I did my shop (16x30) and garage (24x24) walls and ceiling with OSB. For me, it was the cheapest way to go. I haven't painted it yet but thinking about it. The floor is concrete.

Other than price, the pluses are:

• You don't have to find studs (for most things) to hang stuff:icon_thum.

• Since it has a semi-textured surface,it seems to reduce the echo of machines running:dontknow:. That's my theory anyway:slap:.
• Practically zero maintenance:icon_thum.
• Dust and dings don't show.
• If there is a hurricane, I'm running for the shop. It's stronger than the house!!!

You didn't say why you hated it for flooring...I suspect it would be difficult to sweep up dust. For walls that shouldn't be an issue.
Why do you not like it on the floor??
HTH,
Randy

 

[Glennbear]

I put OSB walls up in my 24x24 shop and I am quite pleased. A coat of white primer and white eggshell finish and it reflects light nicely. No taping, no spackling and like Rob said, super inexpensive. Installation was a snap, I banged it up with a pneumatic finishing nail gun. No future worries about punctures, dings etc like I would have with sheetrock. :wsmile:

 

[ebarr]

It's inexpensive if you buy it now, Unfortunately I bought mine when it was between $12 and $13 a sheet. However, I love it. My only mistake was I did not prime and paint it right after I put it up. So that is what I have been doing the past few weeks.

I have the ceiling about 90% primed and you would be amazed at how much brighter it is in the shop. (Not the fastest painter in the world)

My 24'x24' garage is lined with 3/4 plywood floor and ceiling. (Done before I moved in) Primed and painted.

For the money I would go with the OSB.

 

[CarvedTones]

I think it is great. I can put a nail anywhere I want to hang something. Never understood why people would buy pegboard.

David

With all due respect, "something" that weighs how much? I used it to make a wall in my garage that separated the "shop" from the kids' area. I basically built a flat top bicycle garage with a tall back wall. They rolled their bikes under it, threw their helmets and all sorts of other stuff on top, and on the other side of the back wall was my shop. I hung stuff up there, but anything that had much substance tore out. I guess nuts and bolts with big washers would have worked.

FWIW, the kids loved it. They would open the garage door, move their bikes out and play in there. Thay called it "The Fort" and would assign someone to sit up top as "The Lookout". I still have a lot of the OSB around and it gets me a little teary eyed to cut through some of their chalk drawings when I use it. But besides the tear out problems, it also isn't good at all if you have any exposed edges (splinter city; my wife got tired of digging those out of the kids and asked me to tear it down).

 

[JimD]

My walls and ceiling are OSB in my shop garage. I used 7/16 on the walls and 1/4 on the ceiling. I skim coated both with joint compound which helped make it smoother for paint. I put a couple coats of cheap Glidden ceiling paint on it. I screwed it all up so I can take it down if necessary. When I ran the plumbing for the DC I took some of it down. I also put battens on the joints in the ceiling which helped the appearance a bit.

I am not gentle when I am in the shop. Wallboard would not hold up. OSB holds up and looks OK to me. I do not hang heavy things but it holds my blast gates just fine and saw blades right next to the saw. It will certainly hold a nail or screw better than drywall.

Jim

 

[Mike Davis]

I don't like it on my floor because it is hard to keep clean, it splinters easily, is is not flat and it isn't very strong. I wish I had known the guy wasn't going to come through with the free oak flooring. I would have put down 3/4 inch plywood and been done with it.

The skim coat sounds like a good idea.

 

[Don Sorensen]

Excellent thread y'all. I've been straddling the same fence as to what to do my shop walls with. Was going to go the OSB walls/ Drywall ceiling route....but now I think I'll just do it all with OSB. And paint, of course.

 

[woodrat]

I don't like it on my floor because it is hard to keep clean, it splinters easily, is is not flat and it isn't very strong. I wish I had known the guy wasn't going to come through with the free oak flooring. I would have put down 3/4 inch plywood and been done with it.

The skim coat sounds like a good idea.

I also have it on my floor and don't like it for the same reasons you give.
It was done when I bought the house so I didn't have a choice. I would
really like to put some 3/4 plywood down over it to strengthen it up some.
Since my shop is tiny, it would not be too prohibitive, cost wise.

Woodrat

 

[jimwill48]

I'll agree. I've sheeted my shop walls (24x24) with osb also and the only thing I regret is that I didn't paint it when everything was off the walls. Now it would be a nightmare to move everything to paint. Also, I have some pretty heavy stuff hung - Clamp rack - Turning Chisel Rack _ wood rack, etc. All I ever tried to do was make sure to hit a stud once in a while. For hanging anything over 10 pounds or so I would use an anchor of some type but so far haven't needed to.

James