Plywood, OSB, or sheetrock?

[jrevans]

What's everyone using for their shop's interior walls. Pros and cons? How about finishing?
My garage walls are mostly unfinished (the wall shared with the main house is drywalled) and I'm trying to decide what to use on them.

Drywall: It's a pain to hang, it's fragile, but at least I know what I'm doing.
Plywood: Durable, removable (if hung with screws), hang something wherever I feel like it, but no idea how I might "finish" it
OSB: Overall same as plywood, maybe I just wouldn't finish it.... it *IS* a shop afterall... the woodchip look might not be too bad.

 

[DaveO]

My shop walls are CMU, not by choice. If I had my choice I would go for either Plywood or OSB. The main reason is the ability to hang anything anywhere, and durability. I would paint either white or off-white to brighten up the space and reflect light. Give that it would be painted, the best choice would be OSB as it costs less.
MTCW,
Dave

 

[froglips]

+1 for OSB.

But, I would also consider not finishing the walls. You would be amazed at what can be done between studs with storage. I use my open stud wall as a massive clamping surface. Its quite versatile.

Depends on if you plan to insulate the walls of course.

Jim

 

[striker]

I used OSB on my shop walls and painted them but if I had to do over again, I would use plywood. I had to prime the walls with Kilz prior to latex paint as it was drinking up the latex paint faster than I could roll it on and occationally lifting a few strands. In the end, I doubt I saved any money over plywood. Just something to keep in mind.

Stephen

 

[Sanders Fine Woodworking]

Unfinished 1/2" plywood in my shop. I don't like the look or smell of paint. It ages very gracefully, is strong, won't fall apart if it gets wet and if you're going to live there any length of time (my original interior walls are 30 years old) the difference in price is pennies. I do everything with screws and have re-oriented many walls over the years, re-using everything.

 

[CarvedTones]

Buckin' the trend - drywall, hands down, especially since you have one wall already. I have to admit it is mostly aesthetics and resale. You may also want to check your local building code and your homeowners policy to make sure you are covered if there were a fire. I have white masonite pegboard in much of my garage, which is another option you might look into. It is rated as an interior paneling prouct and met code at the time. But later I had an addition done on the back and they had to replace the pegboard with sheetrock as it no longer met code because it isn't solid. It had changed and even though they were working on the other side of the wall, they had to bring both sides up to compliance. I think the "hang anything anywhere" aspect is not that big of a deal. You can run a board along the wall and hang stuff from it. If you change things, then you move the board and only have a couple of holes to repair with little effort and expense.

 

[Splinter]

OSB or plywood. Hanging stuff on the wall is so much simplier. Much less chance of damaging walls when you bump into them with tools, wood, etc. Paint the wall bright white, you'll be glad you did.

 

[sawman]

I agree with Dolan, OSB and paint it white.

Later,
Albert :saw:

 

[JimmyC]

OSB, and stay away from drywall. Drywall doesn't absorb the moisture in the air and causes it to feel clammy and tools rust quicker, also Drywall in a seperate building has a chance of getting mold on it if it isn't heated throughout the winter. DAMHIKT :BangHead:.

But, since it is an attached garage you may want to drywall it for resale value as Andy mentioned.

Good Luck,

 

[Gotcha6]

I used WR drywall (green board, although it was purple) on my shop. Why? Because my name is on the deed and the mailbox. That's all that matters. :icon_thum
As a builder I can see pros & cons for all materials here. My shop is a multi - tasker so I may be doing welding, auto repair, metal working, sheet metal work - you name it. I wanted something to give me protection in the event of a stray spark. As for hanging stuff, I found some silver pegboard @ HD on sale for $3 a sheet & pegboard hooks @ Habitat ReStore for $.10 each. After ripping some furring sticks to 3/4" & shooting them on every 16" I then shot the assembly straight to the studs behind the drywall using 2-1/2" trim nails. It's holding up very well.
The WR board, although not as resistant as DensArmor to mold, also has attributes needed for an unheated (as of now) shop.
As for PW, that would have been my 2nd choice, but I'd have used 3/8" AC & painted it too.
Don't have a problem with OSB except it doesn't hold screws as well as plywood of equal thickness if you're talking about mounting something. Not much chance of pulling a head through the panel, but I'd think just having screw threads holding something on wouldn't be too sturdy for heavier items. Perhaps planning some 2x blocking at strategic areas would eliminate this concern. I've even heard of people using drywall compound to skim over OSB to give it a semi finished look but have never seen it done. I'd probably paint it with something like masonry block filler first.

 

[CarvedTones]

I don't want to be a curmudgeon, but the resale is only part of it. Step one is making sure your options really are wide open. Mine aren't, unless I want to risk an awful lot. Being attached to a Cary residence places a lot of restrictions on what I can do to my garage and ignoring those restrictions could result in an unpaid insurance claim if something goes wrong. Besides, while my opinion is apparantly the minority, I like drywall. And as noted, it will do more for your resale as far as most buyers are concerned.

 

[scsmith42]

I used WR drywall (green board, although it was purple) on my shop. Why? Because my name is on the deed and the mailbox. That's all that matters. :icon_thum
As a builder I can see pros & cons for all materials here. My shop is a multi - tasker so I may be doing welding, auto repair, metal working, sheet metal work - you name it. I wanted something to give me protection in the event of a stray spark. As for hanging stuff, I found some silver pegboard @ HD on sale for $3 a sheet & pegboard hooks @ Habitat ReStore for $.10 each. After ripping some furring sticks to 3/4" & shooting them on every 16" I then shot the assembly straight to the studs behind the drywall using 2-1/2" trim nails. It's holding up very well.
The WR board, although not as resistant as DensArmor to mold, also has attributes needed for an unheated (as of now) shop.
As for PW, that would have been my 2nd choice, but I'd have used 3/8" AC & painted it too.
Don't have a problem with OSB except it doesn't hold screws as well as plywood of equal thickness if you're talking about mounting something. Not much chance of pulling a head through the panel, but I'd think just having screw threads holding something on wouldn't be too sturdy for heavier items. Perhaps planning some 2x blocking at strategic areas would eliminate this concern. I've even heard of people using drywall compound to skim over OSB to give it a semi finished look but have never seen it done. I'd probably paint it with something like masonry block filler first.

As usual, Dennis's advice is very sound.

In my new shop, I took a hybrid approach. The bottom 5' of the main shop walls are drywall, for fire resistance. My logic is that sparks, electrical shorts, etc are more likely to occur down low than up high. However, as an additional precaution almost all of the wiring is inside conduit. Also, almost all of the equipment is away from the wall by several feet.

Since the space has HVAC, moisture is not a concern.

Above 5', I used the Zip board system. This is an OSB type of product with a vapor barrier built into it. Becuase of the vapor barrier treatment, it resembles plywood more than OSB. The joints (it's T&G) were treated with drywall mud before painting. Zip board costs more than OSB and drywall but less than plywood.

Personally, I don't care for the look of OSB, and as Dennis mentioned screws tend to pull out much easier from OSB than plywood.

In the generator room and mechanical (dust collection) rooms, all walls (and eventually the ceiling) are drywalled for fire resistance reasons.

 

[decibel]

I have insulated walls and went with drywall for fire resistance. If I didn't already have my walls up I would have grabbed some of those grooved wall boards you see at the retail establishments which are great for hanging things. In this economy there maybe another retail chain that bites the dust and is selling it on the cheap. Linens and Things and Circuit City was giving good deals on their wall boards.

20/20 hindsight I suppose.

 

[Don Sorensen]

Rats! Just when I thought I had my mind made up - y'all bring up a whole bunch of good points about a variety of solutions.

My "garshop" is detached - I'm going with drywall on the ceiling and *was* going to go with OSB around the "shop" portion and stay with drywall on the "garage" portion. From reading this, I may go with plywood around the "shop" portion. However, I'm pretty convinced of the utility of the French Cleat system of hanging things on the walls. The cleats are (and will be) bolted into the framing - so I could go with all drywall.

Sounds like another perfect excuse to sit in the shop with a cold [STRIKE]beer[/STRIKE] frosty beverage and stare at the walls.

 

[Travis Porter]

I have drywall, and it has been ok. I had OSB in my other shop, and it was ok. I went on the cheap and should have used the 7/16 OSB and didn't.

As for the drywall, it isn't too bad to keep up, and I can easily cut and patch holes when I need to run additional electrical or fish a wall for something.

I would not paint it white again though. Although it makes it brighter, it also makes it "spartan" to me, especially after visiting Touchwood's shop as his is very warm and inviting. In retrospect, I would do maybe an egg shell white or something.

The number one reason I went with drywall over sheetrock at the time was cost. Drywall was a lot cheaper. I did put up 4 sheets of 3/4 BC 4 x 8 sheets of plywood for hanging tools on one wall and painted it with the walls.

 

[Glennbear]

I used 7/16" OSB with a white painted finish (eggshell gloss). Where I might have to remove a piece for future utility access it is fastened with screws. :wsmile: I REALLY hate drywall finishing. :rotflm:

 

[CarvedTones]

Travis,

I must inform you that you have commited a serious breech of the code of manhood. Our ability to discern egg shell from white must not ever be publicly disclosed. :rotflm:

Don,

I think you can ignore a lot of what I said about regulations for an outbuilding, assuming there is no certificate of occupancy (I think that is what it is called). The reason I say "I think" instead of "I am sure" is because my info about the regs is second hand, but I believe the contractor because he had to eat the cost of the drywall (fixed bid; cost over runs to meet code were his problem). I think (there I go again) he got on the inspector's bad side somehow though - you should see the braces he had to add under the deck; I could park my car up there. A neighbor was the engineer who signed off and he told me no way were they needed.

 

[jrevans]

Lots of good replies here. Thanks everyone. Here's a little more info:

I will be insulating.
Someday I may add HVAC.

It looks like I'm going to have to open up about 8ft. or so of that existing wall to insulate. The garage is offset from the house, and it looks like the builder only insulated the section of wall that was shared, and not just that whole wall.

I know the shared wall has to be fire-rated, but does it have to remain drywall? (since I have to open up a large portion of it anyway......) How about a fire-rated plywood? That wall happens to have both my electrical panels in it, and it would be so much simpler for future wiring if I could unscrew the whole 4x8 section to run wires to/from the panels.

I'm leaning towards plywood.

James

 

[CarvedTones]

I got confused. Don is piggybacking, figuring out what he will do in Garner with a detached shop. Right?

James - You are in Apex and have an attached garage, right? You should check the code. It may not be as strict as Cary, but whatever it is you should meet it or risk trouble with an insurance claim that I hope you never have or when you sell someday. My suspicion is that the code will apply to the entire structure (not just the shared wall) since it is attached.

 

[Don Sorensen]

Andy,
Thanks!. I've had to deal with building inspectors on all sorts of issues in another professional life, so I have a pretty good idea what I can get away with. The garage being detached does make it easier. Being in Wake County, rather than a particular city makes it a little easier, too.

But it is all insulated, it's wired better than code, and it will be finished at some point. I think the finished garage will help with re-sale sometime in the future. The detached House is a manufactured home so I won't be gaining much, if anything, from that!

My best investment so far has been the gable-mounted fan - I bet it drops the temp in the garage by a good 10-15 degrees all by itself.