Shop Walls and Floor

Allen Bryant

Member
Messages
35
Location
Bumpass, VA
It has been many years since I was on here and wood working has taken a back seat for quite a while, due to job or lack of job issues. But I finally have my life settled down and debt recovery is almost complete.

It has become increasingly likely that my MIL is going to be moving in with us in the next year or so. To accomplish this we are going to have to take bay 3 of our garage where my shop currently is and extend the house into it to create a bathroom on the first floor as she can't climb the stairs now, much less in a year from now. So in order to keep the shop, I've been given the go ahead to build a free standing shop in the back yard. It's not big, but will be bigger than a 1 bay garage stall.

I've spent the last couple of months going over and making detail drawings to try and do this right the first time. I've got everything figured out except two things.

The first is the walls. My wife thinks i should drywall as it would look better finished. I've been hearing stories of people who have put up 1/2 plywood for the wall, both for the durability and the ability to hang all but the heaviest stuff without having to worry about studs. I can't argue though that finished drywall may actually look better, but plywood I could use screws and take down if need be if i need to run wires that I didn't think of. So my question is, has anybody used plywood for the walls? How does it look painted? If you did it again would you stick with plywood or go with something else?

The second round of questions is around the floor. I'm not pouring a slab, this will be a raised wooden floor with plywood down on the floor. I want to be able to get underneath to run dust control and electrical lines, plus I don't want to stand on concrete any more. I've seen shops where people have gone all out and put down hardwood or Pergo flooring and a recent magazine had a review on floor coverings that were supposed to add a little cushion but still not leave dents from big tools or damage tools when dropped. So any suggestions on what you have done to your floors?
 
Welcome back Allen. Glad you remembered us. Can't help with the plywood walls but, apart from the issue of running electrical after the walls are up, drywall can be made to work in the shop if you install enough blocking inside the wall to handle any anticipated hanging requirements. Maybe a row of blocking at cabinet height around the entire shop? Just depends on what you think you will be hanging. I know I doubled the studs on the garage/shop wall where my wood rack would be hung to make sure they would support the weight and then added 2x6 blocking in the areas that I might want to hang something, just in case. Any forgotten wiring just goes in conduit. My floor is concrete and the detached shop I'm planning will have concrete too. I just use anti-fatigue mats where most of the standing happens and wear good comfortable shoes.
 
Thanks. I know where my major cabinets are going to go and i planned on putting blocking to hang those regardless of whether I go with drywall or plywood, but I like the idea of just running it all the way around for future changes. The wood rack I'm looking at creating is free standing.

When you say conduit are you running it on the outside of the walls?
 
If you leave the floor bare plywood, I'd prime it and paint it, to make cleanup easier.

As for the walls, I vote drywall board, simply for the personal comfort factor. It's a small area, and will seem less shed like.

If you wanted to cheap out a bit, I think that old 1970's type wall paneling is still availible. You know with the wood grain printed on it.

That might make a freindly interior with hardly any work. Not as sturdy as 1/2 ply, but it doesn't require painting either.

Hopefully the table saw will not bother your mother-in-law too much. So maybe put some insulation in the walls,

and give a thought to wich way the doors and windows face, to cut the sound a little.

and a few mother in law jokes --lol

 
Welcome back, Allen. :wave:

When my fiancee (now wife) and I moved in together, her mom was part of the package, so you get a tip of the hat from me on that one. ;-) Are you a drinking man? You might want to start. :D (Just kidding. My mother-in-law (RIP) and I got along very well.)

My current garage shop has drywall on two of the walls, but those walls also have 7' tall storage cabinets on them, so the drywall goes unnoticed. The third wall is stucco painted white, and the fourth is the overhead door. If I was building a standalone shop, for the walls I'd go with either plywood or OSB (either would be painted with white primer), simply for the flexibility it would offer when hanging things. Still, I'd like to have lots of cabinets instead of open shelves on the walls. For flooring, I'd go with simple plywood floors and either paint them or treat them with boiled linseed oil. Using BLO would make it easy to maintain the appearance of the floor if it got scratched or worn due to traffic.
 
Vaughn you killing me. :rofl::rofl: Now you "GET" one of the reasons i live where i do now. ;):rofl: Means i dont have to drink that much. :D

Sorry for the hijack.

Back to shops, last shop i had i finished with insulation and 5/8 fire code dry wall. Wish i had used plywood. I was thinking of resale down the road if ever and lighting from a point of view of painting it. New owner took the whole building down so who was i kidding.

Today i would go with construction grade ply and spray paint with acrylic paint. I would also go surface with my electrical like i have seen in other shops. At least then i aint gonna be worrying about whats behind the ply.

I wont comment on the floor i aint experienced enough on those matters. My last shop i had a slab on grade and put down 2x8 PT wood and solid pink insulation in between spacing something like 16 inch on centers and then 3/4 ply over that. I would do the same again today. Concrete on its own is hard on the aging knees and back.

Just one thing dont skimp on lighting use the T8 fittings and put them on different switches. I ganged all my lights up and it was a mistake wire and switches are cheap at the time of build. Electricity is a cost forever.

Best of luck and welcome back to the forum.
 
Thanks for the welcomes. Fortunately my MIL and I get along really well, so it won't be too much of an adjustment. The only problem I for see and I may have to take up drinking, is that I also have a wife and 2 daughters, so there will be 4 females in the house. The daughters are 5 and 7 but in a few years I'm going to want to spend some time away from the house.

Still lots to think about. I believe for now I'm just going to go with a plywood floor and paint it, to save money and see where everything gets setup at, then worry about something different on the floor. While I'm not trying to go on the cheap, having drywall hung may blow my budget. Because of the time crunch I'm already doing more work on the shop than I would have liked. There are a few things I would like to contract out that I'm going to have to do, to get under budget and on time. I'll just have to see how the funds are going when I get to that point.
 
Just one thing dont skimp on lighting use the T8 fittings and put them on different switches. I ganged all my lights up and it was a mistake wire and switches are cheap at the time of build. Electricity is a cost forever.

Best of luck and welcome back to the forum.

I plan on putting T8 fixtures in, but I'm curious as to why you thought that putting all the lights on one switch is a mistake? I do plan on putting all the lights on a dedicated breaker. I've heard of people tripping a breaker with a tool and loosing the lights at the same time, that I don't want to happen.
 
I plan on putting T8 fixtures in, but I'm curious as to why you thought that putting all the lights on one switch is a mistake? I do plan on putting all the lights on a dedicated breaker. I've heard of people tripping a breaker with a tool and loosing the lights at the same time, that I don't want to happen.
I echo what Rob said. Separate switches for each bank of lights lets you just burn electricity where you are working...you don't need to light the entire garage. Even further, consider another separate switch for a single light just inside the door/s for those times you are just ducking in for something quick.
 
I insulated and put up Painted OSB for my walls. The floor is concrete with a seal coating that was too hard on the feet. So I just laid down sheets of OSB directly on the concrete directly below all of the stationary tools and woodbench and assembly table. Except for the one unfinished area of the shop, the balance of the entire floor is covered with the 2'x2' interlocking floor matts. The matts make a huge difference on the feet/legs. Because the height of the matts and the OSB are close to the same it looks/feels like one consistent level throughout.

Rob
 
I don't think I have any pictures of the shop since it has been rearranged and the OSB/mats have been put down. I can take some tonight if needed.

Here is a link to the mats I used:

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/util-a...rch_page.rr1&campaign=rr&sn=SolrSearchToView&

and some other thinner ones.

http://www.amazon.com/We-Sell-Mats-Anti-Fatigue-Interlocking/dp/B001EJI6CK

The ones at Sams are 1/2" thick and the ones at Amazon are 3/8". I used the 1/2" thick ones.

A number of places sale them.

What I like is with the wood floor and the mat, if you drop a tool they won't get dinged like they would if they hit the concrete.
Rob
 
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Thanks Rob, when you get a chance, if you could a picture would be nice.

I've been thinking about those mats as well. One of the wood working magazines recently did an article comparing a bunch of them. One I was looking at had high marks for everything but install. That may be an option I look at.
 
Allen, I took some photos last night but didn't have time to process them, due prepping for an early morning meeting this morning. I will post some later tonight.

Rob
 
Hopefully,this should give you an idea of how I used them in my shop.

I have created "walkways" around the perimeter. The first photo shows the smooth transition from the entry door with ceramic tile. I still need to put down a layer of OSB along the wall (over the gray paint concrete floor slab.) And you can see the OSB under the tools:
IMG05370.jpg

The second photo shows it going in down the other path from the entry door:

IMG05362.jpg

The third photo shows an transition/intersection area:

IMG05357.jpg

The last photo shows the area around the workbench and assembly table:

IMG05358.jpg

Pretty much they are located everywhere I stand and OSB is under all the tools.

Rob
 
Hi,

Here are several thoughts from my own history.

PLYWOOD vs dry wall:

I used plywood on the south wall of my shop. A contractor pushed me into using it. He said that the slightest variance in stud thickness or warp will really show with drywall and won't show with plywood. Well the wall was a garage wall and let's say that the framers were not all that careful. There were some wild deviations. The ply, painted white, looks great. The variations do not show.

One of my walls is drywall, painted white, and it looks just fine---however, you cannot just hang things anywhere.

Two of my walls are OSB and that looks fine too. However, it definitely requires a primer prior to painting. If you don't prime it you will find it holds more paint than a sponge and still look like OSB.

I recommend painting your walls white with an eggshell finish. The white will distribute you light better through the shop and it will not distort colors.

INSULATION: Do it!!! Do it well. A buck saved here can keep you out of the shop on many hot or cold days.

ELECTRIC WIRING: I sincerely wish I had wall surface electrical. I have already added two outlets. Yes, Glenn and I put the OSB up with wood screws, thank goodness. I want to add power to a 10' section of wall (between a corner and a garage door), however the thought of removing the plywood on that wall and the wall around the corner (to get to the breaker box) has kept me from doing it. My name isn't "Allen The Doer."

I have 20 breakers in my shop sub-panel. When I started I thought 8 would be more than enough. It is much cheaper to plan for that now. Then when you need it, all you have to do is remove one of the little plates and put in your new breaker.

Label each wire at the breaker and where ever it ends (even if it has many ends); ultimately you will be extremely happy that you did.

Take pictures of your wiring when it goes up---especially if it is to be hidden inside of the wall. Stick with standard wiring height to make your parallel runs of wire.

QUICK TRIP LIGHT:
I do have a switch at the door from the house to the shop that turns on a 100 watt incandescent lamp. I use it when I run out to grab a tool while working on something in the bedroom. Notice that I specified "incandescent" lamp. The lifespan of straight and curly lamps is drastically affected by the number of times they are turned on and off. With T-12 40 watt lamps you can leave the light on for 4 hours a bit cheaper than turning it off and on once (I used to belong to the illuminating Engineering Society.).

Do use as many luminaires as you can afford...they are like clamps, you cannot have too many. Be sure the luminaires have reflectors that shield the lamps from your line of sight---even clear across the shop. Do use luminaires that have reflectors above the lamps; that really increases the amount of light and the quality of light where you are working. Do not hesitate to add "Task" lighting; you will be more comfortable and more accurate if you do.

I apologize. You may have noticed that I am a bit biased.

240 VOLTS: Even if you do not have need for it now, you will later. It is much easier and cheaper now.

Enjoy your new man cave. I had a fantastic wife and your women may be fantastic also---BUT men and women just don't think the same way and you want your shop to be a place that is pleasant to go to.

JimB
 
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As far as lighting, the more the better and the more switching, the better. Also, if you can afford it, add an emergency lighting fixture.(the smaller red rectangles.)

Here is the layout I ended up with:

The first light inside the main door (gray colored) is on an occupancy sensor so as soon as the door opens, it comes on and gets me enough light to get in and shut off alarm, or use the utility sink or walk to the bathroom.

The diagram shows the different switching zones. If I just need an overall low level, then I just have the two at one end, two in the middle and two at the other end on (green colored.)

If I need extra lighting in one of the four quadrants I can switch on an extra bank of three light fixtures. Each fixture is a recessed 2x4 4 lamp T-8 fixture.

This covers a 38'x24' area for the main shop.

The wood storage and bathroom are adjacent to this space (not shown) which covers a 12'x24' area, which also has an occupancy sensor to control two of the lights and the last three lights between the wood storage vertical stacks are switched separately. If I am working outside in the garden, I can just walk in and wash up in the deep sink or go to the bathroom, without having to manually turn on or off the lights. The occupancy sensors switches, brings them on automatically and turns them off when I leave.
lights.JPG


Rob
 
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