Pegboard vs. slatwall-looking for help

Doug Sinjem

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La Habra Hts. CA
Which is better for tool storage? I'm looking to put up a large section behind my chop saw station. I think it's a little easier if everything is in plain site rather than in drawers, that is for small items, not power tools.

I'd like to get some input on the pros and cons of both or not at all.

Doug
 
Hey doug. In my opinion, it comes down to looks and cost. Pegboard will be quite inexpensive. The slatboard might be pricier, but looks nicer. Personally, looks are important to me so I would go with the slat board.

On a functional note, slatboard does seem like it can hold more weight (uneducated guess).

marc
 
I'm OK with the 1/4" pegboard if properly supported. I generally mount it as panels that can be relocated a bit if required down the road. I use 3/4" x 1" strips for standoffs and use them on end so as not to block any holes.

Slatwall does look nice and I believe you can make your own "hooks" for shop made do-thingies to hang special tools. On the other hand if I make a special holder for say, a small square; I just use "L" hooks spaced on 1" centers coming out of the back of the do-thingy and hang it wherever I like.
 
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For me, I don't have the wall space, and even if I did, I do not like either.

I'd rather have cabinets and shelves, but that is just me.

Cheers!:wave:
 
Would the slats hold dust?? Might be a good argument for peg board.

Jeff
another good Question, I have Peg board but it is in a "Framed" environment. Lower portion of wall is Paneling as well as top 8" the peg is inbetween as you don'rt need it low and you cant use it at the top. My opinion (price not included) is the slats will offer more ease in hanger placement which is a plus, but I think there will be a dust collection to contend with.
 
Yes, slatwall will collect some dust, but just run the shop vac over it (or blast it with the air hose if you like to breath dust:D) during your normal cleaning.
Positives and negatives: You can position items on slatwall in an infinate number of places horizontally, but are limited to fewer spots virtically. Slotwall is easy to paint. Pegboard has about twice as many vertical positions, but is limited on the horizontal placements. Pegboard collects paint in all the holes when painted, making the process tedious, or time consuming to drill out the paint later. With pegboard, you also lose the holes where you have bracing behind it for strength. Not so with slatwall.
The person that had my house before we bought it, had pegboard up for tools. He also had slatwall cut and turned vertically for wainscotting on the lower walls!!!!:(:(:( I took out the pegboard, and reclaimed as much slatwall as I could. Most slatwall I've seen in business settings was painted. This stuff has an oak plastic laminate applied to the surface. I have several joints for each longer section I made, but hey, the price was right! :wave: DSCN1390.jpg I'm cutting some of the pieces that are too badly water damaged to use on the wall in 3/4" strips, and skinning the laminate off of it. I can put this into the slats to cover up the MDF look. Kind of dresses it up a little, and can be pulled out if need be.
If you go the slatwall route, watch for some retail stores going out of business that have this up on the walls. You might be able to get some lexan hangers for it that are little shelves. We used to have some at a stereo store I worked at. Not cheap if you have to buy them new. I picked up some "pegs" for the slatwall from a Radio Shack store that closed, a nickle a piece. Hope my experiences help. Jim.
 
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I just hung some pegboard in a storage shed. My neighbor came by after I finished and said "I thought you'd have hung slats." I hadn't even considered the slats as I was in a hurry and just wanted ot cover the wall which was foil faced sheathing. I used the white pegboard and I do like the way it brightened up the space, but I am wondering if I should have hung slats as I see the pegboard being less durable over time. Since its up I am going to live it with it for now.
 
Doug, have you looked at this thread?

http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2477

Christian has Concrete walls in his shop, so he mounted French cleats and then made the hanging tool panels from OSB, (you could also use plywood) and even paint it if you want. With his method, it is stronger than either pegboard OR slatwall, and you can mount items anywhere you want on the boards to fit whatever your needs are.

If you do use pegboard, and want to add some screws for strength other than around the frame or perimeter of the panel, I used to cut short lengths of 3/8" copper tubing to use as a spacer/standoff between the pegboard and wall, and then run the screw through a washer, then the pegboard, then through the copper tubing and into the wall at a stud location, and this didn't interfere with as many of the pegboard holes as backer strips would have, and you can spot them around so they don't fall where you need to use a peg hole to hang something.
 
Thanks for the input guys. It sounds like the slat wall might be the way to go. I know with pegboard they have clips that screw in so when you pull off a tool the hook doesn't come with it. Do they offer the same thing in slatwall?

Also where can you buy slat wall and all the hooks. I've seen a few internet sites. I wouldn't mind buying the hooks on line but rather buy the board locally.


Doug
 
I've not seen anything like that, but it would make the face of the slatwall pretty ugly when you decided to move that item somewhere else. I think someone could design a 2 piece hook that would snap in the top and the bottom then snap together that would keep the hook from falling out, but I've never seen anything like that either. Jim.
 
When I built my shop a couple of years ago, I originally planned to use slatwall even though it was quite expensive. My previous experiences with the hooks pulling out of pegboard had me wanting something better.

Then, I discovered Talon Hooks for pegboard (see: http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=50353&cat=1,43326,43327). They are very strong and very versatile. So, as a result, I now have a large expance of wall covered in pegboard. This picture shows only a portion of the pegboard on that wall:

Lots of pegboard -small.JPG

I tested the strength of both the hooks and the pegboard, by dropping this sledge-hammer onto the hooks from about a foot above the hooks:

Sledge hammer on Talon Hooks -small.JPG
 
When I built my shop a couple of years ago, I originally planned to use slatwall even though it was quite expensive. My previous experiences with the hooks pulling out of pegboard had me wanting something better.

Then, I discovered Talon Hooks for pegboard (see: http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=50353&cat=1,43326,43327). They are very strong and very versatile. So, as a result, I now have a large expance of wall covered in pegboard. This picture shows only a portion of the pegboard on that wall:

View attachment 7304

I tested the strength of both the hooks and the pegboard, by dropping this sledge-hammer onto the hooks from about a foot above the hooks:

View attachment 7303

Frank I saw those Talon hooks while doing some research and they seem pretty reasonable cost wise. I was looking at pegboard today at Lowes and they only offer it 3/16" thick...is this standard? The talon hooks say they are for 1/4" pegboard is that 1/4" thick or 1/4" diameter hole. I'm leaning this way because I have a small amount of the triton pegboard that I'm going to move to another place in the shop.

The slatwall seems pretty pricey and the hooks and hangers are expensive too.

Doug
 
Doug, I used 1/4 inch pegboard and that is commonly available at all the building supply stores around here. I did buy mine at Home Depot. I certainly would not settle for any pegbord thinnner than 1/4 inch.
 
Frank in doing my research on pegboard it turns out that the 1/4" pegboard is really only 3/16" thick. Even my big lumber supplier says they only carry the 3/16":(

Doug
 
I also use the Talon hooks and think they're great. The little plastic jobbers that straddle standard pegs didn't work for me. Some folks put a blob of hot glue on the peg-hook before inserting it but the Talons are a little more elegant solution and not real costly.

The Lowe's and HD around here do not carry 1/4" pegboard except in the overpriced painted or plastic 'handy panel' format. A good lumber yard should either carry it or be able to get it for you. Another nice thing about pegboard is you can multiply your storage space by making any one of the swinging or sliding door arrangements you'll see around.
 

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I did find 1/4" but it is not tempered. Is there a big difference between tempered and non-tempered? I'm not sure how much weight I'm going to be putting on the board but am wondering how much I can load on a board.


Doug
 
Doug, I don't think that the pegboard I used in my shop is tempered. But, weight certainly does not appear to be a problem (witness the dropped sledge hammer that I both talked about and showed a picture of).
 
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