new shop...

[Leo Voisine]

With my new shop I rocked the walls - taped ad mudded - and primed, and pained.

Hey, it's MY place - I want it to look real nice.

It's got R13 in the walls


Ceiling is a suspended ceiling. I will never rock a ceiling. I cannot tell you just how many times I have needed to get up there to add in a circuit, or to do something. One day I am going to put the DC above the ceiling. I also plan to run air lines up there to each side of the shop so I don't have air hoses on the floor.

Be patient - do it right - whatever right means for you. Don't get the itch to just get it done.

You will be looking at it for years to come - and it might take an extra week os so to get it right.

Don't rush it.

[deepsplinter]

Have you considered pegboard? It's kinda pricey, but IMO very handy.

I was fortunate to run across a harehouse full of white, 1/4" pegboard. It was used and odd sized (47"x66"), but I got all I wanted for, get this, ONE DOLLAR A SHEET. Plus he let me have a couple big boxes of assorted pegboard hooks. Long, heavy duty ones like you see in stores.

That was a once in a lifetime deal, but if I ever built a new shop, I'd bite the bullet and go with pegboard again.

[sawduster]

Sheetrock is more forgiving of those little Oops things like being an inch off for an electrical box than is ply or OSB. I'd go ahead and tape and mud the joints, and if you're gonna go with 8 foot ceilings, I'd hang the rock vertical. That way you have only taper joints. The long edges of the rock have about a 2 inch area that is just a tad thinner than the rest of the rock. This allows you to tape and mud the long joints, then if you wanna make the joint completely disappear when painted, float it with a feathered edge using an 12" knife on either side from the center. The ends, which are called butt joints, need to be floated out to 18" to 2' either side of the joint in order to disappear them.

Leo makes a good point about the suspended ceiling, and with a basement it is even more important. One of the most convenient things I did when I wired my shop was to add drop downs from the ceiling. These use stranded 12g wire through a rubber compression grommet with a 20A female plug on the end. My machines that are away from the wall plug into these so I eliminate cords on the floor to power them. With a suspended ceiling you have access after you get things set up and find optimal locations for your machines to add these to the mix.

[woodmannie]

I use the Dremel multi-max. Kinda like the Fien multimaster. New it's $99. less dust than a Zip.

Tom

[Stretch]

I'm in the process of paneling my shop with 3/8 ply. It's about the same price as sheet rock. It's lighter and easier to hang. I don't have to worry about putting the ends of boards through it while moving them around. I guarantee that if I drywalled my shop, I'd knock if full of holes in no time.

[Joe Lyddon]

I think Norm Abrams decided to panel his workshop so he could mount anything anywhere he wanted... I think he used 3/4 material...

[lexrex]

I am leaning towards ply because if I used it, I wouldn't paint, I would leave it bare to see the grain and it's bright enough for me. i'll be installing lots of lights anyway.

[lexrex]

What about flooring, what do you guys do? I'll have the cement slab floor of course but does it make sense to put something over it?

[admin]

I've got plywood nailed to a subfloor. It works pretty well, although it is sorta easily marked by workboots. Thank heavens I didn't make the shop for a showroom!

[TDHofstetter]

My shop floor's always been concrete. I'd MUCH RATHER have a wooden floor, but I don't like to trap moisture between concrete & wood.

There are sleeper tiles you can pick up from HD that'd do the job, though - they're about 24" square, OSB top surface, rubbery plastic bottom surface, T&G edges. They're made just for concrete floors.

Me... I'll probably lay down rubber stall mats if I can ever get enough machines off the floor to do it. The local farm place has 'em in 1/2" thickness, 3'x5', about $40 a pop.

[Beamer]

I laid down 6mil plastic and then 2x4 sleepers and put 1" OSB T&G subflooring on that. This should last me plenty long, I figure. I painted the OSB with white porch and floor paint and really like that for a shop floor. If the OSB flakes too much for my liking or doesn't hold up as well as I'd like, I plan to put down some kind of flooring - tile, wood, something - not sure. I'll jump off that bridge if I ever come to it.

[rrich]

Chris,

A couple of points that I didn't notice anyone saying.....

Drywall makes the house more sell-able when the time comes.

I don't think that ply or OSB would be legal according to code. With ply or OSB your insurance company may deny a fire claim. In my mind (or lack thereof) the combustible nature of ply or OSB is too much of a fire liability to even consider it.

BTW - I did my shop in drywall, ceiling included.

[dburkhart]

i did 2x6 tounge and groove walls and i epoxy coated the floor

[sachbvn]

Oct 31, 2009 14:36:36 GMT -6 lockman said:

I did painted OSB on my shop ceiling. It turned out nice, however it sucks paint up like there is no tomorrow. I think it took me 4 coats sprayed and them back rolled. It is easier to put up by your self than dry wall in my opinion.

I put a sheet of OSB over an old pool table - it serves as an outfeed/work area for me... mainly because the pool table wasn't going to be removed - but is old enough, and not really used - so - doing what I'm doing isn't completely a sin.... lol

I originally had it just that OSB mixture of browns color - but I foudn that when I dropped a screw or something on it - I had a hell of a time finding it - so I painted it white....off white actually - whatever old paint interior house paint I found.... I agree - it took far more paint than I would have guessed - this was a wam-bam-thank you mam kinda job too - so I wasn't real concerned with getting things "just so"..... I just really needed to get on to other things at the time and I found it irritating enough to drop what I was doing and paint the damn stuff! It took two coats - brushed on by hand, it was only a 4x8 sheet - the coats went on plenty heavy - and it still took two. Probably could have taken a third had it been walls or a ceiling.

It REALLY brightened things up and serves it's purpose wonderfully!


Zac

[sachbvn]

Chris,

All I'd say about drywall in your basement - think about moisture.... not actual water in the basement - but just moisture. Moisture from the outside walls - moisture from the air..... I would probably stay away from drywall unless it was the kind that doesn't allow bacteria to feed from.... The other thing - having never lived in the house before - and since you are doing all this work to the basement.... you may want to look very much into all the ways to protect yourself against moisture - before it means a "remodel" of an otherwise, livable basement. Do you need insulation on the floor? Walls? What kind? - do you want a vapor barrier - or that kind of foam that completely seals off the walls? Just throwing some thoughts out there.

Oh - and I've heard nothing but awesome things about Rotozips!!! ESPECIALLY on drywall!

Zac

[lexrex]

Nov 7, 2009 21:02:24 GMT -6 rrich said:

Chris,

A couple of points that I didn't notice anyone saying.....

Drywall makes the house more sell-able when the time comes.

I don't think that ply or OSB would be legal according to code. With ply or OSB your insurance company may deny a fire claim. In my mind (or lack thereof) the combustible nature of ply or OSB is too much of a fire liability to even consider it.

BTW - I did my shop in drywall, ceiling included.

Excellent points Rich. I have to keep value in mind. If we had to sell in the next few years, I'd need to have it be something that could easily be converted to coded livable space. That thought probably seals the deal.

Zac,
I'll probably wait 6 months or so for everything to settle in and then take some humidity measurements. If it's real bad I can do a dehumidifier. Of course the proper vapor barrier will go in behind the wall/framing.

[Ruffnek]

I'm late to this discussion but here's my opinion.

I would go with plywood on shop walls. I hate sheetrock. The 3/8" ply that Stretch is using sounds like it will work well. If money was no object, I'd go with 1x6 T&G SPF, just because I like the way it looks. I'd also varnish it to help it shed dust.

I've got 1/2" OSB on my shop ceiling. It took a primer coat and two more coats of paint to cover it to my liking...white.

Now, I don't know (nor care) anything about code...especially in your area but do recognize that you have to keep home value in mind. If plywood walls or ceiling won't pass code, then you probably don't want to use them in your basement.

Ideally, a shop should have a wooden floor...to save your feet/back and to save your tools when you drop one. But, if you decide to stay with concrete, I'd advise painting it before moving your tools inside. That's a mistake that I still regret with my shop. The painted floor will reflect light, be easy to clean and just make the place cheerier.

Fatigue mats help with the feet/back but make it more difficult to clean the shop. I had some but took them up and they are stored in the shop attic now. If you are continually going from the shop to the house, you will want to contain and clean up the sawdust regularly. Otherwise, you may find yourself living in the basement shop.

[lexrex]

Nov 10, 2009 15:03:42 GMT -6 Ruffnek said:

I'm late to this discussion but here's my opinion.

I would go with plywood on shop walls. I hate sheetrock. The 3/8" ply that Stretch is using sounds like it will work well. If money was no object, I'd go with 1x6 T&G SPF, just because I like the way it looks. I'd also varnish it to help it shed dust.

I've got 1/2" OSB on my shop ceiling. It took a primer coat and two more coats of paint to cover it to my liking...white.

Now, I don't know (nor care) anything about code...especially in your area but do recognize that you have to keep home value in mind. If plywood walls or ceiling won't pass code, then you probably don't want to use them in your basement.

Ideally, a shop should have a wooden floor...to save your feet/back and to save your tools when you drop one. But, if you decide to stay with concrete, I'd advise painting it before moving your tools inside. That's a mistake that I still regret with my shop. The painted floor will reflect light, be easy to clean and just make the place cheerier.

Fatigue mats help with the feet/back but make it more difficult to clean the shop. I had some but took them up and they are stored in the shop attic now. If you are continually going from the shop to the house, you will want to contain and clean up the sawdust regularly. Otherwise, you may find yourself living in the basement shop.

Good points Cody. I'll have to check the local codes before jumping to conclusions.

I will definitely do something with the floor first, maybe right before or after framing.

I plan to have "shop shoes" that remain inside the door where I can change to track as little dust into the house as possible. I'll probably need a whole wardrobe

[runningmike]

I went with 1/2" hardwood face veneered plywood in my attached garage shop. It was water damaged (small water spots on some of the corners). I used 5/8" type X behind the walls adjacent to the house for fire separation. I like it a lot. I've left it natural and haven't filled the nail holes so finding a stud for heavy objects is easy. Smaller stuff hangs on the 1/2" just fine.

Mike