Which Plywood For Wall Sheathing?

[ptgb]

Have decided to sheath the interior walls of my new 24'x32' garage with plywood. I am aware of the ply v. OSB v. drywall debates (even the fire part) and have read many of them for the pros and cons of each, so I don't want to start that debate here... my mind is made up; plywood.

Anyway, for this thread, I am looking for you guyes opinion on which plywood you would go with out of two choices. Both are the same price and reasonable (for ply). Plan on priming and painting after install.

One choice:

http://www.menards.com/main/p-1920284-c-5698.htm

1/2" for easier handling and should be decent as far as knots, splits, etc. Plan on having 1/16" caulked seams and screwing it to the walls.

Another choice:

http://www.menards.com/main/p-1920265-c-5698.htm

3/4" for more strength. Doesn't classify as to "A" "B" or "C", so I don't know surface condition until I see it (closest Menards is 50 miles away). If the surface is comparable to the other one then that doesn't come into play. Tongue and groove; so how do I handle the seams (**** it together or still gap it)? Is the T&G an advantage on a wall mounting situation?


If it were you, which would you lean towards, all things considered... thanks.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

I'd pick 3/4" (all else being acceptable to you) because you will be able to mount anything you want, anywhere you want.

 

[djjsr]

I just looked at the 1/2" BCX there and it looked pretty good except for some warped sheets on top of the stack. A quick light sanding will remove the fuzz.

I don't see any sense in putting 3/4 on walls.

 

[crewchief888]

FWIW

the last place i had a hand in refinishing was a rebuild/clean room at a const eq dealership.

management wanted full drywall,
we talked them into 1/2" plywood 4 ft up the wall and the rest 1/2" drywall, with a drop ceiling at 16 ft.

if i planned on doing my garage, i think i'd lean towards this.
unless the plywood was much cheaper cost wise
just my $0.02

 

[RECox286]

Plywood won't pass the firecode. You need to check with the local building dept

for what you need to install to pass code, (unless you are not getting a permit.)

Uncle Bob

 

[darcyh]

3/4 plywood would be real nice, but it will be very heavy to handle and hang unless you have help.

 

[mikester]

T-111. It looks nicer than plain plywood.

 

[James-W]

When I built my new garage I had originally planned on putting up 1/2 plywood on the walls. But a buddy of mine talked me into putting up drywall. My buddy has a brother who is in the drywall business and he was a little slow on work and he gave me a really good price for doing the job. Now that it is all done, I am glad I went with the drywall. The paint I went with is slightly off-white it makes the garage look so much brighter. I know you can paint plywood too, but I am just saying the whole garage looks really nice, in some ways even better than my house.

I put in a lot of electrical outlets along the walls, and there are 12 lights in the ceiling. So if I had to cut out for all those lights and wall outlets, it would have been a real pain in the neck and I would never have gotten the cuts really accurate. With the drywall, these guys do this every day and they are super good at it, besides, they use a roto-zip tool to cut around the lights and the outlets which makes it simple and quick. If they screw it up, they just fill it in with drywall compound. It's hard to fill in a bad cut around an outlet or light when you are using plywood.

I realize that it is much more difficult to hang stuff up on the walls when you use drywall, but it certainly looks a whole lot nicer with drywall and where the walls meet the ceiling it is perfect because any imperfections are taped, mudded, filled in and sanded so it looks really nice.

I am not trying to get you change your mind, I am just saying it worked out well for me and I am glad I went with the drywall. If you want, I can maybe post some pictures for you to look at.

 

[bygasper]

I put up 1/2" AC plywood on my walls recently. 52x71' build with walls 16' high at the eves and raised chord trusses. Building foreman threw a fit about having to screw it all in (per my contract). That was the fault of the foreman, engineering, and dealer...HA! You can't hide the seams or the screws, but that is fine by me. I'm glad I did all plywood.

Plywood will soak up a lot lot lot of primer! Pick a good one before painting the top coat.

 

[kbs2244]

All about plywood grades.

http://www.ezwoodshop.com/plywood/plywood-grades.html

IMHO
I am a believer that “form follows function.”
Some of you may know that as “go before show.”
For a shop wall, at least 3/8 CDX, painted white, on the bottom 4 feet with white¼ peg board above it is the best wall surface.
Light reflectivity, impact resistance and hanger flexibility.
I have no experience with the retail style “slat wall.”
You may prefer it, but get it in white.

 

[Blk88GT]

I did 1/2" 4 ply CDX on all the walls and ceiling inside the shop. Primed it with oil based primer and then two coats of semi gloss acrylic latex. I nailed it with 2 3/8" ring shank nails and a framing nailer turned down. I caulked the seams that were large enough to bother me.

It was damn hard work, even with a scissor lift and an air nailer.

I'm very happy with how it turned out.

 

[Mandres]

I just don't see the advantage. Even 1/2 ply is more expensive and more flammable than drywall, not to mention a hell of a lot harder to install and finish. What's the upside? Not having to locate a stud before mounting something?

 

[Slick111]

I used sheet rock on the ceiling and 7/16 chip board on all the walls due to I got a smoking deal on the chip board 5 bucks each on 4x8 sheets but you will need to prime them several coats of quality oil base primer to seal them up and it filles in all the roughness dont use water base primer it swells and loosens a lot of chip board its self now dont have to worry about any thing hitting the wall and bashing a hole in it like my last garage plus I can hang stuff pretty much any where I want.

 

[csp]

Plywood won't pass the firecode.

Maybe, maybe not.

We don't know if this is an attached garage or not.

We don't know if it already has fire rated drywall on any/all walls that the house shares if it is an attached garage.

Based on what we don't know, that's a claim you can't make.

 

[brownbagg]

not to mention a hell of a lot harder to install and finish.

what finish is there, you nail it up and forget about it, its a garage

 

[Notch1988]

Got to love this place... even after the OP states his mind is made up to go with plywood people still feel compelled to throw in their opiniion that drywall is better.

In my opinion go 1/2". My last shop I did 1/2" ply and my new shop I'll be doing the same. If I don't feel comfortable hanging something in 1/2" ply I doubt I'd be anymore comfortable about 3/4".

 

[Fiberglass Fred]

I used 1/2". It was less expensive, easier to handle, and I didn't really see any advantage in the 3/4".

Before I did mine, I'd recently helped someone put up 3/4" in their garage. Sure the 3/4 is stronger, but once you're done, you can still see all the screw holes, so you know where all the studs are. If you were going to hang something really heavy, you'd probably try to put it into a stud anyway, the 3/4" probably won't really help much more than the 1/2".

 

[OccupantRJ]

Here is some information from my plywood wall install that may interest you.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48893

 

[AMCguy]

I would go with the 1/2''.

Residential drywall is also 1/2'', so all the electrical boxes, window and door casings are designed for a 1/2'' thick wall.

 

[Air_Cooled_Nut]

My shop came with 5/8" sheet rock...just not installed. Since I'm looking to function > form I bought 3/4" plywood from CraigsList. This will allow the two to mate up fairly nicely. I waited and waited for 5/8" to come up but it didn't do I went with 3/4"...sanded on one side, flat, and a really good price.

I also went with the thicker stuff so I could attach anything to it without having to worry about finding studs. One you have your plywood up and painted you'll love it.

 

[KPSquared]

I would go with the 1/2''.

Residential drywall is also 1/2'', so all the electrical boxes, window and door casings are designed for a 1/2'' thick wall.

This is a good reason. Stuff just works on 1/2" and it's plenty thick enough to hang stuff on. Maybe use a bigger screw or a few extra, but it'll hold most of what you throw on it.

 

[bileshake]

not to mention a hell of a lot harder to install and finish.

what finish is there, you nail it up and forget about it, its a garage

I did a room in my shop as a jam room for a band. Two walls OSB two walls drywall. once I started mudding, the ceiling I realized I need to forget drywall.

I painted and primed both walls one with the same quality semi gloss finish I put on the drywall and it looks amazing. I painted the other OSB wall exterior wood paint/stain and i looks like an old picnic table.

I'm doing the whole shop now with OSB and a decent semi gloss home depot paint.

 

[Low50s]

out of the two options OP, I would install 3/4 over 1/2. Yes 1/2 is lighter, but I like the strength of 3/4

 

[owdlvr]

Before you buy at Menards, ask around at a couple of lumber yards to see if they can get "factory plywood".

Factory plywood is good-one-side plywood that is a second for some reason. I used 1/2" factory plywood in my build. The "reject" second issues with the plywood I got fell into one of three categories:

1) chipped or damaged edges - In my case, only one row of full 4x8 sheets were possible in my shop, and often not even a full 4x8 could be used. So this was a non issue for me.

2) popped or missing knot fills - In "good one side" plywood a machine detects knots, routers a standard sized shape and fills it with a small plug or skin of wood. Factory plywood has some of these skins popping out (can simply glue down) or missing (fill with bondo or body filler)

3) Water staining - some plywood showed signs of being wet on an edge at some point.

I sorted out the worst of the factory ply at the lumber yard, and took pieces I was happy with. The result is all of my walls are sanded, plywood and finished up very nicely. Cheaper than good one side plywood, and just a fraction more than standard ply with all the knots.

-Dave

 

[bigredmf]

Plywood won't pass the firecode. You need to check with the local building dept



for what you need to install to pass code, (unless you are not getting a permit.)



Uncle Bob

I'm with a Uncle Bob when it comes to plywood/osb in a shop.

It is not proper practice to use a non fire rated wall covering in any shop or garage .

Not even in a detached garage.

Red


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[n20junkie]

1/2 Sanded BC oe BCX

Sanded BC should have a knot free side, paints nice too. Just prime, knock the hairs off with a sanding block and paint. Looks real nice with semi-gloss or gloss. Once you put **** against the wall, you don't notice the tiny gaps.

 

[CNGsaves]

. . . . . this is . . . . . 4 YEAR OLD Thread . . .
. . .
. . . . . . hope that OP has decided by now what he wants on walls !!

 

[n20junkie]

. . . . . this is . . . . . 4 YEAR OLD Thread . . .
. . .
. . . . . . hope that OP has decided by now what he wants on walls !!

Sush your mouth!!!

 

[Pabird]

Yes to the 1/2" sanded plywood. I just finished my detached 24x32 walls and ceiling with it. The joints are not a problem if you are careful placing them. Any small gaps can be filled in with painters caulk. The only problem I had with it was painting. Valspar brand would not seal it even after 3 coats on one 4x8 sheet. I went with 1 coat of SW brand bare wood primer and one coat of SW finish (neither is oil based).

 

[PeterT]

I'd go with 1/2,, 3/4 is too heavy and certainly overkill for interior sheathing.

 

[PeterT]

Before you buy at Menards, ask around at a couple of lumber yards to see if they can get "factory plywood".

Factory plywood is good-one-side plywood that is a second for some reason. I used 1/2" factory plywood in my build. The "reject" second issues with the plywood I got fell into one of three categories:

1) chipped or damaged edges - In my case, only one row of full 4x8 sheets were possible in my shop, and often not even a full 4x8 could be used. So this was a non issue for me.

2) popped or missing knot fills - In "good one side" plywood a machine detects knots, routers a standard sized shape and fills it with a small plug or skin of wood. Factory plywood has some of these skins popping out (can simply glue down) or missing (fill with bondo or body filler)

3) Water staining - some plywood showed signs of being wet on an edge at some point.

I sorted out the worst of the factory ply at the lumber yard, and took pieces I was happy with. The result is all of my walls are sanded, plywood and finished up very nicely. Cheaper than good one side plywood, and just a fraction more than standard ply with all the knots.

-Dave

Factory Playwood,, thats probably what Menards has at normal plywood price

 

[owdlvr]

lol, probably. All I know is in Canada, we seem to call it "Factory" plywood for good, sanded one side, that is a reject for one of the reasons I listed. They skid is also stamped "Factory 11mm" for 1/2" plywood. Could be a Canadian terminology. But yeah, not surprised that Menard's probably sells it a normal prices. Here in Canada it seems that Home Depot only stocks the worst twisted and bowed 2x4's, but sells them as "grade A"

-Dave

 

[Mike.VA]

I like your direction and thinking along the same lines on mine, but with a little variation.
I am considering going 4 ft with the ply, then 4ft with peg board then finishing with 4 ft of ply. I have 12 ft ceilings.
On the thickness, I plan on using 3/8" since I have 16" centers, I think the support would be there to keep it from wrapping too bad.

 

[JimH74]

I used 1/2 inch sanded plywood, screwed into studs. Did it virtually all by myself. I have not had any problem hanging anything that I wanted to. I think it looks nice, and strengthened the structure.

 

[tcianci]

First of all, only a total hack couldn't hang anything anywhere on a Sheetrock wall and have a problem doing it.
One thing nobody mentioned is that the face dimension of 4x8 t&g plywood isn't 4' so you're limited to running the product horizontally only.

 

[pitterpat]

For a 4 year old thread got a good number of posts the 2nd time around. I read this one and one other thread on GJ before I bought my 1/2" plywood at Menards of all places. Not sure if they are more expensive but the people are nicer there than Homer's place and I hate Lowes! Anyway, I have 3 of my 5 sheets up, will get the other 2 up tomorrow.

Ply because I like the idea of hanging stuff and not having to drywall finish it. I'm going to caulk, prime and paint it too.

 

[The Cobbler]

I got a bunch of water stained 3/8" fir,(it's not g1s) for free a few years ago. I am in the process of putting on my interior shop walls.
I routed 1/4" grooves just about 1/8" deep 8" oc for a panel look and to break up the fact that it's just plywood. once painted I think I'm going to like the look

 

[doorfx]

I used 1/2" spruce sheathing. Cheap and looks just fine.

 

[PeterT]

If you want strenght and stability, use pressure treated 3/4 plywood

 

[kbs2244]

Go with the 1/2 inch plywood.
It is strong enough to hold anything you would be able to lift.