Above 1200 Sq/FT Gearbanger's Shop Project

[Gearbanger]

I've got a 36' x 40' shop that I've slowly been buuilding over the last 10 years or so. I've been moved in to it for quite sometime and have been slowly finishing the interior. With most of the funds going to our family race car it's been slow to say the least. We're taking a break from racing so I've been trying to get back on working on the shop.

It's been heated, AC'd, and insulated for several years but I've never gotten around to doing anything with the walls. I'd rather leave it in bare studs and insulation than tackle a drywal job of this magnitude and I definitely can't afford to pay someone to come in a do it for me. I was recently in a brand new Harley dealership and they did most of the interior finishes in repurposed barn wood and it really looked nice.

With no barn at my disposal I decided to try to do something similar with old fence pickets.

I know they look bad but after a good pressure washing they looked pretty good.

After cutting off the dog ears and any rotten wood on the bottoms I started installing them horizontally in a random staggered pattern.

Just getting started but I really like how it looks so far. I'm going to use some type of plywood/paneling on the bottom section. We'll paint it gray and trim it with a red border to add some color. At least that's the plan right now. We're going to 100% finish this wall and have a theme/plan before doing the rest of the shop.

Be easy on me, but what do you think?

 

[uhohjim]

I think that's gonna look BAD ***................might kill your light a little but definitely cool. Are you going to coat it in any way?? Varnish or something similar??

 

[eborcim]

damn..I've got a shed full of car siding, my shop may be changing its look. Nice goin'

 

[Call me the Breeze]

I like it...looks good

 

[Jack Olsen]

That wood looks great.

 

[Gearbanger]

I think that's gonna look BAD ***................might kill your light a little but definitely cool. Are you going to coat it in any way?? Varnish or something similar??

I haven't thought about coating the wood, my wife and I really like the way it looks now. Something to think about though.

 

[Leadfoot3232]

love it..that looks great

 

[JC23]

There are stains out there that are somewhat transparent. A lighter color would bounce some light for ya while still looking as bad azz as it does. What kinda racing do ya do?

The only bad thing is that Furd banner - haha. Welcome aboard, any way...

 

[garfunkle24]

I think it looks great, a clean but rustic look. I'm looking forward to more pictures.

 

[clkimmel]

I think it looks great. Is this the only wall you plan on doing this way?

 

[ForceFed70]

Looks great.

I think it's funny that you are doing this instead of drywall because it's "easier".

Definately not easier than drywall but looks way better.

 

[bluesboy]

My first thought was what!! But that looks awesome. Great re-purposing. Did you pay or was it a freebie?

 

[Buford T. Justice]

Superb look! I absolutely love seeing old brought to life. 99% of people woulda chucked or burned that. Instead many more will copy you...great work and ambition!

 

[RivennHewn]

I vote for no stain.

Definitely stay away from varnish or poly.

If you really need to do something to it, use a penetrating oil finish like Profin from Daly's.

 

[tinbender 66]

I'd leave it as is. It looks fantastic! I'd love to do that but don't know where to find even fence boards.

 

[RivennHewn]

Just a thought: With no drywall behind it, you don't really have any fire separation between the garage and house. Wouldn't be doing any welding next to that wall.

When it gets really dry, it's a lot like kindling.

 

[sscustom]

nice use of old materials

 

[oilslick]

ten coats of laquer and she will be like an un lit match!!!

 

[Gearbanger]

I think it looks great. Is this the only wall you plan on doing this way?

No, we love the look and plan to do the whole shop. We're going to finish this one wall top and bottom before moving on to other walls.

 

[Gearbanger]

Looks great.

I think it's funny that you are doing this instead of drywall because it's "easier".

Definately not easier than drywall but looks way better.

LOL, well if you could see my previous attempts at drywall you'd understand! And no I won't post pics of those disasters......

 

[Gearbanger]

Just a thought: With no drywall behind it, you don't really have any fire separation between the garage and house. Wouldn't be doing any welding next to that wall.

When it gets really dry, it's a lot like kindling.

The shop is detached, but you do bring up a valid point. Did a quick search and I may order a sample of this: http://www.natfire.com/proddetail.php?prod=Flamex

Not sure how effective it will be on treated wood.

 

[Gearbanger]

There are stains out there that are somewhat transparent. A lighter color would bounce some light for ya while still looking as bad azz as it does. What kinda racing do ya do?

The only bad thing is that Furd banner - haha. Welcome aboard, any way...

We've raced our Mustang in NHRA Stock and most recently with NMCA. I don't have any pics on my phone, I'll post some up later.

 

[kbs2244]

FlameX works.

I started working at the local Bass Pro before it opened.
Lots of exposed wood.

I watched the local FD do a flammability test on some log end scraps.

5 min with a plumbers torch and no fire.

You might check into the chemistry of it.
As I remember there are some pretty simple solutions you can mix up yourself.
If you don’t need to meet some kind of fire or insurance spec it may be a way to save some money.

 

[Spareparts]

What about some diamond plate (Bright Aluminum) around the bottom 2', I know from experience with racin some welding, cutting, and grinding takes place. That will keep the hot sparks from the wood.

 

[NUTTSGT]

We've raced our Mustang in NHRA Stock and most recently with NMCA. I don't have any pics on my phone, I'll post some up later.

I'll be waiting on those pics.



I love the fencing on the walls.

 

[Gearbanger]

I'll be waiting on those pics.

Two from our NHRA days:

And two from racing with the NMCA:

 

[Gearbanger]

We decided to do the fence pickets all the way to the floor. I riped down a few pickets to 2" wide so that we could paint a simple pattern and add a little color to the project.

I think we're going to use the paint scheme on the right.

 

[Amitygravel]

Gearbanger that looks GREAT !
Good call on throwing some bright color in with the natural wood.
More photos please !

 

[Spareparts]

Looks Sweet, way to go on the repurpose of that wood.

 

[BigMountain]

Nice. I was thinking of recycling some pallet wood to do the same thing, we get pallets at work all of the time. I have recycled my pellet fuel bags as a vapor barrier for my shop, and am trying to get as repurposed stuff in use as possible.

 

[Gearbanger]

Nice. I was thinking of recycling some pallet wood to do the same thing, we get pallets at work all of the time. I have recycled my pellet fuel bags as a vapor barrier for my shop, and am trying to get as repurposed stuff in use as possible.

I thought of using pallet wood also, they have some value so they're a little harder to get.

I did score another batch of fence over the weekend. I've never seen pickets like these, they're *about* 8" wide. I plan to start riping all the wood down to a common width as the regular pickets range from 5.5" to 6" wide. So these wider picket's will work fine.

 

[CrashTestDummy]

That looks awesome, but will definitely be dark. I'd perhaps do part, or all of the wall to the right like that, then the rest of the shop in drywall, painted gloss white. You'll have a nice accent wall, but won't have to throw megawatts of light in the area to see anything.

Nice stock-class Mustang. I understand about the race car budget, they are big holes in the shop you pour money into.

Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas

 

[930dreamer]

Very nice use of the old fence.

 

[-Brent-]

Great job. They look really nice after the pressure washing, too. Some people look at that stuff and don't have the vision to see what may be underneath. Kudos to you.

 

[Gearbanger]

That looks awesome, but will definitely be dark. I'd perhaps do part, or all of the wall to the right like that, then the rest of the shop in drywall, painted gloss white. You'll have a nice accent wall, but won't have to throw megawatts of light in the area to see anything.

I'm pretty dead set against using any drywall and I've already got a ton of light in the shop. We'll have to see how dark it is after all of the walls are completed. At the pace I'm going it will take awhile!

 

[Gearbanger]

Here's a pic of my lighting. It's 11 strips of high output fluorescents. I haven't had any complaints with this lighting, hopefully that won't change.

Also had a chance to do a little more install:

 

[darkk]

Looking good...

 

[Tbucit]

To those that think it may be too dark I would not think that it would be much different than the kraft paper on the insulation. Yes it could be better but the OP is used to the current situation. My issue if I tried something like this would be getting mostly finished and running out of fence boards. But I think it is a very sharp look and it appears a lot of work with very little money. Keep us posted on the results
Randall

 

[cashishift]

that looks really good.. I wouldn't finish it at all.

and to the clown who thinks drywall is easier than this.. he's crazy or does it every day.

Drywall is a huge f'in mess.

 

[Nighttrain]

Looks great! I agree with the sheetrock. I am just finishing 1700 sf of dry wall in my garage and am sick of it. I have seen tons of fence wood for free on CL and may be using some re-used cedar plank for trim on mine.