Workshop wall: drywall or plywood?

[dwasifar]

I'm building out a workshop in a basement room. It's currently concrete on three sides, painted drywall on the fourth.

I'm framing out one of the concrete walls so it's easier to mount cabinets and shelves, and so I can put the electrical conduits and some of the dust collection pipes inside the wall instead of surface mounting everything on the concrete.

Originally I was going to just drywall it like a normal wall, but it occurred to me to maybe panel it with plywood instead.

Advantages of drywall are lower cost, lighter and easier to work with, nicer appearance.

Advantages of plywood are durability and the ability to mount things almost anywhere without necessarily needing to find a stud.

What would you do?

 

[oldldh]

Two adjacent walls --- drywall, and one, the wall where the work will be done --- Plywood/MDF/Flakeboard/etc...3/4" at least...

 

[MayerMR]

If I could of had the forethought to replace the drywall in my garage with 3/4'' plywood before I moved all my **** in there a couple of years ago I would be one very happy man. Hell, ceiling too.

 

[AceofSpad3s]

I got PTSD from doing drywall in a very large oddly shaped room with no previous experience, so I would go plywood.
A work area is a work area, it will look bad soon enough if you are actually doing work, so it might as well be functional. Drywall might look nice in the beginning, but at least with plywood you won't feel bad once it gets ugly, where as if a hole ends up in your nice drywall you'll be angry.

 

[FloorPaint]

I'd use cement board, at least for the bottom of the wall. It's durable, waterproof, fireproof and won't get moldy or rot.

 

[southalabama]

I'm not sure how dry your basement is and don't know if that's an issue.

My office flooded. I ended up cutting at wainscot height and pulling out the wet. I installed boards between the studs to nail to. The chair rail molding covered the seam.

If any possibility your basement might flood I'd go ply but would install horizontal and pre plan the seam four foot up. Worse comes to worse and you have to replace the bottom it's easier.

Just my two cents.

 

[Professional Tool User]

I would go with plywood. That way you wouldn't be crying if you accidentally damaged the wall.

 

[shanny19]

I did drywall over plywood.....looks sharp, put a screw anywhere!

 

[BMack37]

I wish my garage was 3/4" ply...in fact, there are a couple spots that are 3/4" ply over drywall.

 

[Wamsutta]

There's one garage in the neighborhood that has stained and varnished wood planks running horizontally; boy does it look sharp.

 

[seber]

I did mine in perforated hardboard. (pegboard) Man was that handy until I moved. It also helped sell the house. The buyer couldn't stop talking about it.

 

[Ledaku]

Plywood. My garage is done in drywall and can't wait until the day comes where I can rip it out put up some plywood. Actually I'm going to use OSB.

 

[Mr Ratchet]

I have 1/4" OSB on the walls a ceiling of my work room in the basement. Much more durable when you bump into the wall with long boards, pipes, etc. Plus it's just screwed in and makes removing a section easy if I ever need to gain access to plumbing, ducts, or wires behind it.

 

[Mr_B]

dry wall is proper useless in a proper workshop.
ply or decent tempered pegboard about most durable/useful options .
Partition wall in my shop was done with t&g ply. made all the wall mounting fixtures simple plus super durable, in basement do want be sure no major moisture issues, don't use mdf or osb as they worse for moisture issues over decent ply.
Doing a horizontal split with dry wall at bottom and ply at top could be best in terms of moisture issue prevention and material costing .

 

[GTO]

If I had to do it again,I would do half sheetrock,half plywood.

 

[OccupantRJ]

I did 1/2" BC plywood. Love it.

 

[Fbmoose48]

I second cement board. But superseding that you ought to review local codes.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Personally I'd go with drywall, but as mentioned above take into account any dampness in your basement. There are moisture resistant types that may be more appropriate. I've never understood how people beat up the drywall in their workshops...just be a little more careful when moving stuff around.