• Scam Alert. Members are reminded to NOT send money to buy anything. Don't buy things remote and have it shipped - go get it yourself, pay in person, and take your equipment with you. Scammers have burned people on this forum. Urgency, secrecy, excuses, selling for friend, newish members, FUD, are RED FLAGS. A video conference call is not adequate assurance. Face to face interactions are required. Please report suspicions to the forum admins. Stay Safe - anyone can get scammed.
  • The 2026 Calgary Area Meetup is set for Saturday May 30th at 10am. The signup thread is here! Robinhood has graciously offered to host the meetup again this year. Please note that you MUST RSVP to the notice linked above if you wish to come.

Tips/Techniques Wall covering in garage shop.

Tips/Techniques
Dam near finished the inside lining of the garage, used 7/16 OSB. Main reason was the price. $13 a 4X8 sheet, drywall $22 a 4X8 sheet. Plus I can fasten lighter things rite to the sheet. It does take some extra paint to cover though. Plywood was even more than the drywall.
 
Being a snot - tens of thousands of BC forestry workers out of work with mills closing, but buying wood from China? Makes sense.

On the other hand - environmentally and sustainably speaking - it seems to me that cheap, fast-growing Chinese bamboo would be an even better choice.
 
I went with 3/8 plywood /Rockwool I wasn’t worried about hanging things on the wall because the drywall screws show you exactly where the studs are and the walls reach temperature way faster than cold gyprock while the Rockwool has excellent sound deadening qualities.
On another note one thing I was thinking about doing was leave a 8” electrical access around the 4 foot mark for future use.
 
@JustaDB Chinese stuff is the low priced leader, for wall covering it doesn’t matter much but for woodworking it can be a painful, voids, delaminating and not exactly flat.
I've used a bit of the local Chinese birch ply, say, half dozen sheets or so: 1/4", 1/2" & 3/4". Haven't seen much for voids or delaminating. Thickness has been fairly consistent. The one issue I came up against is the finish ply is awful thin. Doesn't take much sanding to go right through.
 
I've used a bit of the local Chinese birch ply, say, half dozen sheets or so: 1/4", 1/2" & 3/4". Haven't seen much for voids or delaminating. Thickness has been fairly consistent. The one issue I came up against is the finish ply is awful thin. Doesn't take much sanding to go right through.
I hate it. I put on thicker coats of paint than that finish layer. Absolutely need to pre tape the cut line or lose dinner plate size pieces.
 
I've used a bit of the local Chinese birch ply, say, half dozen sheets or so: 1/4", 1/2" & 3/4". Haven't seen much for voids or delaminating. Thickness has been fairly consistent. The one issue I came up against is the finish ply is awful thin. Doesn't take much sanding to go right through.
That has been my exact experience also. If I could get the same thickness of the stuff at a near price of the D grade plywood I used, I'd go with the Chinese birch. Way nicer surface to paint and if I fella varathaned it it would make a purty darn nice shop wall!
 
I don't think that anyone ever uses drywall for anything except because the cost is low. It is my least favourite material to work with. But it is what I have on my walls

I have no experience with cheap birch
 
One advantage of drywall is that it's heavy - good for stopping noise permeating walls. If you're close to neighbors (or irritable family) this might be important. I've been researching soundproofing and the most cost effective methods are basically just multiple layers of drywall with acoustic goo in between.
What goo? Acoustic caulking at joints?
 
What goo? Acoustic caulking at joints?
Just looked it up again (it's been a while) you want "green glue" between the sheets and normal acoustic caulk at joints. I'm really not an expert though. Like machining chatter, it's fundamentally a vibrations problem so pretty complex.

These guys seem knowledgeable:
 
Back
Top