Finishing OSB Shop Walls

[riftsawn]

I reciently purchsed a new home complete with a sweet detached shop. The previous owner hung OSB on the interrior walls in liu of drywall which is great except for the fact that it eats light like a black hole! I tried priming and painting an OSB scrap with white oil based primer and while it readly takes paint, its just plain ugly. A quick skim coat with drywall mud yielded good results but I'm concerned about longivity with the movement of the dissimilar materials over time. Has anyone had any experience with doing this or other suggestions short of hanging 1/4 drywall over the OSB?

[Phil Thien]

I’d just paint it, I think once you hang some stuff on the walls and get accustomed to it, that you won’t think it is so ugly.

[Cooler]

I reciently purchsed a new home complete with a sweet  detached shop.  The previous owner hung OSB on the interrior walls in liu of drywall which is great except for the fact that it eats light like a black hole! I tried priming and painting an OSB scrap with white oil based primer and while it readly takes paint, its just plain ugly. A quick skim coat with drywall mud yielded good results but I'm concerned about longivity with the movement of the dissimilar materials over time. Has anyone had any experience with doing this or other suggestions short of hanging 1/4 drywall over the OSB?

I have cinder block in my basement shop.  OSB would not bother me.  A matte finish paint will show fewer imperfections.

I worry that the skim coat will crack where you try to hang shelves, or brackets.    I would not worry too much.  It is a shop, and not your home after all.

[Wild Turkey]

suggestions short of hanging 1/4 drywall over the OSB?

1. price 1/4" drywall
2. estimate time to hang drywall
3. estimate time to mud/tape drywall
4. estimate time and mess to sand above mud
5. estimate time and cost to paint drywall
6. total cost of drywall in money and time
7. calculate what tools you could buy with above money
8. figure what you could build in time spent doing above.
9. take a look at the painted OSB from the middle of room and decide it dosn't look so bad after all.






I'm going with painted OSB in my shop

[riftsawn]

Good point, I could use a wirefeed welder in the stable

[Cooler]

I suggest Bin shellac based primer.  I believe that the outer surface of the OSB has glue on it.  

https://www.thespruce.com/osb-looks-hide...it-1822689

• Priming Will Be Required: While priming may be optional with some surfaces, it is absolutely necessary to apply primer before painting OSB.
  

[R Clark]

I’d just paint it, I think once you hang some stuff on the walls and get accustomed to it, that you won’t think it is so ugly.

That's what I did.  I covered most of the walls in my shop with other things, like cabinets, clamp racks, jigs, clamp guides, etc.

When we bought our place four years ago, getting the shop up and running was the first order of business because it was the enabler for many other tasks which also needed to be done.  Every dollar put into wall paint in the shop was a dollar less for other stuff that was important to us.  Every hour spent on getting that initial shop setup done, was an hour delay to getting to the stuff that was really important to LOML.

The OSB shop walls are not pretty.  Nowhere near it.  But I have lots of other things I want to get done before repainting the OSB even shows up on the bottom of the priority list.

[Cian]

I’d just paint it, I think once you hang some stuff on the walls and get accustomed to it, that you won’t think it is so ugly.

What he said.  Although for my shop, I did install drywall on top of the OSB.  This allowed for some more mass for sound deadening with the added benefit of allowing hang nails to be placed anywhere.

[crokett™]

Full disclosure, I'm less OCD than most. It's a shop. I'd much rather have functionality (I can put a screw anywhere) than appearance of flat drywall. I put OSB on the interior of my shop at my old house, primed and painted white and never looked back. I had so much stuff - tools, cabinets, lumber racks, etc on the walls that I never noticed that the walls weren't flat.

[Bill Wilson]

My shop is in one end of my basement.  One long wall and 2 end walls are cement block.  The other long wall is painted OSB.  I'd prefer painted OSB over the cement block any day.  Like others have said, eventually so much stuff leaning against and hanging on the walls, that you really don't notice the texture, but the lighter color, even on one wall, makes a big difference.  I'd like to paint the block walls, but then I'd have to empty out my shop.  That probably isn't going to happen.