drywalling shop

[Mike Berger]

[B A R R Y]

Some of the nicest hobby, educational, and small pro shops have T&G wood walls and hardwood floors.

[Lew Hodgett]

Ah yes, the infamous Chicago code.

You can run BX in the walls. It is flexible, metal armored cable.

Ability to run conduit not required.

Yes it is more expensive than romex, but you are only talking about one room.

Buy it by the full box, from an electrical supply house.

Buying cut lengths of wire is a good way to go broke in a hurry.

Try working up a total electrical package (BX cable, boxes, wiring devices, etc) and giving it to an electrical supply house.

Might get a package price.

Lew

Lew

[toddrf]

Per our local amendment: "All new interior electrical installations shall be piped in rigid or EMT or (minimum) 1/2" Greenfield whips up to 6'0" as needed. (BX armored cable is not permitted).".

So, no replacing the bulk of the conduit with Greenfield or any other flexible conduit.

[bill]

Todd,

I put up drywall, but that is your call. I suggest that for lighting, be sure and consider track lights over where you think your tools will be. If you add more power tools you can add to your tracks and put light exactly where you want it. I used halogens over the work bench and finally I could read my dimensions even in winter when it was dark outside.

I also suggest you do the ceiling first. I like the idea of OSB. I used drywall and used pegboard liberally. I hate having to look for a tool and know I have it but can't find it.

Bill in New Mexico

[Mike Berger]

[Lew Hodgett]

The ghost of Hogan is still alive and well I see.

Got any buddies that are in the electrical business?

Lew

[B A R R Y]

Even Norm has wooden shop walls.

Seriously, though... Finishing area walls would probably be best covered with fireproof material. Even a relatively clean shop is going to have shavings, scraps, dust, and stored stock. Possibly enough fuel to make the actual wall covering irrelevant during an unattended fire.

I'll agree that it's not work losing sleep over. If the hazards of a wood wall covering bothers you more than drywall, than drywall it should be.

[Mike Marlow]

I generally run my sheets vertically to avoid the butt joints that come with laying it horizontally. Seams are going to be there no matter what - you can't put two pieces of sheet together without seams. Edge seams at least, finish easier than butt joints.

[dpb]

...

That's being paranoid to a fault. In a frame building, the wall surface itself is pretty immaterial.

If one is really concerned w/ a fire hazard in a shop, the most important areas are a fire-resistant storage area for flammables and passive sprinkler systems plus detection systems ideally connected to local responder.

--

[whit3rd]

Gee, your code calls for EMT inside walls of a finished area? Anywhere else, it's considered fire-safe to put sheetrock over Romex.

Anyway, drywall is good except for load-bearing mounts, so consider a couple of rails of wood or other trim horizontally at (for instance) bench and eye height. You could use Unistrut/Superstrut channel for this, too (and it'd be a handy way to clamp your surface electrical boxes). When you want to mount a heavy item to the wall (pegboard o'hammers!) just clamp into the unistrut or screw into the (clearly visible) wood rail.

Also, since you have high ceilings, consider putting a couple of sturdy boxes on the ceiling, with dangling sockets-on-a-cable. When some new tool goes into the center of the shop, this lets you plug it in without any tripwires on the shop floor. Twistlock sockets are preferred. I've seen some areas with island workstations connected this way, it's neat!

[Lew Hodgett]

The NEC applies everywhere except Chicago, where what is known as "Hogan's code" is in effect.

If you supply equipment to Chicago, you factor "Hogan's code" into the price.

At least that's what used to be the case.

Lew

[Scott Zrubek]

I found a reasonable source for slatwall on craigslist and will be using that to surface my shop when it gets finished in a couple of months. It's normally exorbitant when compared to drywall. With the craigslist deal it was merely expensive.

[todd]

To be honest, I've never heard it referred to as "Hogan's code", but from other discussions I've read here and elsewhere, the residential electrical code around here has to be just about the most strict in the country. I've always assumed the rules are in place to protect union electricians. Every time I see a home improvement show where people are running Romex, I think "yeah, that would be easier".

todd

[Lew Hodgett]

You may not have heard of Hogan. More than 30 years ago he was chief electrical inspector for the City of Chicago.

Among other things, he would not permit molded case c'bkrs (100A-1200A) to be used in panelboards, everything had to be switch and fuse which meant 600A max.

Gives a whole new meaning to electrical distribution design.

I had customers who sold equipment with large electrical motor control panels to Chicago area customers.

Most of those control panels would not meet Hogans without a complete redesign which just wasn't work it.

The solution was "The Bull", AKA the UL bullseye.

Use all UL listed devices, then bring in an electrician from a UL listed control panel builder, pay him $100 to connect one wire and then attach the UL Bullseye.

All very legal and it solved a problem since Hogan accepted UL listed equipment.

At the time the whole process seemed so "Chicago", pay the graft and get the job done.

Lew

[todd]

Don't worry, Lew. They've cleaned all of that up. No more shady stuff like that in the city anymore. Riiiiight.

todd

[Lew Hodgett]

And if you think I believe that, we should get together and talk about some swampland over in Arizona.

As the used car dealers in Florida used to say, "Son, step right in and let me show you a couple of clean northern cars we just got".

Lew

[Lee Michaels]

"Scott Zrubek" wrote

Slatwall??

Isn't that stuff the ultimate dustcatcher?

[HerHusband]

Ken,

Unless your drywall sheets are long enough to span from one side of the room to the other, you'll end up with non-tapered butt joints somewhere along the wall. These are MUCH harder to tape and hide without a visible bulge. By hanging the sheet vertically, you always have tapered edges where sheets meet up, making the taping job a lot easier.

Anthony

[Scott Lurndal]

A sureform tool makes a quick taper on the butt-ends before you hang the sheets if needed. Score the paper and a few quick swipes of the tool. Useful also when patching.

scott