This summer (Lord willing) I'll be building my first dedicated workshop. Hurray!
I was wondering about the best ceiling though. There will be a loft above. So the options would be to sheetrock and finish the thing or leave it open floor joists.
Thus far I've always had finished garage ceilings, but growing up, my dad's tiny basement shop had open joists and I remember there was A TON of storage because of it!
Therefore, I'm leaning towards the open thing, but that leads to a second question. If I go that way I'd like to paint it to at least make it look somewhat presentable. Do you think I should go with white to maximize reflected light or go with black like many movie theaters / resturants do to provide an open, yet classy look? What would you do?
I have open joists with no ceiling. The under side of the roof is white but it is the backing on my insulation. I have a metal building. This stays warmer than you would think. They put the insulation on the frame then covered it with metal. It has a tear resistant cover on it.
WHITE … white … white.
Sheet rock or open framing paint them white to reflect the light … You need that as you grow older …
I even used white pegboard on my tool cabinet doors, makes a big difference.
It's a psych thing, but you will work a bit cleaner and neater when your shop looks brite.
Watch C/L, I found two 5 gal buckets of off white (contractor white) for $30.
I'm hoping to build a new shop this summer as well. A friend, whose shop I plan to copy, has a ceiling covered with that white (melamine?) coated masonite hard board. The stuff they used to make bathtub surrounds out of. It collects no dust and reflects most light. But, mainly, it's just a matter of sticking it up there and screwing it in place; no filling, no sanding, no painting. It comes in 4' x 8' panels.
Blown or bat insulation goes on top of the ceiling in this case, or you could insulate between the rafters if you provide an air gap above the insulation to let the roof breath. I'm going to floor my attic for storage so I will probably insulate between the rafters with bat insulation.
My present shop is in a basement with open joists in the ceiling. It does provide for simple storage, but never looks neat and is not all that easy to access. At least not with 9' ceiling. And all the nooks and crannies are hard to paint and collect cob webs and dust like crazy. I am looking forward to having a smooth white ceiling and having storage around the walls and in the attic.
Open attic or loft area is costly to heat and cool and tricky to insulate. I would install a drop in "T-Bar ceiling that you can lift out to access the storage above. White of coarse.
Don't recommend black…I did this once in the shop to get that industrial look. Two reasons. (1) It sucks up the light. I had about 25 halogen fixtures hanging and it was still dark. (2) even with great dust collection it was always dusty and dirty. Go with the white masonite panels. They finish great, are lighter and more durable than drywall and paint it bright gloss white. Lighting is everything in a shop…also consider maybe a couple of skylights. The brighter the shop with fewer shadows the better.
If you're going to work in the winter it will need to be insulated so you can heat it. Sheetrock or something similar is needed to hold the insulation in place. Open joists suck up the light and are great traps for dust and dirt.
panel it and paint it white.
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