One of my planned projects this spring is to paint the inside of the garage, which is bare OSB. It would be nice if I could have it end up a little smoother and look less like, well, painted OSB. But i don't want it to be a huge project. I thought about trying a coat of drywall compound but i am afraid that it would turn into multiple coats, and tons of sanding. The garage is 40x24 so that's too much. Anybody know any easier ways to smooth it out before painting? Thanks
Drywall mud would be my suggestion. Just force yourself to only do one coat with a light sanding.
Luan, or any sort of paneling really. Maybe even discount flooring, like open box laminate.
While I've had painted osb last, it always looks bad, and needs almost constant attention.
Following along in case there's something easy I've missed through the years.
You can't smooth out OSB. It's made of strands and flakes all the way through.
If you skim it with drywall mud, it will do the same thing as paint (or water). It will lift the strands, and make them more pronounced.
Save your energy. Either cover it with a material more suitable for finish (like drywall, or Luan), or accept that it will look like painted OSB.
SVreX said:You can't smooth out OSB. It's made of strands and flakes all the way through.
If you skim it with drywall mud, it will do the same thing as paint (or water). It will lift the strands, and make them more pronounced.
Save your energy. Either cover it with a material more suitable for finish (like drywall, or Luan), or accept that it will look like painted OSB.
Totally this.
Covering with mud would just be a lot of work for no gain.
A friend painted his plywood and osb terrible looking homemade shed with the bright white elastomeric roof coating and the finish actually looked fantastic. I can't speak for the fumes it put off, or fire resistance, or how appropriate it would be indoors, but if I had to paint osb and wanted it to look nice that would be my go to.
This is what I used both as a primer and then their topcoat. Works well and aptly named fpr the effects it causes in enclosed spaces.
Have not used it, but found that they offer a version that hides stuff?
In reply to NOHOME :
If I remember, that Hide All stuff is just for heavy duty stains. Think 50 years of cigarettes.
My first large shop was all OSB inside. I found that painting it with two to three coats of high quality gloss latex enamel made it easy to look at and low maintenance, while still fairly inexpensive. I found that trying to spray it on didn't get good coverage, I ended up rolling and brushing. I went with bright white to help with the lighting.
The new shop (2017) I covered all the walls with 4 x 10 sheets of flat galvinized steel panels. It was only $35 per sheet and fast to install. Worked out cheaper than hiring in a sheetrock crew. Plus its easy to clean, non absorbent, shiny, and the big bonus... everything hangs on the walls with magnets.
Kind of a high level view of what the Killz looks like on OSB. The OSB type surface is still there, but much minimized. It drank down about twice as much primer as it did paint when I did the job. If I recall it took two of the big pails of primer and only one and a bit of paint to do a 20' by 40' shop.
Trying to smooth OSB is pretty pointless.
1/4" drywall would be my suggestion. Luan is about the same price, but won't take paint as well. You'll always see the grain under it unless you go with tons of paint.
Luan is made from Meranti or Phillipine Mahogany; from the Lauan meranti species. If you have the lumens of light to compensate, you could do Luan and stain/urethane it.
Purple Frog said:My first large shop was all OSB inside. I found that painting it with two to three coats of high quality gloss latex enamel made it easy to look at and low maintenance, while still fairly inexpensive. I found that trying to spray it on didn't get good coverage, I ended up rolling and brushing. I went with bright white to help with the lighting.
The new shop (2017) I covered all the walls with 4 x 10 sheets of flat galvinized steel panels. It was only $35 per sheet and fast to install. Worked out cheaper than hiring in a sheetrock crew. Plus its easy to clean, non absorbent, shiny, and the big bonus... everything hangs on the walls with magnets.
That's a great idea!
The OSB I put in my garage had a smooth side and a rough side. Maybe see if the rough side is out?
There is a material that is made for laying over damaged plaster or paneling. It's similar to wallpaper but you can paint over it.. I've never used it so take that under consideration.
Why not just paint it gray then hide a lot of it with pictures and posters? Cheaper, quicker and easier than trying to make it smooooooottthhhhhhh.
SVreX said:You can't smooth out OSB. It's made of strands and flakes all the way through.
If you skim it with drywall mud, it will do the same thing as paint (or water). It will lift the strands, and make them more pronounced.
Save your energy. Either cover it with a material more suitable for finish (like drywall, or Luan), or accept that it will look like painted OSB.
This. I tried drywall mud, then paint. It looked GREAT.....for 11 seconds. Then started chipping and peeling.
In reply to Purple Frog :
I actually want to do the metal... where can I find 4 x 10 sheets for $35?
It will never be perfect, but using something that has water is going to make it worse for sure, so latex paint or drywall mud are no no's as the water within will penetrate the OSB and riase the flakes/cause chipping.
There are a couple of things that can be done to reduce the roughness:
1) keep the OSB with the smoother side facing into the garage
2) Use an oil based primer that won't soak into the wood and raise the grain/chips. The Kilz that's been mentioned is a good start, just make sure that it's oil based.
It's not the sharpest picture but this is OSB with the smooth side in, 2 coats of oil based Kilz, and 2 coats of Latex:
Just remember, OSB burns and burns pretty well. If you plan to do any hot work, suggest drywall or steel.
My small garage which is just for parking in is OSB. When I do the big garage I am gonna sheetrock it or do it in steel. Likely sheetrock.
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