If it's a really nice plywood like Birch then it can look OK. If it's just general plywood it will look like crap. Or will require so much work that you'd wish you'd have dry walled it.

I'd drywall it if you want to finish it. How thick is the plywood? If it's thick enough you would also have a solid surface behind the drywall you could mount stuff to.

It depends a lot on the grade of the plywood. But, it it is typical shop grade, then painting will not look very good. You will need to sand it a lot and then do a ton of prep work just to get it looking OK. I am curious why it is finished in plywood rather than drywall. That seems out of the norm. You could just hang 1/4" sheetrock or some other better-finished 1/4" material over the ply that would be a ton easier to get looking nice than raw plywood.

Thanks to both of you for your reply. I'll bite and add the drywall, definitely don't want the paint to look like crap, after all I'll be spending a lot of time there.
Yes it's cheap plywood. Not sure what exactly this was, there's some shelves on the wall and a gun safe last time we went to look at it.
Close date is Feb 28th, so we're likely moving in on the 1st of March and yes, will difinitely take advantage of the plywood for storage purposes, we're up to 5 bikes now.

The rest of the garage has the studs exposed so, not quite sure why they did this. It's a 3 car garage, so 2 cars on the left, then half workshop and half paincave.

You could also laminate the plywood with FRP. Drywall is susceptible to moisture when in the garage. FRP is easy to install and can be purchased at Home Depot. Also don't have to worry about seams and corners as you can purchase them as well. Just a thought.

Never heard of FRP ... I'm going to look into this!

Chan wrote:

Never heard of FRP ... I'm going to look into this!

Not as cheap as drywall but easy and very durable/washable. Also no need to paint. Drywall will look like crap in a garage if left unpainted.

http://www.homedepot.com/s/frp?NCNI-5&gsitesearch

Sign me up, just looked it over, probably doing FRP for pain cave at least, and dry wall for rest of garage.

Not too terribly expensive for the basic untextured version.

Thanks so much for the suggestion!

it's a pain cave. it's manly. it's supposed to look coarse and unpolished. stick with the plywood you have. you want finished drywall? be sure to paint it pink and add some potpourri for that touch of aromatic essence.

Tell that to the awesome looking pain caves on the Pain Cave thread ...

i just did this and went with drywall

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Fruit snacks are for winners

My garage has a mixture of OSB and plywood on the walls. The plywood is regular sheeting grade. Yes it takes several coats of paint to get it looking as nice as drywall but it can be done. And it's a heck of a lot cheaper and easier than putting up drywall, taping the seams, and still having to paint the drywall. And if you are going to rip out the plywood that could be a lot of work depending on how well it's nailed up.

Also the plywood gives you a very strong wall for hanging stuff on. That's why I went with plywood over drywall but then I use my garage to work on my vehicles so there are tools everywhere.

Oh my friend owes me. Drywall or FRP it is. Definitely not going to try and remove the plywood. It will help with support for anything that hangs from the walls.

My preference would be some sort of tongue and groove wood....... less maintenance and install troubles...... and would look like a sauna. Or if you are really into a rustic look rough cut lumber is also nice...

People sometimes use plywood or OSB since it is less easy to damage than drywall, and it allows a solid structure to mount things to vs. having to find studs or use drywall anchors.

Another option is to put a layer of drywall over OSB or plywood. Solid structure, can hang things anywhere, but you get the nice finished appearance. You can ding it but you won't perforate it if you smash something into the wall. If sound control is a concern, you can put a layer of Green glue noise dampening compound between the OSB and the drywall. Something else to think about.

Worth noting that many (most?) towns require 3/4" sheetrock (aka drywall) in the garage for fire "barrier" purposes. If you go to sell the house, using something that isn't up to code could bite you. IMO, it's worth looking into

I had OSB on the walls of my garage and choose to finish it with drywall, much cleaner look and it turned into a second office my wife and I could escape to and get work done when we were working remotely. I did a lot of workouts in the room when it was unfinished and it was fine but finishing it with paint and an epoxy floor made it cleaner (less dust)

I'll look into this ... although it it's being sold to me as is, I don't think it should be an issue, but just to be on the safe side.

Thanks for the input everybody!