How to attach plywood to concrete blocks?

[Shotime]

I would like to attach sheets of plywood in my garage, the walls are concrete blocks - noting that I also plan to drill holes in the plywood to turn it into a pegboard for shelving purposes

Photo below as reference:

How do I go about achieving this? Thanks!

[Jewelleryrescue]

Hi @Shotime 

Nice  project. 

The  brick wall needs  timber battons running horizontally at the plywood bottom middle and top of the ply lengths. At the top the batton over laps the top of the lower sheet and the base of the next sheet.  Fix  these to your walls first off your  drawn  plan using  brick anchors is the key/

Plan your hole spacing around the gaps you  want yuor shelves to have between each other to set the spacing.

Timber battons to use is 70mm x 35mm pine or next size up 90mm x 45mm either is  fine.

Mounting the timber and ply first will give you absolute straight lines  across different panels top to bottom etc. You will need a  long length of straight timber or aluminum  angle iron.

For a quality ply  finish you will be paying more per sheet for the absense of knot holes

 and blemishes  but your  project will last the test of time so  worth it.

Plan your project with drawings mud maps are ok. 

 I recommend  clear sealing your project your  finished installing it for easy cleaning and reducing marks on it over time.

[Shotime]

Hi @Jewelleryrescue , thanks for your comment.

How far apart should the timber battens be?

E.g.  This for example: https://www.bunnings.co.nz/tigerply-2400-x-1200-x-9mm-okoume-plywood_p0345104 is 2.4m, how many battens would I need? Is top, mid and bottom enough?

[Jewelleryrescue]

Hi @Shotime 

Every 600mm will hold alot of wieght on the  ply no real need to go more than that if you  want a lot of shelving?? .  If you wanted weigth on the wall  use 19mm ply.   Or have the peg holes  drilled into the support battons for super strength.

!0mm ply if it more decrotive feature wall, and 3 point fixing.

As a minimum  you will need 3 batons per 2.4 sheet Bottom middle and top ( the next sheets  sharing the top batton ply fixing point with 50/50 of the ply top and bottom half across it.

[Shotime]

Thank you @Jewelleryrescue.

lastly, how do I go about fixing the timber battens? Which concrete anchor and screw would you recommend (and how far apart)?

[MitchellMc]

Hi @Shotime,

I'd suggest picking up one of these kits and then additional longer screws and plugs as needed. For every batten, I'd be installing at least four screws and plugs.

Please let us know if you have further questions.

Mitchell

[Shotime]

Hi @MitchellMc , thanks for your suggestions.

Do you need a hammer drill to drill into masonry? A hammer drill is not something I currently have.

Also, are those plugs quite sturdy? I don't intend to have overly heavy objects but will be hanging a few household items on the board - don't mind paying a bit more here to get it right.

Thanks!

[MitchellMc]

The plugs are quite sturdy @Shotime. You might like to consider countersunk Dynabolts instead, which would be the next step up.

Yes, you do typically need a hammer drill for masonry. There are some great budget-friendly 240V hammer drills available that won't break the bank. There are multi-material bits that will drill into masonry without hammer mode and in a standard drill. But they are not generally as effective as masonry bits in a hammer drill.

Mitchell

[Shotime]

Providing an update as I have now installed the plywood.

I may have overdone it by putting in screws into each row of the batten!

[EricL]

Hello @Shotime 

Thank you very much for the update, your plywood pegboard looks good! Don't worry about putting in too many screws into the batten that only means that it will be very strong and secure. 

If it's possible, can you please post another photo once you have everything arranged and on display on your timber pegboard. I'm sure our members would be keen to see what it looks like.

Eric