Great American Spaces

Great American Spaces wall and ceiling finishes give homeowners and remodelers a choice of wood planks, patterned wood tiles and smooth primed MDF for interior projects. ShipLap comes prefinished, Smooth Pine offers solid painted colors, and reclaimed pine tiles put a repeating pattern on the wall. Start with the surface you want to see every day.

Great American Spaces is an employee-owned manufacturer and distributor of building materials. Its collections include wood planking, wood tiles, pine paneling and primed MDF. The company markets its real wood wall and ceiling collection as American-made.

Choose the finished look

For a clean, painted look, Smooth Pine is the direct route: it includes finished finger joint pine planks in Pure White or a custom solid color. Smooth Primed MDF gives you a smooth, primed surface with clean lines for finish painting. Smooth Pine also offers v-groove and nickel gap edges, so the joint detail is part of the choice.

Premium Wood Tiles use reclaimed, weathered pine arranged into patterns in preassembled square grids. Choose those when you want the pattern to carry the wall. Lay out the grids before fastening so you can see how the pattern meets corners and openings.

Premium Wood Planking uses laminated engineered planks made from genuine hardwood and repurposed weathered boards. Easy BarnWood is real wood. BrewPub is promoted for bars, restaurants, backsplashes, interior barn doors and game room accent walls.

ShipLap brings texture and variation

ShipLap is prefinished real wood made from textured and stained fresh pine boards for a vintage shiplap appearance. It’s solid #3 pine, with character that can include knots, splits and wane. Choose it for a wall where that wood character belongs in the finished room.

Color, grain and texture vary from board to board, and finished material can differ from samples and photographs. Lay the boards out before fastening so you can distribute the colors and character across the wall. Cut out characteristics you want to leave out of the finished work while the boards are still loose.

ShipLap serves residential and light-commercial projects, including feature walls, offices, hospitality spaces and ceilings. Keep it on dry interior walls and ceilings away from water and high humidity.

Plan the material and the work

A 16-foot ShipLap board covers 6.59 square feet. Use that coverage for your starting quantity, then allow for end trimming and cutouts. Include fasteners, touch-up materials and installation labor in the project budget. For vertical installation, include the recommended horizontal furring strips every 16 inches on center.

Build adjustment time into the schedule. Store the boards indoors in a clean, dry space, off concrete. Unpackage them and place them in the installation room at least 72 hours before installation so they can adjust to its temperature and humidity.

Fit the boards before fastening

Square the factory ends before fitting boards together. A finish blade on a precision miter saw or a fine-tooth saw helps reduce splintering. Cut bowed or twisted boards shorter to ease installation, plan board ends to meet at studs or rafters, and stagger the butt joints from row to row.

For horizontal installation, start at the bottom with the overlap pointing downward. Check alignment every two to three rows to keep the boards parallel to the first row.

Use the Touch Up Kit stain on unfinished end cuts and rip cuts. For touch-ups on the visible face, use the kit’s pencil.

ShipLap specifications

Detail	Specification
Material	Solid #3 pine, textured and stained
Finish	Prefinished
Nominal size	1 x 6
Plank length	16 feet
Coverage per 16-foot board	6.59 square feet
Joint spacing	Self-spacing 1/8-inch nickel gap
Colors	Charcoal, Cloud, Gray Sky and Sand Dune
Installation direction	Horizontal or vertical
Intended location	Interior walls and ceilings away from water and high humidity
Country of manufacture	United States

Frequently Asked Questions

What affects the cost of a Great American Spaces shiplap project?

Your wall area sets the starting quantity, with each 16-foot board covering 6.59 square feet. Allow for trimming and cutting out knots, splits or other characteristics you don’t want in the finished wall, since that reduces usable coverage. Fasteners, touch-up materials and labor also count, and vertical installation calls for horizontal furring strips every 16 inches on center.