Choosing the Right Garage Wall Panels: Slatwalls vs. Pegboards

So you’re trying to install some wall organization system in your garage. Perhaps you’d like someplace to hang those bicycles of yours, a place to hang your tools, or just to simply declutter your garage space even more.

Regardless, when it comes to wall organization for your garage, you have two options: the slat wall vs. the pegboards.

So which of these should you get for your garage? Well, this blog post will put both of them head-to-head to help you decide which is right for you.

Criteria 1: Durability

Pegboards — Most pegboards are perforated hardboards. They commonly are only 1/4” thick and are sold as 4’ x 8’ panels. And typically, these thin hardboards not only crack and break often, but they’re often not designed to the changing temperatures and moisture levels in most garages.

Slatwall — Now this depends on what type of slat wall you’re considering. If you’re considering MDF Slatwall panels (medium-density fiberboard), you might want to watch out as they are typically not as durable and moisture resistant. So if you’re living in a high humidity environment, you’ll want to stay away from MDF slatwall. Instead, you want to consider a more modern and sophisticated type of Slatwall, the cellular foam PVC construction ones, which are more durable, moisture resistant, and possessing greater strength.

But when it comes to durability — we have a clear winner: Slatwalls.

Criteria 2: Strength

Pegboards — As we mentioned before since pegboards are usually thinner and not build with as strong of material, if you’re just looking to hang up some tools or other light items, then a pegboard may do its job. But if you’re looking to hang up those bicycles of yours, a pegboard would be a terrible idea.

Slatwall — Some of the high-quality slat walls can hold up to 40 lbs/sq. in., so they will give you much more flexibility in terms of what you can hang. Want to hang 2, 3, 4 bicycles? No problemo!

Again, when it comes to strength, we have a clear winner here: slatwalls.

Criteria 3: Installation

Pegboards — Pegboards, since they are typically lighter and thinner, are typically much easier to install than slat walls. So if you’re trying to install them yourself with a DIY approach, pegboards may be a better choice.

Slatwalls — To install slatwall properly, you’ll need to take more things into consideration. You’ll need to account for abstractions like your light switches, pipes, or even some garage floor sloping or unevenness of your walls. Not only that, but you’ll also want to add some finishing touches to trim the ends, corners and fill in any gaps to give your slatwalls a more polished look.

So in terms of ease of installation, we have a clear winner: Pegboards.

Criteria 4: Versatility

Pegboards — Since pegboards are usually much thinner and have much less strength, the number of things you can hang on them is very limited. Not only that, the number of accessories that you can use with your pegboards is much fewer due to its design. So it isn’t the most versatile option.

Slatwalls — Slatwalls, however, have more strength. And since it has more strength, you can hand a wider variety of items on it. Not only that, slatwalls come with a much wider variety of hooks and accessories that allows you to hang many more items.

So it’s clear then — slatwalls win the battle of versatility.

Criteria 5: Flexibility

Pegboards — Due to the pegboard’s design, it doesn’t lend itself to much flexibility. If you want to move your tools around or change the setup of your pegboard, it can be a very time-consuming process.

Slatwalls — But when it comes to slatwalls, if you are trying to change the setup of your hooks/accessories, you can just loosen them and slide them over and much easier for you to be flexible on how you want to use it.

Slatwalls win the flexibility battle.

Criteria 6: Price

Pegboards — Pegboards, as you can imagine, are a much affordable option than slatwalls.

Slatwalls — Slatwalls are typically more expensive than pegboards due to its more rigid structure, higher quality materials, and difficulty of installation.

Pegboards win the price battle!

So here’s where we land (See Below) As you can tell, slatwalls are typically the better option when it comes to wall organization, but it has two major drawbacks, mainly installation and price.

But you can take a look at the pros and cons of each to choose the right option for yourself & start making use of your garage walls for better organization!