Garage Wall Ideas

[speedracer]

Hey all,

Just had a house built with an unfinished garage. Wondering what others have done to "finish" their garage walls besides drywalling them. I live in a harsh climate and bang around alot in my garage so not sure how long the drywall would last.....

I think I have read just about every garage thread but couldn't find much on this. Looking for something that is cost effective, resilient and looks decent????

.....any ideas?

[vanwyk4257]

You didn't mention whether it's an attached garage, and you definition of "decent" may be different than mine, but I had a garage before where I used OSB sheeting for those parts of the walls that got banged into a lot, and I also used 4x8 sheets of 1/4" thick masonite pegboard by my workbench with made hanging tools very handy. My current garage is all drywalled, painted and has solid oak trim, not very user friendly, I need to build a "working" garage!

[trak ratt]

T111 siding inside, plywood on ceiling, hang anything anywhere. Back it with lots of insulation. Takes on a nice patina after awhile too. If stained easy touch up. Over kill? Yes but it looks good.

[randywebb]

yup - you can easily hang things on the wall when you do that - mine is T-111 & painted white for better light refelection since photons are mighty scarce in the winter around here

[speedracer]

Thanks guys. Randy or David, do you have any pics? Never heard of T111 siding before.....

[thomschoon]

I had the same question/problem a couple years ago, finished it off by putting 3/4 plywood on the bottom 4 feet and sheet rock above. It gave me a good stout wall on the bottom and some degree of fire protection on the top that the local codes wanted.

[TerryH]

I peg boarded and panelled the wall that my bench is on and left the rest unfinished. I really prefer the unfinished look probably because as a kid my garage looked similar. Besides adding an outlet or a light is much easier without the drywall.

If you are going to finish it, I would wait until you are completely satisfied with your electrical, maybe 6 months. You start adding stereo, tv, fridge, grinder, compressor, and suddenly your out of outlets.

[CJFusco]

Well, it was cheap and fast, but I think I did an okay job:
I'm Back! News, Garage Project, etc...

[randywebb]

TerryH has a good idea.
I like outlet on the wall behind the bench _and_ at the front of the bench too...

T-111 is just the garden variety wooden siding that has vertical grooves in it - std. cheapo stuff at any lumber yard.

[randywebb]

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.phillipsbuildingsupply.com/Products/Siding/Plywood_Siding/plybeadsmall.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.phillipsbuildingsupply.com/Products/Siding/Plywood_Siding/body_plywood_siding.html&h=142&w=200&sz=10&tbnid=O59p-zZur23IZM:&tbnh=70&tbnw=99&hl=en&ei=lY7pQ669D87G6gGRpvzVAQ&sig2=3EYwAr9HWLfkgyA7vNHD9Q&start=6&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dt-111%2Bsiding%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26safe %3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-USfficial%26sa%3DN

Google search on T-111 & then select Images - a guy has it in a real nice shop

[Shocker]

Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say "cheapo". Up here in my neck o the woods (almost your neck there Randy) T-111 is running about $30 a 8ft sheet (3/8).

You might try the exterior sheet brick veneer stuff. I am not sure of the cost. Tough though.

For the money, drywall is the best way to go. Hang the 5/8 stuff. It is tougher. Easy to repair if damaged. If you want to go even better. You could hang the plastic sheets (similar to a plastic sheet for shower inclosures). It would look nice and be pretty tough.

Mike

[Zeke]

T1-11 is plywood. I comes 3/8ths or 5/8ths. In 3/8, it is no grooves or shallow. 5/8 has deeper grooves for more relief. The basic characteristic is that it is rough sawn, not sanded. I don't know why one would put this in an interior. Doesn't wash worth a crap.

My choices are drywall or pegboard, or a combo of both. And what Terry said, go overboard on elec, etc. One way to do that is use conduit so you can pull more in later if needed. Run everything up and connect above the ceiling. You can redo infinately that way.

[randywebb]

Wash??

I painted it (painted over the borwon that was already there) - if I wanted to wash it the painted surface would wash as well as ext. siding. As per above, I used T111 'cuz it was alyaing around. If I was going to buy something it would be plywood and some peg board (in places).

There is a perfect material - "Garage-Tek" (?) that is like horiz. siding and is designed to take special HD hangers - costs a fortune tho. So no go.

[speedracer]

thanks guys. I am getting some good ideas here!!

[james marriott]

Louisianna Pacific make a reinforced, or very dense, gypsum board that would be ideal for a garage wall. We use it on high schools and Defense projects because it's "soldier-proof". ie : can't kick a hole through the stuff. It's more expensive than regular GB, and a heavier weight. Installation labor is a bit more costly, both due to weight and the lack of a chamfered edge. I'm im the midst of a new house project myself, and am considering using this on the garage interior.

[JeremyD]

Going through a remodel too - anybody stucco the inside too?

[jluetjen]

I'm guessing we're in similar climates, although where you are in Canada may be somewhat colder.
1) In my case I insulated the walls and ceiling to the local building codes. If in doubt, I went thicker.
2) For the walls and ceiling I put up standard sheet rock. I'm happy that I didn't go for some super-tough stuff because in one case I needed to knock a couple of holes in the wall to add 240 volt power to one of the plugs. (My electrician wired up the garage with two circuits, one from each side of the breaker panel. Since the two circuits were out of phase, all that I needed to do was tie one wire from each circuit to the 240 volt plug. Despite my better efforts, I wasn't able to run the wire without knocking two small holes in the sheetrock.)
3) From waist to shoulder height I put up peg-board rather then sheet-rock.
4) I painted the ceiling "ceiling white" and the walls a standard white. When I put on all the florescent lights the place is quite bright.
5) Before I did anything I prep'd and painted the floor.

The results: The garage never drops below freezing in the winter, and stays reasonable in the summer. When I do work out there during the winter, I put on a couple of layers and use a space heater in the immediate area where I'm working. With that I'm quite happy. I've also found that parking a warm car in the garage will also boost the temperature a bit too.



It didn't cost a lot and it's worlds better then working in an unfinished garage.

[rexav8r]

I'm giong through the same thing too right now..

Stucco, well sort of... The walls and ceiling are drywalled. As a standard feature on our house the builder took drywall mud, diluted it out with a bunch of water to make it fairly thin, then used a roller brush on a pole to "texture" the walls.

It actually looks pretty nice, but, I'd like to add a Porsche crest/logo or German flag colors or something, but with the texture you can't really mask off for any kind of painting. I believe I'm going to have to do a LOT of sanding to prep an area for any kind of painting.

[smdubovsky]

My dad used OSB for the first 4' of his walls so they didn't get beat up and sheetrock the rest of the way to the ceiling. (the foundation comes up about a foot or two). He said in retrospect it would be better to use all OSB - so thats what I did on my back wall. The great thing is that you can add a hook/bracket/shelf anywhere on the wall w/o needing to find a stud. Its just great to be able to put a nail or screw anywhere. Gets stuff organized and off the floor.

Add a heavy coat or two of gloss white like Kilz and you're good to go.

SMD

[TerryH]

It's easy to forget how cold it gets in some parts when you live in an area that rarely gets frost much sub zero. However, I did insulate my garage from the sun/heat on one side.