Unfinished garage ceiling, as it looked when I moved to the house
This is the first post of a series in which I will show you what I did to finish the Garage in my Second House. As the title suggests, this part includes finishing the garage walls and ceiling (insulation and drywall installation).
On my previous Laundry Room Storage Cabinets post, I mentioned that the lack of any Laundry Room Storage was one of the first few things I noticed when I went look at the property that ended up being my second house.
Not ten seconds later, when I opened the garage access door I noticed another one, the garage was completely unfinished, well, actually, one of the walls was finished, but the rest was completely unfinished!
What a pain, I remember thinking, will I have to start all over again and insulate, drywall, primer and paint this new garage? And the answer was, although I’m sure you’ve already guessed it… Oh well, why not? This garage is bigger than the one at my first house, not huge by any means, but it has a lot more space, so like the rest of the house, I thought it had potential.
Unfinished garage wall, as it looked when I moved to the house (excuse the mess)
Unfinished garage, working on the walls’ insulation
INSULATING THE WALLS
Due to the amount of work and time it would take, I completed this project in phases. Actually, after installing the insulation and before completing the drywall job, I started working on and even finished other projects, good examples are the Rock Work around the House and the DIY Home Theater installation.
Not that the garage was not important, it is actually very important to me, but these two took priority, the first one because I didn’t want a weed invasion, the latter one because I didn’t have where to put my Home Theater equipment.
With those two projects out of the way, I had more time to work and focus on the garage.
Basically following the same steps from my previous garage project, the first task on this garage finishing project was insulating the walls. All you need to complete this step is a pair of scissors or utility knife to cut the insulation, a heavy duty stapler gun, and a ladder.
Finishing the garage walls, most of the insulation in place
Wondering about that piece of granite resting against the wall? That’s the one I removed from the kitchen at my first house due to it being too small for the island. I ended up finding a buyer a bit later.
Walls looked much better with the insulation in place
DRYWALLING WALLS AND CEILING
With the insulation installed, weeks later, after completing my previous two projects, I proceeded to drywall, tape and mud the walls and ceiling, using the same materials, including some leftovers, from my previous garage project.
Installing drywall panels, the second step on this project
Drywalling the garage walls
For the exact same reason I’ve explained before, as you can see, I once again started drywalling from bottom to top. Because back then I almost always worked by myself, it was way easier for me to do it that way than trying to lift and hold the panel against the wall while grabbing the drill, screws and I try to screw it in place, all at the same time.
More than halfway done drywalling the garage walls
Almost done with the first wall
Many of the photos were taken at night, this was because I would often stay up working in the garage until very late.
By the time I completed this project, the idea of starting a home improvement blog had not even crossed my mind. As a result, I don’t have any nice photos of the completed drywall and mud job, my apologies. Do not worry, though, you are able to see my progress and the end result in my next few posts!
Readers, Are you satisfied with your garage? Is it insulated? Are the walls finished? What do you think? Is it a good idea or am I just wasting my time and money?
Finishing the garage in your house? This is what you need:
- Screwdrivers and hand tools (always useful)
- Insulation
- Pair of scissors or utility knife
- Heavy Duty Stapler (to hold insulation in place)
- Drill (to install drywall panels)
- Drywall screws, drywall panels, drywall tape, taping knives, mud, and mud pan
- Ladder
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Hi Troy,
Thanks for posting this blog. I am trying to help my son do his uninsulated/unfinished garage. He lives in Northwestern NY with a small home, in comparision to todays standards. As a result, he decided that he could utilize the garage space as an open air “den” during the summer months. We did insulate the walls and put up beadboard instead of sheet rock. Made sure to prep the back of the beadboard to prevent moisture. The problem now in doing the ceiling. Can you tell us how to go about this? The ceiling is open, it does have rafters, and peaks to the roof line. How do we insulate it and put up sheetrock? Or can you suggest a lighter weight product to work with? Thanks for any help/suggestions you can offer.
Colleen Galione
Hi Colleen,
Thanks for your comment and for reading our blog.
I believe the best option would be using drywall. Once it’s hung, you can easily either blow in some insulation or install some batts (blow in is easier as there are usually wires and other obstructions in the attic.
Let us know what you decide and how your project goes!
Hello, I am from Colorado, I want to finish my garage by insulating ceilings and walls. I am a first-time homeowner. Do you mind telling me what are the things I need to buy? I am trying to do it this summer because it gets really hot in the summer and cold in winter in there.
Hello, Bhim,
Thanks for your comment and for reading our blog.
Where in Colorado are you located?
If you want to do exactly what we did, you will need ceiling & walls insulation, staples (to hold the insulation), and a heavy-duty stapler.
If you also want to drywall it, you will need all the drywall, screws, tape, mud, and the tools to do it. You may also need a drywall lift, unless, you can have someone help you. Well, I’ve done it by myself, but it’s always easier to have a helper.
Let us know how the project goes and if we can help in any way!
Me too, did you get the answer? My garage is horrible. I think I’m going to need plywood first, then the other stuff then the drywall
Hello, Larenia,
Thanks for your comment and for reading our blog.
You do not need plywood. The plywood you see in the pictures before installing the insulation is the outside plywood of the house (under the siding).
As I told Bhim, if you want to do exactly what we did, you need ceiling & walls insulation, staples to hold the insulation, and a heavy-duty stapler.
If you also want to drywall it, you will need all the drywall, screws, tape, mud, and the tools to do it. You can have a helper or a drywall lift to make hanging the drywall easier.
Let us know how your project goes!
Did you leave 1″ between the drywall and the concrete? Can’t see real well but if they are touching, the drywall will pull on the moisture out of the concrete and your walls will mold up.
Hi Chris,
Again, thanks for your contribution to the blog.
Yes, there is a small gap between the drywall and the concrete It is not 1″, more like 3/8″ to 1/2″.
I see no moisture or mold issues at this point.
Don’t forget to share some pictures!
Hi Tony. Glad I found this site. I am also in Colorado. I have a house where the contractor only finished 2 walls in the garage and part of the ceiling – where there is a room above. I have faced insulated my 2 walls and now I’m stuck on the unfinished ceiling portion. Did you used faced or no-faced insulation in your ceiling, what size, and did you use baffles at the soffits?
Hello, Chris,
Thanks for your comment and for reading our blog.
I’m glad to hear you are in Colorado as well! I’m not surprised to hear that your builder didn’t finish your garage!
Building codes require a vapor barrier on exterior walls. I’m not sure (not an expert) if the fact that garage doors are not air tight make any difference, but I installed faced insulation in our attic. I should look into that and give the correct information in the post.
The size (or width as the length of the batts should not matter) depends on the spacing between your roof trusses. From what I’ve seen, they are usually at 24″ so you can use 24″ insulation.
Hope this helps!
Share some pictures of your project with us!
Tony.
Did you add a vapor barrier between the insulation and sheet rock ? doesn’t look like it from the pictures, why or why not ?
Hello, Troy,
Thanks for your comment and for reading our blog.
We used faced insulation, the face works as a vapor barrier.
Like I said on a previous comment, we don’t have “moisture” problems here in Colorado, it is super dry all the time. However, they still install vapor barriers on outside walls.
Unfortunately, I cannot give you a scientific explanation of why they do it, but we did it as well. In terms of price, there is not a huge difference between faced and unfaced insulation. If you are asking because you have doubts, I would either ask a professional or just install the faced insulation/vapor barrier on all outside walls.
What is your opinion?