Garage Makeover 101

Are You Ready To Finish The Last Room In Your Home?

Today many homeowners are using their garage for more than just a place to park their cars. The perfect example would be a man cave complete with a big screen tv or the workshop of your dreams.

Considering the fact that the garage is one of the biggest rooms in most homes, it only makes sense to make the most out of this space. Adding more living space or usable work space is always a great idea and your garage is just waiting for you to get the ball rolling.

Most Builders Don't Texture & Paint Garages

If you're looking to improve and update the look and feel of your garage? The first question that will need to be answered is do the walls and ceilings need to be textured.  The answer is most likely yes.  Floating the seams- joints with joint compound will eliminate the unsightly gaps where the seams of the sheetrock meet.  Texturing the walls and ceilings will create a uniform consistent finish like the inside of your home.  The final step of priming and painting your walls will provide the protection, washability and beauty that you are looking for. 

On this project, the previous homeowner had painted directly over unfinished drywall.  Painting over unfinished drywall will only add color to the surface but the overall appearance will undesirable to most homeowners and potential homebuyers. 

Hiring a professional painting contractor that has the tools, training and skill set to apply tape, joint compound and texture, will save a homeowner a from having to buy all of the tools and equipment as well as the time and frustration of learning how to use the equipment to apply the texture.

Adding The Final Touch With An Epoxy Floor Coating

Adding an epoxy finish to your garage floor is the perfect way to complete your garage make-over.  Not only will a floor coating enhance the look and feel of your new living space, an epoxy floor coating is much easier to keep clean and won't absorb chemical spills or oil.  

Applying epoxies is a fairly straightforward process as long as you follow the manufacturer's recommendations. Remember the key to success is in the prep. Taking shortcuts on floor coatings is a recipe for disaster.  

There are several floor epoxy systems available for both homeowners and contractors to use. Some of our favorites are the Rust-Oleum and Sherwin Williams floor coatings. Both products lines are user friendly and can be applied by DIYers as well professional painting contractors like TRICO PAINTING.  

Be sure to follow all of the steps included in the directions that are provided by the manufacturer.  A two car garage will take about 3-4 days to complete if you are using one of these manufacturers.

For this project we used the Rust-Oleum Re-coat Primer over the existing coating after we throughly prepped the floor and removed all of the loose and peeling coating that was previously applied. For the finish coat we used the Rock-Solid Garage Floor Kit from Rust-Oleum.  

The Final Results 

Here are some photos of a recent garage makeover project. We think the results are fantastic and the homeowner is thrilled to have a brand new garage.

We started with an unfinished garage that the previous homeowner had painted unfinished drywall that created an unappealing look and feel to the space. The garage floor had been previously coated as well and was failing in several areas.  

To start the project we repaired all of the drywall, floated all of the tape joints with new joint compound,  sanded the tape joints so they would not telegraph through to the finish coat and then we textured the walls and ceilings.  After a full day of drying we sealed the walls with a high build PVA  primer and painted the walls and ceilings with Sherwin Williams Interior Super-Paint. 

The last and final step was to prep the floor and apply the epoxy. We made sure we followed all of the manufactures recommendations for cleaning, etching, priming and applying the final coat of epoxy to the floor.  If you are considering a garage project like this one, give TRICO PAINTING a call. We would be happy to discuss your project over the phone or at your home.