My house is two years old now and I finally got around to having the garage "finished". When the house was built, we did not pay extra for the finished garage, but we did upgrade to a 3-car, which is roughly 20' deep x 30' wide with a full and a half bay (two doors). Only the interior walls were insulated and dry walled (per code). The exterior walls were just studs and a mixture of particle board and other man-made foam substrate.
I am not a do-it-yourself kind of guy. I am really busy with work and in my down time I prefer to fish or spend time with the family. I did a little planning and hired it out in phases.
Phase 1 was insulation and drywall. Luckily, a guy a few houses down from me works for a drywall contractor. I hired him and his crew for the "finishing". He purchased and installed the insulation and drywall and his crew did the taping, mudding, sanding and painting. This phase took about four days total (work) with drying time in between. It spanned about a week and a half for everything. It was a cash job.
Phase 2 was the storage system, which took some research on Google Local, but I found a great company that specializes in garage storage solutions and floors. They came out and gave an estimate and drew up some plans and recommendations. We went with Gladiator Gear Wall and Gear Track, along with Gear Boxes, shelves, hooks, baskets, and shoe racks. We also got one Onrax dropdown wire shelf mounted to the ceiling. You can buy the stuff at Sears or Lowes, but the beauty about going with this company was that they were able to save on cost per piece, there was no sales tax, and installation was free.
http://www.gladiatorgw.com/detail.as...lID=GAWP082PMY
http://www.onrax.com/
Phase 3 was the floor. I wanted to go epoxy to help keep the garage clean and look nice. It is pricey if you get the real deal, but I figured it is a one-time charge and has a lifetime guarantee. I used the same company that did the storage solutions to do the floor. I went with a beige and brown speckled floor with a double chip broadcast and some texture. It took two days to install. First, they sand the floor and wash it with muriatic acid. Second, they seal up all the spaces in between the poured concrete slabs so it is one smooth, even surface. Third, they put down the chips and coat it with an epoxy. Last, they put the top coat on and a hardener. The result is great. The floor is now sealed so any water sits on top of it and you just squeegee it out. This will be great when the snow hits and the slush is melting off the car.
We also had the concrete skirt painted beige so it is a nice transition between the floor and the drywall. It has a clean look to it.
We're really happy with the results. I haven't had a chance to populate the garage with all my stuff yet, so it still looks relatively empty. I'm working on it little by little, with the idea of also getting a third car in there (Cayman!). Here are some pics:
We got a 17' wide x 6' tall section of gear wall with the thought of adding more gear boxes down the line. Everything on the gear wall is moveable. It slides horizontally with minimal effort.
My kayak hangs from an 8' section of gear track.
The gear boxes have locks, which is nice if you have kids.
Shoes were are biggest problem. At any given time, there are a dozen pairs out there. My wife is famous for having two dozen of hers lying around if I don't keep moving them back into the bedroom closet!
Above you can see the Onrax storage system. You put stuff in tubs and then store it up there. Seasonal stuff, whatever...
The floor turned our really nice. Any "dark" spots you notice are from water that dripped off the car today. It is amazing how much water comes off the car. It doesn't absorb into the floor like when on concrete. It pools until you squeegee it out. It would take quite a while to evaporate.
The hooks and shelves slide easily along the gear track.
So that's it for now. If I keep this sucker organized, I should not have to spend a weekend cleaning it, just fishing!
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