What to Budget for a Finished Garage
As colder temperatures settled in this Fall and another bone-chilling winter lay on the horizon, we decided there was no time like the present to tackle the finishing of our garage interior. If you remember back to our whole home renovation, we tore off the original garage on our home (too small to fit cars) and built a new detached garage in another location on our lot. We made the garage as large as we could - maximizing the permeable versus impermeable lot calculations. What we ended up with was a 29’ wide x 23’ deep garage with upper level attic storage. At the time of its construction (and with a lot of excavating happening with our nearby addition), we installed some of the critical components to heating it down the line. That included running a gas line and electrical service out to the new structure as well as installing the proper venting for the future heater.
Having those critical pieces in place definitely expedited the finishing process. Getting gas and electrical there required digging two separate trenches - which can be disruptive to things like concrete driveways, sidewalks, landscaping, underground drainage, etc. If you are building a new garage, even if you don’t intend to finish or heat it right away, forecast what building blocks need to be in place for future finishing. It will save you money to plan for the long term instead of having to do the work twice.
We started by completely emptying our garage, which admittedly, had become a dumping ground. Drywall is messy and rather than hauling everything up into the garage attic (which is cumbersome on a ladder), it took a lot less effort to just dump it all into a storage container. The cheapest unit I could find was a Big Blue Box, which comes in one size only but could be delivered as quickly as next day. All of the companies I called (PODS, Smartbox, etc), charged a delivery fee, monthly rental fee and pick up fee. With the container on site, we moved everything out of our garage and locked the container up in our driveway where it would live for the next 30 days. Total cost for delivery, rental and pick up of the storage unit: $309.30.
With the garage emptied, it was time to start insulating. The walls and ceiling were all insulated utilizing bat insulation, which was installed the good old fashioned way, by hand. The insulation was covered with a plastic vapor barrier prior to drywall. Total cost to insulate garage walls and ceiling: $2,887.21
When heating the garage, you will want to ensure you have an insulated garage door to keep the heat from escaping. This was one of those building blocks we forecasted ahead of the actual finishing - opting to invest in an insulated door upon construction instead of replacing it (again) when going to finish it. Cost for a flat panel insulated garage door (not including lift): $2,220.00
With the garage insulated and vapor barrier installed, it was time to hang the drywall. The drywall process is typically bid to include hanging of the drywall, taping of all the drywall seams, three coats of drywall compound to cover the tape and sanding everything to a smooth finish. You will also have the option of how you want the ceiling finished - smooth or a ‘knockdown’ texture being the most popular. Your drywall team will prefer knockdown because the texture hides imperfections a lot more than smooth ceilings. However, smooth ceilings tend to be what most homeowners want, which will require a devoted drywall crew to ensure it gets done with that flawless finish. Cost to hang, tape, mud and sand drywall: $5,273.79
Once the walls and ceilings are sanded smooth, the next steps is priming and painting the walls. We used a water-based drywall primer followed by two coats of white paint. We used an eggshell finish to keep the walls wipeable from scuffs and stains. Cost to prime and paint walls and ceilings plus enamel trim (below): $2,823.14
After we had come this far, we couldn’t bare to leave raw drywall edges exposed around door frames, windows or the garage floor - so we went a step further and installed exterior grade PVC trim boards. We went with a flat stock profile off the shelf from Menard’s that will hold up to inevitable water or puddles that find their way in. The base and casing were then enameled for a more durable finish. Cost for material: $550.53
You might be looking at our garage wondering, ‘Where the heck did all their stuff go?’ We decided to move the majority of our belongings to the upper level (which we’ll finish organizing when it warms up this Spring). So while our seasonal items, bikes, yard tools, life jackets and the like are all living upstairs, there are those critical day-to-day items we need easy access to. To keep these items organized and accessible, we installed a PVC slatwall system. After researching the options, I settled on ProSlat, which was highly rated for durability (25 times more impact resistant than drywall) and has the ability to hold up to 75lbs per square foot. Install was slick (I hired my carpenter) and took about a day and a half for one wall. It’s like a work of art! Cost of ProSlat material for one wall of garage: $839.98 (on sale) and $324.92 for hooks and other accessories.
The piece de resistance was the installation of the ceiling mounted gas heater in the garage. We utilized a licensed HVAC company to install a Modine 45,000 BTU Natural Gas Garage Ceiling Heater, which was selected based on the size of our garage. We have a digital thermostat to control the temperature near our light switches and garage door openers. We had a licensed electrician finish the elevated outlet to power the unit and also adjust the original outlets to account for the added drywall depth. Cost to install gas heater by licensed HVAC company (required a licensed electrician and venting install): $4,485.00
Just as we were about to move everything back into the garage, we made the last-minute decision to have a floor coating installed. By this point, the garage was basically a finished extension of our home and it made sense to further preserve and polish up the slab. We are on the cusp of entering graduation party season in our family and I figured we wouldn’t regret the extra level of finish. Over the course of two days, we hired a crew to first diamond grind the existing concrete slab and then install a color-tinted coat of polyurea. The flake of our choosing was applied and the following day, a top coat was applied. It’s said that you can drive on the coating 48 hours later but we opted to stay off it for a few extra days (curing is never quick in the dead of winter). I’m 1000% glad we added this to our scope. Not only does it look fantastic (we went with the color ‘turquoise’), but it has a lifetime warranty that will keep it looking great for years to come. Cost to have garage floor coating professionally installed: $3,648
A few other items we added that are fantastic for your garage, finished or not:
Motion-activated light switches - now that we don’t open our garage door as the primary point of entry (we use our service door to not let the heat out), the overhead light isn’t a given. The motion activated switches make it such that as soon as we open the service door, all garage lights turn on.
I’ve mentioned these before but we love these overhead lights for the garage interior. So bright for working on projects, sharpening skates or for general safety at night.
Our garage door opener utilizes the MyQ app, allowing us to open and close our garage door from our phones wherever we are.
We purchased these Heavy Duty Husky cabinets as our garage ‘locker room’ - keeping sports equipment up off the floor (and out of sight!). Watch for deep discounts on days like Black Friday!
Click the video link below for an animated tour of our finished garage and see below for a complete budget breakdown.
Here’s a complete list of costs summarized keeping in mind you can pick and choose what’s needed for your garage. Costs can be spread out over time - installing the critical foundational pieces up front and the cosmetics at a later date.
My two cents is that it cost more than I anticipated (this always seems to be the case with construction), but the quality of life improvement made it a completely worthwhile investment in the end. The space can now be used for keeping vehicles warm, but also could be customized for puck shooting, batting cage, guys’ card night, or whatever else a bonus 644 sqft of heated space during a Midwest winter can provide! If you have interest in getting pricing on finishing your garage or questions about the process, reach out! I can connect you with my preferred subs to get the project done fast and right.