Why Don't Builders Finish Garage Walls?
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- Опубликовано: 19 май 2024
- Have you ever noticed that new homes almost never have finished and painted garage walls? Some don't even have sheetrock put up - but why is that? In this video we get to the bottom of this questions and explore some of the myths surrounding this too. #garage #homeimprovement #diy
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The bigger question and one that has always puzzled me is: "Why do builder's build garages that are not wide enough to comfortable open a car door without bashing the car door being opened into the car next to it?"
So that they can squeeze in a couple more cookie-cutter homes into the subdivision and increase their bottom line
because most people don't park in them, they use them for storage.
@@wmpx34 Yep, exactly this. More specifically, larger garages hits the builder in their wallet twice: it takes more materials for the builder to build larger houses, and more land used up to put those larger houses on. If the builder can squeeze in an extra house on the block by keeping the garages and side-yards to a bare minimum, more often than not they will do it. In a case where someone is building their own home and does this, well, that's on themselves for not doing their research and going with better house plans.
I agree. If there is any extra money to be spent it should be on larger doors and wider deeper parking space. Drywall has no functional value that I am aware of. In fact, I prefer having studs available for mounting stuff.
@@kevinwright2637 Fire-rated drywall is required in most places if the garage is attached to the rest of the house. It's the only thing blocking a fire from tearing through the house. Back in the 1930s, many areas required garages to be detached or encased in concrete, but as cars got safer, the codes were relaxed. Now, with electric cars, we'll be seeing more intense car fires, and maybe more attention to the fireproofing of garages.
BUILDER HERE. I worked for Meritage Homes for years. The reason garages were not painted was simple. It is an upgrade to get more money out of the buyer. Its just that simple. It cost me $1200 to have painter to finish it and we charged 10K to have a "finished garage". I thought it was a rip off and told buyers to just do it themselves and save a ton of money. There was also a guy that would paint garages for 200 bucks plus material after they moved in. He stayed busy for years just doing garages.
I'm sure that really is the reason, however, it's also worth noting that garages don't typically need to be finished unless you have a specific use in mind. It's a waste of money to finish the garage out if the homeowner decides they want to use the walls for a storage system or if they just put some seating in there for a hangout they might want something a bit nicer to look at. Or, they might just opt to leave it as is and not pay anything at all.
Lots of people think it costs $100 to paint a room. You wouldn't believe the ridicule I endure.
Sheetrock is ugly. Mudding and painting a garage costs a grand max. The most work is moving people’s garbage out of the way!
@@globalfamily8172 if you buy a couple gallons of cheap paint and have your own ladder, a couple of brushes, and a roller with a long handle... One of the many things I've done was interior and exterior house painting. People tend to not consider the cost of labor.
$1200 to paint a garage? I don't think so. That painter is ripping you off.
As a retired builder, I always finished and painted garages. Didn't matter if it was a $150k or $990k house. I took pride in my work, and an unfinished garage says a world about the builder and that he is willing to cut corners and provide an inferior product with his name on it. Do Better and take pride in your end product! BTW cost is miniamal if fully finished and painted at time of construction.
I wish there were more builders like you nowadays. We bought a house from LGI. They’re an entry-level production builder but our construction manager took great pride in his work and managed his subs well. Our house was built exceptionally well and we even have nice 15 foot side yards - practically unheard of in modern developments.
Where were you building? I have a theory that in the Northeast because of humidity they don't paint due to potential mold problems. Every floor I've epoxied in my garage has become a swimming pool when there is high humidity and the concrete is cooler than the ambient air. If painted walls are even a slight bit cooler than the normal drywall I could see mold becoming an issue quickly as condensation becomes a problem. Just a thought though.
Yep same her.
But people get what they pay for, our houses cost more than people that buy a house with unfinished.
Well there is your problem.
PRIDE
Thanks for having integrity. I hope that you were able to pass that along to kids and grandkids.
I does want to say thank u for your integrity and taking time to do the right thing regardless of price 😊. It rare nowadays have a great day
This video is my introduction to the channel. No clickbait title, succinct, and the research was on point and comprehensive. Coming from places like Project Farm and Fireball Tool, this seems to fit in nicely while doing something different. I hope that's all appreciated as a big compliment.
County assessor here, garages finishes will have a very minimal impact on your home assessment for tax purposes. The size of the garage will have a larger impact. The variables that impact value the most are: number of bedrooms, bathrooms, type of kitchen, frontage, size and location.
What about fencing in the yard?
What about fencing in the yard?
Type of kitchen, as in?
And the whims/revenue needs of the county due to financial mismanagement.
Can you explain what you mean by type of kitchen? Thank you
I'm a garage door guy, so I've been in thousands of garages. I've lived in South Florida, Colorado and Tennessee. It appears to be a regional thing. In Florida, all the garages were finished and painted. In Colorado, most had the half assed drywall. In middle Tennessee, the garages are finished and painted. I couldn't imagine spending the money for a new house and having a crappy looking garage.
That seems to jive with the average humidity in each of those locations, which was mentioned in the video.
I'm in CO and both houses I've owned were like you said. I went and finished off my most recent one. They don't set taxes here by actually going into houses or asking, so it doesn't have any impact on taxes. Maybe they do in other places, but that would be a big time sink to find finished garages.
Same, we install garage doors every day in Mississippi. I've never seen a garage not painted and finished out unless it's some janky diy thing.
@@atomictyler Also in CO. The outside walls of the garage are just studs, I'm going to insulate and drywall them since the master bedroom is right above the garage.
Also a garage door guy, where I am code only specifies that they put the bare minimum insulation and drywall on interior walls so over here only half of garages are insulated and drywalled
You answered a question I had for a long time, thanks. Our house was 25 years old when we bought it and the garage was sheetrocked on the ceiling and the wall adjacent to the house. It was as brown as coffee and the taping was cracked and peeling. The other walls were just studs. I finished it off myself - insulation, sheetrock, taping & compounding, sanding (that was messy), priming, painting. I painted it with three different pastel colors so I would feel good evertime I pull into it.
I live in Florida. Every single house I've ever been in has had a finished garage. I just built a moderate home and the builder automatically finished the garage as part of the build. It wasn't an extra cost on my part or even an option to not have them do it. I think this really comes down to regional code. I've been in some homes up North and that was the first time I had ever seen an unfinished garage.
I live in Mississippi. Same here. My house was built by Elliot Homes. I think it's just standard to finish the garage.
Same in AZ. I've never seen an unfinished garage. Sucks, because they don't insulate them. I'd rather spend money on having insulation in the walls than a pretty paint job.
Never saw an unfinished garage in CA either, although I'm sure they exist. In WA most garages are level 1/2.
@@Rocketsong Really? I am in arizona and almost every garage I see in homes built in the last 30 years is unfinished. And what does insulation in a garage do?
@@robertturley2974 it'd retain heat/cold better, only really matters if you wanted to add a minisplit or some other ac to your garage. would also want to insulate the attic part of your garage too if you were to do that. and since most garages have a giant open door most of the time its unlikely many would want to spend the extra cost.
I am a drywaller, you can paint over the level one and it won’t “peel” anything. If something does peel, it wasn’t installed properly. Obviously if you paint over the level one it isn’t going to look like the rest of your house but it will at least all be the same color, also worth noting that you can still mud over paint, so painting level one doesn’t prevent more coats of mud from being added later. If it were mine I would put a cheap coat of drywall primer (PVA) on it, you can buy 5 gallons for less than $100 and get all the surfaces white.
is the level 1 properly insulated though? im canada and wanted a warmer garage its -40c outside
@@Uranium21 Normally the garage walls are insulated between the house and the garage space. The outside walls of unheated garages are not insulated.
@@Uranium21 the level of finish of the drywall has nothing to do with insulation. Insulation is behind the drywall.
I live in Canada man Alberta of all places -48 last week and 29 years drywall. The room above the garage in homes in alberta gets a nickname cold room for a reason. These rooms are near ALL colder then the rest of the house. If you were going to try and " warm up your home more " especially the T.V. room / colder room above the garage maybe consider working on the ceiling of the garage with tearing out exsisting drywall and getting roxul placed into the ceiling joists. You can add 1-2 layers drywall and then get the ceiling mudded / taped. @@Uranium21
It seems like the drywall tape in the garage always ends up peeling off. Just wondering why the tape is needed.
I have an 840 square-foot four car garage. I finished it with 5/8” FR Drywall as required in our area. I then gave it two coats of mud sanded smooth and then a coat of rolled on mud over the entire surface. I then painted the walls and ceiling with two coats of oil base high gloss white enamel finish. It’s been 25 years and it looks like it’s brand new, I say do it right the first time and you won’t have to do it over again.
You definitely did a great job on it! I bet it looks great.
Don’t you know that oil based paint is going to kill you?
I painted my garage with leftover primer and ignored that the finish wasn’t quite ready for paint. The primer has helped me with 2 problems. 1, when the wall gets wet it doesn’t soak it up instantly like a sponge. 2, I work in my garage a lot and the lighting is 10x better just by making the walls white in color. Cheap primer and a few lightbulbs and it’s like a completely new garage as far as working conditions and lighting go.
@@Bouldergoat exactly, he should have went with lead based paint. And blown in asbestos insulation.
YEAH BUDDY!! Ret. Builder of QUALITY homes here...INSULATED, FINISHED, PRIMED, SEMIGLOSS PAINTED, & HEATED!!! In Virginia...DOES NOT cost that much more on new construct!! From a hands on ret after hrs builder who is retired on PROFITS from correctly built & (much loved by buyers) homes! That's all I have to say about that....gump..Forest gump
I purchased my 5th new home and hopefully last two years ago. The first four had unfinished garages and the entire time living in them drove me nuts how gross the garages looked. Before putting a single item in the garage of this new home, I put another layer of mud on the walls and ceiling and then painted the walls and trim two tone colors that pop. I then finished the garage floor after fixing the cracks in the concrete. The finished garage to go with a beautiful new house gives me a special pride as I spend hours in there tinkering on my projects. I think it cost me about $600.00 in paint and other materials and my time. For me, it was well worth the small investment in time and money. FYI: I'm 67 years old and it took me two weeks to complete this project on my own. I did get estimates from contractors to do this work. Finish painting, $3500.00, garage floor, 2500.00-3800.00 depending on the finish chosen.
To me that's like buying a very expensive set of those metallic coated washer/dryers, with pedestals for 7K when your 300$ washer and dryer work perfectly well.
Who cares what your garage looks like. Better time spent in putting in a walk in shower, or outside shower, or an extra water line/faucet in the yard, stuff like that.
He cares and apparently can afford it, that's all that matters. I wouldn't mind a garage like his and I suspect it would add resale if he does sell. be . Pride in ownership and pride in work can be good things.
@@rickfeiner7450 thats what I wonder, would it actually add resale? A garage to me is a utilitarian place. I wouldnt pay any extra for a home with a finished garage unless it had a shop. I find it much easier to add electrical, lighting, shelving, hooks, etc if its not finished. If this guy in the video ever decided he doesn't like those cabinets where they are or wants to put something else there, now its not just puttying over a few screw holes and calling it a day. I would rather spend money on my yard, back porch, interior, etc than the garage.
I understand caring what your garage looks like. Many, if not most, people enter their home from the garage rather than through the front door.
I do painting and some drywalling. I've had a few jobs finishing level 1 drywalled garages. The biggest things to pay attention to if DIYing it is if its been like that for a long time all the exhaust, and general mess of garages gets into the drywall and will bleed through paint, so often it needs a good stain blocking primer. Also the drywall tape will start to fail in places and even if not finished to a higher level does need to be re done in places where its failing.
I painted one garage on a new house last year that was so nice because they plan to use it a lot. It had heated floors, a full glass garage door connected to a screened in deck, a counter with a sink and cabinets for food, an attached bathroom. Loved it!
My parents in Maine have the standard level 1 finish just on the wall adjacent to the house (the rest was bare studs). They paid a professional painter to paint this and, less than a year later, the paper tape peeled and was hanging down in many places. Since then, i drywalled the rest, removed the peeling tape, and finished everything with a level 3-4ish finish and painted. Looks so much nicer and i have not heard anything about taxes.
LOL... oh the losers and their self assigned "levels".
@@Katchi_ its not self assigned.. lvl1 through lvl5 are different. lvl1 being no mud to lvl5 having the whole wall skim coated. go get bids on a professional drywall contractor and that is stipulated or just google drywall finish levels if you want to know what each means
I don't understand the tax argument. Where does the county assessor actually come into your house to see which rooms are painted? Even then, its not a livable room even if you do get it painted.
I've always wondered this question in the back of my mind. Why the hell does nobody seem to have a finished garage. By luck, youtube recommended me this video out of nowhere and I'm glad it did because this question can finally be answered. Thank you!
I think it's a cost benefit analysis ratio. In
Texas for example our labor for such jobs is cheap (illegal aliens), In Seattle it's very expensive. If you can finish a garage out in Texas for an extra $500 in cost and get back $2000-3000 more in purchase price, do it. In Seattle it would cost $3000 just for the garage and very little in end price. Especially in Seattle, they'll charge you $25,000 to finish the garage.
I had a custom home built 32 years ago, still live in it. I had the garage built oversize so I could have room for my shop. The builder drywalled and finished both tape and full sanding. I recall the upcharge from level one finish was minimal. I then rented a professional paint spray system, with an extended long reach nozzel that the painter doing the rest of my house told me about. That thing painted like a dream with minimal ladder work. Best thing I ever did. It made the space really white so lighting and general experience of the shop improved significantly. To this day the paint looks perfect, just a bit dirty and dusty from shop dust but not a single peel or decay. Do it if you can, you will be very pleased with how it changes the space.
When I had a garage built many years ago that was going to be a shop I had the shop area finished with 3/4 plywood so I could mount anything anywhere I wanted without having to figure out where the studs were.
I have noticed the same thing for years, even in fancy high end homes, like you pointed out. When I bought my house years ago, the very first room in the house to be painted.... was the garage! My wife was pissed but it was a good move. I just recently repainted much of it, to freshen it up.
I had my garage finished once I moved in. I tried painting it myself, but that old sheetrock just sucked up so much paint I got frustrated and hired painters to come fix up the seems and paint it. I also had the floor coated. Now, I love it each and every time I drive into the garage and it is much more pleasant to spend time out there working.
Bare drywall must be primed with PVA primer before painting. Not only does bare drywall suck up paint as you discovered, the mudded areas will look and feel different no matter how smooth you get the mud.
@@keithmarlowe5569 Thanks! I'll keep that in mind for my next house.
@@keithmarlowe5569 Agreed. Since it's also a potential wet area, I'd also have the technician include a mildewcide in the primer or use something like Kilz Mold&Mildew exterior Primer. This is especially important if you live in a more humid climate.
@@TwistedMe13 Or you can buy a small bottle of copper powder and add it to the paint. It's an old trick to make anti-fouling paint for boats for a lot less money.
Like adding fine grain clean sand to paint to make it anti-skid.
Or adding a small about of clear to regular paint to make it "glossy" instead of the cheap "flat".
Or.....
Interesting video. I have wondered the same thing. Up here in Canada, the level 1 finish is an even worse idea. People want to park their cars inside in the winter (to avoid having to clear them off and scrape ice in the morning). Of course the cars come in warm from being driven, and snow and slush melt onto the garage floor, even if the garage is unheated. If you do that in a level 1 finished garage, within a couple of years, the tape will have absorbed enough moisture to start separating from the drywall. You can imagine how nice that looks! My home was a custom build, but I was all prepared to have to finish the garage myself. Imagine my joy when I walked in one day near the end of the build to find the entire garage finished to the same standard as the rest of the house, even in the same colour palette. 15 years later, I have not even had to repaint yet. My car buddies are jealous!
I'm jealous too! Here in Utah we get a good bit of snow typically and get that same melt off and evaporation so the level 1 doesn't do us any favors.
@@LRN2DIY Because walls don't work, Migrants are cutting right through them
mine is going on 11 years in northern MN; unheated. long winters and -40 degree nights... Lots of snow and slush coming in all winter. Never had this problem thankfully...
This year I put a heater in and hope it gets rid of most moisture.. Should help it last even longer.
I saw Maine Cabin Masters one time and they said Chase's dad knew how to save time and money. He didn't tape dry wall on the camp , he put battons up, like board and batton siding. It looked good.
Also with a fully mudded and painted garage it reduces the concern of vehicle offgassing (especially CO). ) 0:54 There is enough splits and other penetrations in that 'finish' where that would be a concern.
My home is a 4 bdrm, 2 bath with a 2 car garage in Arizona, it was built in 2001 and I bought it in 2009 and my garage was drywalled, taped and painted when I got here, quality work too.
Great video! Never heard anyone worry about paying more for a finished garage but clearly it's a concern for most. Here in CA, the assessor will have no idea whether or not you finished your garage so it shouldn't be an issue. In the case you get permits for garage improvments then that could add to the assessed value but it would be minimal at best.
I have never seen where the city will stop by and ask if you have finished the garage or did any updates. They have no leagal right to even ask
$4,000 to $7,000 to paint a 2 car garage? I am a painter of 25 years. I recently primed and painted a 2 car garage. I charged $600.
Yeah years ago I had some painting done and I was charged $1 a square foot, not bad at all. That price is just crazy.
I was taught $1.00 a square foot. Too pricy I feel. I recently saw a post I will link. She said she charged $1,000 to paint a basic room just walls and it took her 16 hours. There is no client in my city that would ever pay that much to paint one room....even in million dollar homes.
ruclips.net/video/aDuxewP12LM/видео.html&lc=UgxSkWRwPkYKukADhWN4AaABAg.9vpFhg4xeC99yUZs2rITbp&ab_channel=PaintScout
@@venom5809
You're an honest hard working individual. Unlike builders.
He didn’t say to paint a garage he said to finish drywall and paint a garage.
New subscriber and habitual DIYer. I added on a big two car garage onto our smallish 2car garage. And insulated finished painted and heated it. I was worried about taxes going up but was only a $100 a year. Great video 👍
I just closed on a new construction home, and I was wondering why the garages weren't painted. Finishing my garage is definitely at the top of my list, thanks for the info!
As part of getting our house ready to sell last year, I replaced damaged drywall in our garage and then finished all the joints properly from the level 1 finish the builder did 30 years ago. I then painted with two coats of a bright white stain killer. The place looked amazing after that. Bright and clean. We ended up moving to a very old house with a garage with bare studs. I'm not sure I can wait 30 years before doing something about it!
My neighborhood was developed from 2019 to 2021. Three different builders were involved, and as far as I know, every garage was finished--fully taped and sanded drywall, primed and painted--as part of the construction. It looks good, but there are times when I wish it had been left unfinished. That would have made doing upgrades like shelving, racks, wiring, plumbing, etc. a lot easier.
I agree. I really like to find all of the studs for shelves and hooks.
@@danielbeck9191 Not hard with drywall. It is much tougher if you have real plaster, and somebody sheetrocked over the plaster. Stud finders dont work very will in that situation.
Residential fire sprinklers save lives!
Your video regarding finished or unfinished garage areas brought this to mind.
When I studied Fire Protection Engineering a while back, I learned the value of residential fire sprinklers, and the fact that (often, check local codes) they can be a DIY undertaking. Pex type water lines are easy to work with and the costs for the parts are relatively cheap. Access to the other side of the ceiling can be the toughest part.
Residential fire sprinklers are hidden and protected in the ceiling until the heat from a fire activates them and they drop down automatically. The sprinkler's operations are nearly all mechanical/hydraulic (water pressure) and therefore extremely reliable.
FYI (and everyone else)... only the sprinkler head(s) above the fire are activated in the event of a fire in nearly all residential systems (it depends upon the hazard).
In an average city, it takes around 10 minutes (+-?) for the Fire Department to arrive. Typically, an individual residential fire sprinkler head will use about 200 gallons of water to extinguish a fire while the FD is on it's way. The FD's role now is to shut off the water flow, because the fire typically has already been extinguished. The system is normally tied to an automatic alert to the FD.
On the other hand, if a fire breaks out and the FD is called (whatever way required) the fire burns for the period of time the FD is on it's way and setting up water lines, and considering the same hazard (fire) now requires around 2000 gallons of water to extinguish.
Most damage resulting from a residential fire event is water damage.
Residential fire sprinklers save lives AND money! Your home-owners insurance will reflect the value of the system. Peace of mind is immeasurable.
www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/1/3/r/nfpa-13r
They do, however, working smoke alarms, fire resistant doors and proper escapes from every room in the house also save lives and are less expensive to install and maintain.
My street in NE Ohio was finished just over 2 years ago. There is about 30 homes. "Finishing" the garage cost about $1,500. They basically mixed ceiling paint with the mud and did a "closet" finish. It used to come with the price of the home. Sometime before we signed it became an option. The other street (with about 50 homes) have a mix of finished and unfinished because of the time they signed.
I believe less than 5 homes have been finished. The rest are "Stage 1." I started mine in 2 Octobers ago and worked on it slowly for 4 months. It cost me less than $400.
Just bought a higher end new build near Seattle Washington and I was mentally preparing to paint the walls before I moved it but to my surprise it was already done by the builder. They even added trim to the doors and window in there just like inside the house. This is very rare around here.
My current home is just studs, it's an older home from the early 60s. My last home was a contemporary 2.5 car garage with a 14' ceiling and unfinished drywall. There was minimal lighting so I painted the walls with ultra bright white semi-gloss. I chose that to make wall cleaning easy and to increase the brightness in the garage. What a world of difference that made. Instead of a dark garage, just one overhead light fully illuminates the whole room.
I've done the same thing and it does make a difference. I just built my retirement home and upgraded my garage door to a well insulated on with windows. I've never had windows and what a difference it makes with lighting!
I lived next door to a frat house in Westwood Ca and those guys thought the house filled with studs too they were very loud .
@@Dwayne-mb2uj barrrum boomp!!
I insulated and did a level one sheetrock to the walls and ceiling that were not in contact with my living space (which already had that for fire code compliance). The rafters were originally open - I added a 3/4" plywood floor. The back of my garage is a workshop and the insulation really helped the comfort level. The interior of the garage is 22 x 32, much larger than a typical modern home. Mine was built in 1956.
We bought into our neighborhood about 8 years ago and all of the homes were in the $250-300K range, 2400-3000sqft, 5-10 years old at the time, and all of the garages I’ve been in or looked into are fully mudded and painted. I spoke with my old boss whose husband was a custom home builder in town building million dollar homes, and he said our builder was a really good one for the price. I live in the Midwest. My garage door is 8ft with a 10ft ceiling and my walls look really good aside from down low where there are some scuff and scratches and dings. Paint and mud is good. Very minimal cracking.
If you're adding trusscore, remember that you still need the fire separation rating from the house. Might be best to keep the drywall on those areas and install the trusscore directly overtop
I was told that the only real concerns for a garage attached to the house were fire rating and vapor blocking (so you don't kill your family with carbon monoxide) by warming up the car in the garage in the winter.
Of course, this changes for separated garages, which a lot of people out where I live prefer for the break in home insurance they bring. If it's not attached, you don't need to worry about burn-through time OR vapor blocking.
I've seen some people who wanted a covered walkway between the house and garage have the cover built so that it touches neither the house nor the garage, instead ending above or below the overhang of each as appropriate.
My house came with a level 1 on the garage. I finished it to level 4 finish without texture. Painted the ceiling white and walls grey. I love it. Soon after I saw everyone in the neighborhood doing the same
Nice nieghborhood if you can leave your garage door open all day. I hope your wife feels as safe as you do.
DIY person here. Dry walled and mudded garage as practice for some inside changes I wanted to do later.
Finished mine with a full home theater and everything. It’s still usable for parking cars in also. I love my garage now.
In Florida (at least where I live), the building code is that all single family homes have to be cinder block construction (on the first floor at least). So my garage has painted cinder block walls and then a finished stud and drywall wall that’s adjacent to the house. I’ve never seen any unfinished garages anywhere near where I live (central Florida). [Building code is block for hurricane resistance]
My aunt and uncle in Florida have concrete walls on the first floor and and garage. That house was built in the 50’s and hasn’t had any damage to the structure and only minor roof damage… I wonder if it’s a cost thing to use block these days?
Sounds about right. I stayed in an Airbnb in Florida several months ago and it was exactly that.
Concrete block, stucco exterior, wood shutters and a hip roof, my FL home is near bullet-proof for hurricanes and my 2-car garage/ shop is totally finished too. One trick I do use when we get a warning is to pull into the garage, place a sheet of ply against the inside of the rollup door and hand-roll the car backwards up to it to prevent the door from blowing in, if that happens say goodbye to your roof.
" have to be cinder block construction"
They arent "cinder" blocks, those havent been manufactured since the 1950s, they are concrete blocks, they are made from mold-form injected concrete.
@@HobbyOrganist
lmfao yo, typical day at jobsite:
"hey let's load up these cinder blocks"
or
"hey let's load up these mold-form injected concrete blocks"
what you think is more likely?
A few years ago we bought a brand new home in a small new single family home development in DC. It was the model home and already had the foundation filled and walls up but that's it. The salesman didn't want to sell the model home as he wanted a place to base his sales operations out of but honestly it was all about him as there were only ten houses in that community and they sold pretty fast despite us buying that model home. He just wanted an office. Anyway, the company undercut him and said they'd consider selling the model home which would mean they'd only get to use it for a couple months in that capacity. We asked for some unplanned upgrades since it was early on in the build process and they resisted us on everything. One thing we asked for was to have the garage walls painted and they said "no way." Then we walked through the neighborhood and noticed that all the other homes had painted walls in the garage. So we pointed this out and the guy in charge of construction for the company gave us an estimate: $5,000 to paint our two car garage. We were flabbergasted. The site foreman for the company in charge of building out our community told us the following week he had a surprise for us. He had the garage painted for us on his own initiative. He said it was BS that they gave us a quote for $5,000 to paint the interior of the garage. He said he had it done quickly and it cost him only $400 using his internal resources. He was ashamed that his company did that to us. He asked us to keep it on the down low and not tell them he did it. There is no reason not to pain the garage walls and our community all has painted walls, although our house's garage is painted due to the good will of the lead contractor who is a good guy.
That foreman sounds like a good guy, I would give him a few extra $$ tip for his initiative.
@@N20Joe He was. We gave him and his wife a gift card for a free dinner and drinks at their favorite restaurant.
Trusscore is AMAZING. I love it. I think all new builds should have it. It's quick and easy to install. Its really great for the garage since there are large temperature fluctuations there and trusscore expands and contracts and won't crack like drywall. Good call installing it.
I added insulation then drywall, then knockdown and painted it up. No permit needed. Looks great and didn't cost me much. Only down side is when I wanted to run another line for a receptacle.
I’m confused. The assessor said finishing your garage would NOT have an impact on taxes, but at the end of the video the host said it WOULD impact your taxes. Which is it? Did I miss something?
The assessor basically said it's unlikely to be seen, so unlikely there would be any difference.
I painted my last garage and had no issues but I’m leaving this one unfinished because it’s nice to have the stud locations visible so I can hang stuff and build off it. I think that’s more valuable than looks in the garage.
Top notch stud finder is like $25. LOL
I made a similar decision. I don't care about the looks that much, but I like being able to see where the studs are at a glance.
@@venom5809free and easier not to paint it.
I love my garage… insulated, covered with peg board, and painted. To me, that’s the best of all worlds. It looks nice, studs are still visible, climate controlled, and can hang stuff anywhere!
@@venom5809 I have one of those blue ones that has 3 lights on it that easily detect the studs. The walls in my garage are all painted nicely; and I got shelves all around now.
Thanks for the great video! I appreciate you addressing this topic, I always wondered about this.
my first two houses had bare unfinished garages. I insulated, vapor barrier'd and drywalled both of them. Also insulated the cheaper doors with foam. Made a giant difference all year round in the temperature range in the garage, and also helped the living spaces adjacent to the garage.
I was a professional commercial drywall finsher and finished some houses when I worked for a framer that did some remodeling. I fully finished a couple other people's garages so they could paint them after I left the trades. It was always nice having large areas of sheetrock that just needed to meet fire code. I also mostly worked in the trades when there was more work available than we could keep up with. Most of the time my bosses were in a hurry to get me to the next jobsite. Other than I have no good reasoning for why so many garages are left unfinished. After the 9/11 attacks, construction dried up in Minnesota and I just went back to working security instead of dealing with trying to stay active in the trades. Maybe they finish more at a lower price now that they are more desperate for work.
I used to finish drywall and I remember the fire walls between "economic" townhouses had to be 4 layers of water resistant drywall between townhomes where I worked. These were low cost townhomes, built in more expensive housing developments , where building some economic housing was required.
@@BrandonLeeBrown I dealt with a wall like that once that I can remember, we converted an old building into some kind of small school. They divided it into 3 sections with I believe 6 layers of fire rated sheet rock, instead of adding sprinklers. I don't remember much, but the carpenters used really long sheetrock screws, the studs must have been extra thick. The General Supervisor had me finish a hatch with half a corner bead around it that his crew installed in an emergency stairwell. The hatch looked like it was made in a high school sheet metal shop. They shoved it in too far into the wall so that the ends of the half corner bead flared out. I told the Superintendent that I need some space above the bead to fill in as I rocked my knife back and forth over where the end of the bead was sticking out, and each time I explained why (probably 5 times total), he just responded "feather it out". I gave up and found a carpenter who ran screws through the bead, sucking it into the gap the Superintendent left between the hatch and the wall. No surprise, that hatch didn't pass the fire inspection, and they installed an emergency hatch that was as thick as the wall.
We had our house built 20+ years ago.
Living in MN, we added insulation to the exterior garage walls before they put up the sheetrock.
Pretty sure they did a Level 1 tape job, since I didn't know any better and much of it started peeling/splitting after a while.
We did paint and prime very early on and have not had any issue with the tax assessment.
I prefer the more finished look - but mostly I'm glad we added the insulation when we did.
"We did paint and prime very early on and have not had any issue with the tax assessment."
They just haven't updated your assessment yet is why, they do it on a schedule, it might be every 5 or 10 years or some other timeframe.
Great video! Mine just had studs. I'm in the process of renovating it. It has been fun
My garage houses my two babies, so it's not only painted, it looks beautiful!
Here in Canada, in the two provinces I lived in, it's done just to not waste money on it, as it doesn't really add to the homes value.
However, I did notice newer ones are painting them, and it could be due to the area being higher humidity.
I’m turning ours into an apartment. If one has a garage? And bought it before housing prices shot up. You couldn’t built a garage for the price you paid for the house. Plus zoning, permits, inspections etc. Plus depending on one state, province etc one might have to ask the neighbors if they’re ok with it.
I'm confused. You spoke to the assessor and the building department, both of which essentially said that they'd never know if you finished the garage, and so it can't factor into the tax rate. Then in your summary, you said that it does affect the tax rate. What am I missing? I wish you had asked them more directly, if they *did know* that the walls had been painted, would it matter?
I had a full home remodel done a few years ago. My garage walls and ceiling are drywalled and painted, which makes it look nicer and also brightens up the space. But the garage is not considered "finished space" and therefore doesn't affect any taxation. For one thing, there's no heating in the garage, so it could not be used as living space. I am in California.
It would not. He is being special.
I live in Florida. My current home has an attached garage. The walls are cement block walls...no drywall except for the one wall which directly adjoins the house. That wall is drywall and painted.
My prior home was in Illinois and had a detatched brick garage. The interior walls were the exposed brick and unpainted.
My parents last two homes in Illinois both had detatched stand alone garages. The first house they had the garage built. The second house came with a garage. Both had just the bare 2 X 4 stud walls. In both cases we insulated the walls between the studs with roll fiberglass insulation, then covered it with plywood. No painting for either.
The house I bought had unfinished drywall in the garage, and yeah it was ugly. There was lots of little damage over 30 years, so I patched it all up, then after a coat of primer and 2 coats of white semi gloss it looks pretty good! The only problem is that I didn't think ahead that I would eventually want a mini-split in the garage, so now I'm considering tearing out about half the walls (exterior ones) to insulate them. Which means redoing a lot of the work...
This is why I am not sure I would even want a finsihed garage. All those little damages over 30 years are still going to happen but now you have to deal with paint on top of the normal patching. and like you pointed out, it adds more work anytime you want to change it up. every couple of years I am moving around shelving, cabinets, hooks, etc. A finished garage would add that much more work.
I have been an appraiser for almost 20 years. I have NEVER heard of a finished garage being a premium a buyer would pay for OR the finish affecting the property taxes.
thats because you've been an appraiser for 20 years. LMAO.
I am not actively looking for a finished garage.. but if the house i want to buy has a finished garage with nice lighting, paint, and nice concrete finished floor or epoxy..i would LOVE that and definitely consider it a plus
I'm in the middle of a multi-year finishing of my garage. (Just really slow and procrastination.) This past year I painted the top 3 feet all the way around, and installed LED strip lighting. The previous year I put Slatwall and Pegboard up. It is all about making it a useable space with decent lighting.
Great job. Earned a subscribe. Paint because it is brighter!! My builder (2000) just did level 1 drywall. I bought an inexpensive spraygun and painted the 3 stalls before we moved in (long long day). Recently our kid bought a townhouse and it had level 1. His mom and I rolled paint on his 2 stall garage. Way brighter and less dingy looking.
Our house is 35 years old. We've been it 27 years. The previous owner painted the Level 1 (or maybe level 0.5) drywall. There's no issues with the tape peeling. I'd love to improve it but there's WAY too many other home owner projects.
Thats exactly my feeling, even if I wanted to have a finished garage, I dont think I will ever be to the point that the rest of my home is at the level that I would have the time and funds to dedicate to this.
If you park your car in your garage you should make sure you have sealed it. This means sealed electrical, the plumbing if any. Where the walls meets the foundation you will want to use an acoustic caulking. If there is a room above the garage need to check in the ceiling where the brick meets the roof line to see how or if if it was even insulated. If they can cover up sloppy work they will. I have seen this in some garages along with a couple of DIY shows. Of course if you are using it as a work shop you do not want any fumes or dust to enter your house. Every small hole or crack will end up the the size of a basket ball. That's a lot of air movement. The house is a vaccuum chamber.
My family moved into a new house in the early 80's. I was 4. The garage was unfinished drywall. I distinctly remember seeing footprints on the walls and ceiling and asking dad about it.
Thanks for the effort to help. My garage interior is finished with exterior grade osb never heard anything about it
I would LOVE to see a DIY video on how to take it from a level 1 to paintable surface. Want to tackle my 4 car garage this spring.
Hire a drywall guy to mud/tape & paint it
@@KrushKrills he said DIY
like the other guy said for contractors but yourself pretty much, if you aren't super picky about the quality it can be pretty easy. The hardest part is going to be drywall though.
Its def worth hiring it out, they can do in a day what would keep your garage out of commission for a week or more to DIY it. JUST drywall tape/mud job is actually relatively cheap vs a full drywall install and finish.
There are quite a few RUclipsrs who will tell you how to finish drywall.
Here are three:
That Kilted Guy
Vancouver Carpenter
Paul Peck Drywalltube
Maybe the most important part is to pay close attention to how thick or thin the mud should be depending on if it’s first second third or texture coat.
Also, the different types of drywall mud. The first coat with the tape is different, than topcoats, for example.
(Topcoat mud is easier to sand.)
There is a builder in Tooele county that finishes the garage with the same texture and paint as the house. Their name is gtm builders.
That's awesome. I take that as a sign of what quality of builder they are.
6:42 Thank you for recognizing the audience bias in your poll! I've seen other videos that overlook this when it should be common sense and an obvious factor.
I also heard that some people do not cement the garage floors, the leave them with stone. Cheaper for insurance.
Whereas in Australia you get a completed garage in every house, and if you asked for it *not* to be completed you'd get looked at like you had two heads.
That's so good to hear - I wish it were that way here!
I purchased my in expensive home in 2007 brand new. The home is 1500sqft. with attached garage; it came with the garage finished, painted, nicely trimmed doors and baseboards.
Here in Southaven, MS at Chambliss Homes we always painted and did a level 2 finish on all of our garage walls. This was at no extra charge to our Buyers. Our homes were painted with a flat paint because we only did a level 2 finish. We did offer satin finish but, it required a Buyer paid upgrade of paint and wall finish to Level 3. The Tax Office does not charge any additional rate for a finished garage unless it is heated. Also, bceause garages are not heated spaces they are not insulated accept on walls that are backed up to heated interior space.
3 things certain in life: death, taxes, not enough garage space!My 1997 built home in Utah was finished to level 1 - ugly drywall.
The Mr’s’ slave laborer (as I refer to myself) finished the walls with light ‘old world’ texture (perfect for imperfections and filling old holes) easy for any DIYer (I have no drywall experience at all), light grey paint, even hung extra crown molding above the house entrance 😂. Other upgrades include: epoxy floors, 50 TV, retractable electrical cords, ski and bike racks, lockers, griswold attic ladder, 8000 lumen LED lights from Costco, and way too much stuff(junk as the Mrs calls it)!
Just had an $850,000 home built last year, the builder fully finishes the garage as a standard. Baseboard & trim, level three, paint on all surfaces, and insulated. Tax assessor didn’t even look at the garage. It’s considered garage for tax purposes, not a finished living space. Maybe that’s not true in every municipality, but the idea that a coat of paint changes the tax burden is some Dunning-Krueger-assumption kind of stuff.
Our house was about 4 years old when we bought it. The garage had the level 3 sheetrock already, as well as insulation on the exterior wall, interior walls, and in the ceiling. I added extra outlets, extra lighting, and put slatwall on the walls.
Interesting. I have a lot of clients who are builders (IT) and they all give me bits of information like this that are helpful. They have said this same thing. My garage is not only level 3 but is also insulated. It was done when I got the house, along with an insulated garage door. That is rare, and is great for the hot weather in the SW US. Now if it was a bigger garage, that would be great. Next house.
Raise your taxes for painting inside of the garage. That’s BS.
So what can you do instead?
My garage is 3 yrs old, and was dry walled and taped. I didn't know about the mudding levels, and painted the garage to make it look nicer. No issues so far on tape peeling, so I'm hopeful I won't have problems down the road. Thanks for the information, though. I learned something new. The township assessor only measured the outside of the house and garage for the tax assessment.
Garage in my condo was level 1 when I purchased. When I had my kitchen done and the texture guys were there, I had them texture the garage also. They only charged a few hundred additional and I painted and added the base trim once they were done.
I would have probably done the texture myself if they weren’t already there, but I figured this was worth it.
My house, built in 1992 in south metro Atlanta has the same finish as the rest of the house, stippled ceiling too !!!! I could have used it as a living space the day I moved in.
I had the builder put in 4 more outlets in addition to the standard one at the far back, and there’s outlets for the garage door openers above, 1 for each side.
My builder did. It was a deciding factor for me buying the home that I did. It was a standard feature for my builder
Thanks for this info! So funny as I was just recently curious about this! I stumbled across your video 👏🏻👍🏻
my house was brand new, having it textured and painted was a 1600$ upgrade. of course I said yep :)
just makes me feel good, pulling into my beautiful garage, to my wonderful house.
and when you open the door, the world can see in your house there. much better.
The builder of many of the homes in our neighborhood had finished garages. Mine had paneling and rough cut cedar as trim around the windows and doors. It doesn’t need maintenance and I have been in the home 34 years.
Here in Colorado, my parents home I grew up built in the 70's was just studs. House they had built in the late 90's was part studs part level 1 dry wall. Then my new house (4 years ago) entire neighborhood is fully dry walled (and textured). Most of the new homes around here when we looked had complete garages. So I've looked at not just cost but decades and common methods. Of course in in Denver metro area, any new home they are trying to squeeze every penny out, so could be why becoming more common, they can charge more.
My 2 new construction homes in TN and 2 new construction homes in FL all had finished and painted garage walls. One home even had nice floor paint
This topic intrigued me because every house I’ve lived in always had a completely finished garage. To me, that was expected and normal. Not just paint on smooth drywall but with texture and all just like the insides of the homes. Last two homes were both DR Horton in FL and they were finished exactly like the inside of the house. I’m spoiled I guess.
Here in FL the builders that I've dealt with has finished the garage - which includes paint and texture. This was standard when I built my first house in 2004 and again in 2014.
My house came with both garages level 3 drywall, painted, and with full trim and door casings.
My house was built in 2008. The garage (walls and ceiling) was properly drywalled, finished, and textured, but not painted. The nice thing about that was it was easy to paint. It was a national homebuilder in the upscale market but not a luxury or estate builder. We did pay for an upgrade to have the garage insulated. I wonder if that played a role in the finish?
My current garage is on the basement level, so it has roughly 4 foot foundations walls, then drywall from the foundation up. It was such a cold sink during our first winter (basement temps usually around 46-50 degrees and garage a few degrees cooler) that I insulated the foundation with 2" foam board. My wife didn't like the look of the radiant side and asked me to spend the extra cost on drywall. So a few weeks to get 1x3 strapping affixed to the walls over the foamboard, install the drywall, and paint, and my garage is a level 3 finish and usually maintains about 10 degrees more heat in the winter than it did last winter. Working on doing the same foamboard installation to the basement this winter, though I only plan to drywall just under half of the walls to make a movie room.
in heber city utah, i had a townhouse with a garage and next to it a laundry room/ tv room and it was not finished with the studs and rafters exposed. the garage had sheetrock. i did add sheetrock to the laundry room. the realtor only mentioned that since the ceiling was not finished professionally, could not count as a finished room.
For my future garage (i'm looking for a fixer upper home right now)
I would do Rockwool Insulation, plywood halfway up the walls, then drywall the rest of the way up and over the ceiling, also insulated, then LED light panels, as many as I can afford so I can really light up the garage, and also 220 outlet for my welder...And perhaps even a strip of lights down by the floor to light up down there...ooh and cabinets..Perhaps even a built in tool box, could probably save money by building my own!!!
I'd also like some sort of exhaust fan...don't need garage fumes lingering in the garage or inside the home.
I bought my new house almost 3 years ago and it was a level 1 garage. I never painted it so it was much easier to find the studs for when I built shelves or hanging things.
I'm in a townhouse, and my garage was only partially level 1 drywall finished -- Basically they put up the drywall on the back wall which was shared with my unit, and one of the side walls shared with my neighbor's garage, and they left the other side wall and the what there was of walls on the door wall in just studs and siding on the outside. They also put up a level 1 ceiling.
I put a coat of primer and 2 coats of white semi-gloss paint on the walls and ceiling in the garage. I utilize my garage as a woodshop and workspace. I added new electrical boxes before painting. I also installed foam board insulation in the garage door.
My first home had a partially drywalled garage. Interior sides only. My neighbor, who did drywall as a former career, helped me insulate and drywall the exterior portions. After that, I simply painted the interior surfaces with the cheapest, gloss white paint on sale at the depot. What a HUGE difference. The single light bulb in the ceiling easily illuminated the interior.
The Colorado county assessor couldn't care less because i wasnt turning it into living space. During the nine years of living there, it showed no signs of peeling.
I live in Texas and I turned a church into a house/workshop. I talked to the appraisal district before making an offer for this specific reason. I removed the flooring, the acoustic tile ceiling, and air conditioning ducts to convert the sanctuary into a garage/workshop and installed a big garage door. The appraisal district had to inspect/measure the garage afterward, but they updated my house to list the square footage as unfinished.
I bought a new house from a custom builder in 2020 in the Columbus, OH area. He insulates (for a charge) but drywalls and finishes level 2-3 and paints as a standard feature.
Garages sound like bonus money in the pockets for builders. But also a boon for small contractors to finish to the homebuyers liking.
Firecode deals with the parts of the house that contact the garage. So often you will see drywall against the house. But then the garage walls against outside can be just studs.
Its firecode but also code for smoke intrusion from combustion gas and offgas fumes.
Mine looked like that but with a primer coating. I noticed that the tape on the joints was peeling off a couple of years ago. About a month ago I returned home from work and opened the garage door to park my truck in there as usual and noticed a huge mess. While I was at work two sections of drywall had fallen where my truck is usually parked. After years of parking a truck that is wet from rain or snow and having the warm moist air rise up to the ceiling, the drywall was absorbing that moisture and the glue and nails could no longer support the drywall and it came down. I suggest inspecting yours in case this is happening to you. Now I need to replace sections and paint the entire garage to seal the drywall.
Ours is full insulated, drywall and paint. Roof is insulated with hard foam. Concrete floor has an epoxy coat to help control moisture effervescence. The garage is now a nice workshop space even on hot days.
I must have been recommended this vid because of recent searches I have been doing about this topic. I wanted to know if I needed permits to insulate my garage. I knew I could drywall, but I did not know it insulation was considered "creating living space". I called the local city building code folks and asked them. They said it was not considered living space, but if I wanted to add a minisplit I needed a permit for this This is basically how tax assessment works, they calculate your taxes partially based on how many square feet of living space you have. If you turn your garage into taxable living space it actually hurts your property value, unless you also add another garage in a way that is aethetically appealing. This is why it is ALWAYS smarter to finish your garage like a garage. In other words, keep your garage door, do nice epoxy flooring that you can park on. A pimped out garage is one of the few home improvements where you can do a lot of the work yourself and add bank to your house value because it doesn't get assessed as added value, yet it makes your house much more livable and functional.
This is interesting. I'm in the Charlotte NC area and our builder, which is front Atlanta, offered painting our garage as a $1k option when we built in 2021. Now at that price they got a big NO from us, and I painted it myself. But it was actually pretty well prepped for paint. They treated it like the interior.
Ours was new construction level 1. I had a drywaller finish the mudding, cause I hate doing that. They didn't use tapered drywall so getting the tape feathered was tougher. I painted it myself though.