A Bare, Unfinished Garage: What Causes It and What Actually Fixes It

A bare, unfinished garage is usually not damage. Most of the time it is simply how the house was handed over: bare studs on the exterior walls, sometimes a boarded ceiling, sometimes nothing at all. What fixes it is boarding, taping and texturing the walls and ceiling with the right board in the right places. The garage drywall cost starts from $1,200 per garage here, and the first job is working out which kind of "bare" you have.

Why do so many garages here have bare studs?

Plenty of homes in this area were handed over with the garage studs open, or with the ceiling boarded and the walls left open. In the usual builder arrangement, the parts that have to be finished for fire separation are done, and the rest is left as a working space. A bare garage is not a sign that the house was built badly.

The catch is that the finished parts matter more than the bare ones. The wall between the garage and the house, and the ceiling under living space, are fire separation assemblies. Those need to be done properly. The exterior walls and open sections are the part you are free to choose about.

What are you actually looking at?

Walk the garage with a flashlight and sort it into one of these:

Photos of each wall and the ceiling are enough for us to identify this over text, which saves you the two-hour appointment window.

How do I check the wall between the garage and the house?

This is the one worth looking at closely, because it is the wall inspectors and buyers care about. Generally it should be 5/8" type X board with finished joints. Look for:

• Board thickness. Check a cut edge or a switch plate opening. Half-inch board where fire-rated board is called for is a problem.
• Gaps and holes. Open penetrations for wires, pipes or old fixtures breach the separation.
• Unfinished joints. Board screwed up with no tape or compound is not a finished separation.
• The ceiling under living space. If there is a bedroom or living area above the garage, the ceiling counts too.

We are not inspectors and requirements depend on your house and your local building department, so use this as a first look, not a ruling. If you are unsure, ask your building department or a home inspector what applies to your house. Getting it wrong tends to surface at resale, on an inspection report, at the worst possible moment.

What causes a garage to feel hot, dusty and unusable?

Bare studs and insulation or sheathing exposed to the garage cause most of the complaints:

• Dust. Open framing and cavities shed dust, and an unsealed garage lets it travel.
• Heat. Hot sun on the exterior walls radiates straight into the space. Finished walls slow that down.
• No mounting surface. Shelving, cabinets and hooks need solid backing, and board gives you something to fasten to.
• A worse inspection. Open or unfinished work stands out to buyers.

None of this is mysterious. Finishing it is one of the cheapest things you can do to make a garage usable: it cuts the dust, it stops the heat radiating straight through, and it gives you something to mount shelving to.

What about an enclosed lanai?

Lanais are a different diagnosis. An enclosed lanai sits in a high-humidity wall assembly, so standard board on an exterior-facing wall is asking for trouble. If you are looking at an old enclosure with stained or soft board, or board that never went up, the question is what is happening in the wall, not just what it looks like. We use moisture-resistant board where it belongs, and we will say where we think a vapor problem is being built in rather than solved. A lanai with an active moisture problem should be fixed at the source before anyone boards over it.

What does fixing it involve?

For a typical single garage:

1. Check and, where needed, correct the framing and penetrations.
2. Hang board: type X on the house wall and any ceiling under living space, appropriate board elsewhere.
3. Tape and finish the joints, which means multiple coats and drying time.
4. Texture to match the house if the garage adjoins finished space, or leave it clean and simple if it is purely a garage.
5. Clean up. We run plastic, zip walls and a HEPA vac so the dust stays in the garage.

Most single garages finish in two to three days including drying time. Price varies with size, what is already boarded and the finish; the full breakdown is in our article on what garage and lanai drywall costs in central Florida.

When should you not hire anyone?

If the garage is a workshop you plan to gut or you are selling it as is and nobody will care, leave it. If your only complaint is a few holes or damaged patches, that is repair work, and the guide to cracked and damaged drywall will help you decide. And if you suspect a roof leak or plumbing leak over a ceiling, fix it first.

Before we come out, clear the walls. How to prepare your home for garage and lanai drywall tells you what to move. If you are ready for a price, text us photos of each wall and the ceiling at (352) 561-3616 and we will quote for free. The garage and lanai drywall page has the rest of the details.