Anyone Using an Unfinished Garage?

[Bull]

After my Geobarn was built, funds sort of ran dry to finish off the inside, especially after my wife and I decided to renovate the kitchen. Now, 1.5 years later, the inside is still not insulated and the interior finish boards are not up. So, I do not feel like I can fully move in/organize, put up my pegboard etc. It gets frustrating. Plus, as we renovate rooms in the house we have to use the upstairs of the barn as storage for all the things from those rooms that have to be removed prior to the gutting/drywalling stage.

Anyone else in this boat?

 

[Tom2]

Yup. Except my garage isn't new. Older, in desperate need of renovating. Just new doors for the moment. The rest of the house eats our money.

I absolutely hate working in that disgusting space. If its a nice day, I always work outside..but havent had one of those in months.

I'm renovating it this year no matter what (unless money turns super super tight).

 

[Harley Monster]

No...Not yet...but I intend to be, intentionally.

I have been designing my dream garage for a while and have been a very active reader of this forum. I am going to follow the most common advice given on this forum...build the largest garage you can afford and fit on your property.

Fitting on the property is not a problem because I have 5 rural acres, so the challenge is to build the biggest garage I can afford, then I am going to fit out sometime in the future. I live in Southern California, so weather and insulaton are not a big factor.

I would love for my garage to be a show piece and hopefully it will be someday, but I have come to realize that my projects really don't care too much about wallboard and paint. I would rather build than "buy and polish." I would rather have a large place to work and store things than to have a small show place, it will not be fancy but I hope not to compromise on the size.

Best of luck to you! Your time will come, I just finished my home remodel, my garage is next.

Harley Monster

 

[jjkrjh]

I'm in the same boat. The garage was built three years ago. "Things" have been building up on the floor, because the walls need to be finished. The insulation has been put up on the walls but nothing on the ceiling yet.
It bothers me, when I try to get something done with the garage, but find something else needs to be finished first. So it is held off a little longer. With all the other projects going on there isn't much time or energy. Now the floor is cracked and dropping, the back fill must not have been compacted enough. ( at least it hasn't been coated yet)


Hopefully the walls will be finished when the weather breaks. Then the cabinets, and everything else can be put up and get it off the floor. The ceiling will be after that.

To answer your question, yes it is being used. Sectioned off a small area so that it could be heated. Floor is getting oil spots on it everywhere, and tripping over everything.

 

[autoist]

My garage will probably never finished!

 

[Lou's Garage]

After decades of having unfinished interiors in most of my New York garages (Including my auto repair shop) I surely enjoy the luxury of walls in my garage. Of course, I no longer need the insulation as much! I'm finishing the interior of my lower garage too, but since it's already in use, it's a lot of double work. If you have the garage up, you can always finish the interior later as you use it for what it was intended. Sure it's more work that way but once the shell is up you still have a nice workspace.

Lou

 

[Foul]

Yup. I bought the house and garage with the garage unfinished. Because this was my first garage, I immediately filled it with projects instead of getting the garage in order first. That was rather counterproductive, because I feel I can't get much done on the projects unless the garage is in order. And getting the garage in order means working around the unfinished projects.

At least the projects can all roll out of the way now.

dan

 

[e-tek]

Funny how so many people have so much in common! I'm close but not that bad - I feel for you man!!! I budgeted pretty close, as per time and money, but I ran a touch short on time mostly, so the walls still aren't painted. They probably never will be now - as I've covered them with all my "decor" items, shelves etc -maybe one day. Mrs. E-tek knew she'd get the kitchen done next - and it'll be double the budget - a $60K/ 5 month outlay this spring...

 

[Gustav_t]

If you can find a little money finish the end wall. This way you´ll be able to get some stuff of the ground. Thats what im plannning to do. I´m refusing to have my cars at different adresses one more winter.

G.

 

[Bull]

If you can find a little money finish the end wall. This way you´ll be able to get some stuff of the ground. Thats what im plannning to do. I´m refusing to have my cars at different adresses one more winter.
G.

We think alike. I bought enough insulation to do one gable wall and the portion of the eave wall behind the staircase. Then I can buy some siding for those walls and get some stuff off the ground, get some tools setup etc.

e-tek, $60k for a kitchen? Holy bejeesus, that will be a showpiece. We did ours for maybe $10-15k, and that is a rough estimate. Labor was free, and we got good deals on cabinets and granite tops, which helped a lot.

 

[mmg440]

Yes, Unfinished.. Hope to get started on it's inside some day..

no insulation or air lines and not yet enogh lighting let alone any think else

 

[JOHNMAN]

My new to me pole barn came with the house when I bought it in November.

The shop area is currently unfinished, but I'm working hard to get it done. Most of my walls are framed in, I have the framed-in walls wired and am working on insulation. I will start to drywall them in a week or so.

After drywall, I will be doing my base cabinets (actually shelves with a work top). Then the upper shelves. One side wall and the back wall should give me enough storage to put most of the "stuff" in or on. Once organized, I can focus on the remaining walls.

Unfortunately "projects" seem to sometimes get in the way of progress.

I know that I can never quit working on the garage. As soon as I stop, it will be that way for many years (if not forever). By summer, I should have it in a workable state. With any luck, my last load of stored stuff should be in my shop come June (it is currently stored several hours away).

 

[Mike of the North]

When I built my garage my wife made me insulate, drywall, and paint it before putting anything in it so it would not look half finished. Man I love that woman.
Of course being finished does not mean it is clean.

 

[fourfeathers]

Eh, drywall just takes up storage space, for us packrats. I need the rafters for camping gear and lumber.

 

[Tarheelgarage]

I worked in my semi-unfinished 30X30 shop for about 10 years. The walls and ceiling were insulated and covered (sheetrock ceiling and OSB) walls during those 10 years, but were not painted. I did not install cabinets because of this and the garage tended to become cluttered.
This past May, I decided I had had enough and painted the walls and ceiling and did a major cleaning up organization.

I know what you are going through; it causes one to not be inclined to take on some projects due to the lack of organization and clutter.

 

[tim096]

I dont feel so bad it took me 2 years to finish the inside of my garage. Thank god it is done.

 

[sharkytm]

I finished mine basically as soon as I moved in. I had worked in an unfinished for years, and was sick of the lack of light, the spiderwebs, and the mess. I've got one wall to go, the only reason it isn't finished is that I had to run electricity and rip a workbench off the wall. Its nailed in, and I've needed it up until now.

 

[35mastr]

Mine is an old garage that is not finished either.Needs insulating,Drywall,air lines,New window ,New side door and run some more power boxes.

But its been that way for 8 years now and I dont knoew if I will ever get to it.Money is just too tight at the moment.

 

[e-tek]

e-tek, $60k for a kitchen? Holy bejeesus, that will be a showpiece. We did ours for maybe $10-15k, and that is a rough estimate. Labor was free, and we got good deals on cabinets and granite tops, which helped a lot.

60K is my "I know it'll balloon out of control and cost me that much" estimate!! We're moving a few walls, turning stairs around, adding windows, an island, blah blah blah.....funny - if it where up to me (men) the house it fine as it is!! So long as I have my shop! But the kitchen is the wife's "shop" I guess....and since she cooks for the family....it should be twice as nice as the shop where I just work on cars for me....is that the logic of love???

 

[tim096]

My wife made me do the kitchen first. As she put it " no kitchen no garage period" I need to eat and she is a great cook. Kitchen took 3 weeks to do, garage going on 2 1/2 years still need to run airlines and epoxie the floor (spring)

 

[e-tek]

My wife made me do the kitchen first. As she put it " no kitchen no garage period" I need to eat and she is a great cook. Kitchen took 3 weeks to do, garage going on 2 1/2 years still need to run airlines and epoxie the floor (spring)

ah tole my lil' lady...yous best be gittin in the house while us men-folk put up this here shed. And if yer real good, maybe we'll git you a proper kitchen - with a wash-basin an' runnin' water an' ever-thing!

 

[autoist]

ah tole my lil' lady...yous best be gittin in the house while us men-folk put up this here shed. And if yer real good, maybe we'll git you a proper kitchen - with a wash-basin an' runnin' water an' ever-thing!

Yeah, right! hehehehe...& she probably told you that your 'shed' better be ready before winter 'cause that's where you were gonna be sleeping!

 

[Uncle Buck]

Actually, mine is more semi finished. I have walls insulated and covered. I have nothing finished above though, open joists, which makes it a ***** to heat in the winter, everything must go to the top and then down to the floor.

 

[JackOfAllTradesRuss]

Yes, using my new,almost one year old garage with a unfinished interior. Only improvement was to add one 20 amp circuit for basic electricty for now. Plan to add more creature features as I get the cash $$$$$$$.
RUSS

Check out my garage build http://s547.photobucket.com/albums/hh465/JackOfAllTradesRuss/

 

[fourfeathers]

Actually, mine is more semi finished. I have walls insulated and covered. I have nothing finished above though, open joists, which makes it a ***** to heat in the winter, everything must go to the top and then down to the floor.

What I did this winter to mine, since it is open also, is to put a floor fan facing up. I have a digital thermometer in there, and while I had 2 heaters on for a good bit, the big increase was when I turned the fan on to reclaim that rafter air.

 

[wrigh003]

I moved into an pretty-much unfinished house (foreclosure that was somewhat rehabbed by Fannie Mae to bare-minimum for livability) three years ago- ever since, that's been the focus for us. It's got a nice pole-barn type attached carport at the end that I have been on the cusp of enclosing as a garage for, oh, three years now. Other projects keep cropping up.

I guess what I am saying is I can relate. We had to take out a loan to replace the roof/gutters on the place, and I think that's the last time I am going to do that. From here on out, upgrades are going to be pay as we go, so it'll be a while before I build out the carport and even longer before I get my detached shed/building/shop. It'll all take longer, but with the housing market being what it is, I think we're here for a while, and I would rather do it that way than be big in hock for building materials or paying somebody else to do stuff.

 

[JMURiz]

I've used mine for 2 years as an unfinished before I got/made time to finish the interior.

Now I am doing the wiring/insulation and drywall.

I'd suggest someone get it fully finished before filling it with vehicles etc...just makes for 2 hours a weekend moving stuff around to get to where you need to do work.

 

[Sleeper]

Unfinished Garage?

Wow you guys are lucky. I'm new here but what I'm working in is more of a barn than a garage. I would kill for what you guys are calling unfinished space. Still you have given me lots of good ideas for what it will look like... one day.

 

[Scotto]

This past weekend I finally decided to finish off my garage. I've been putting off too many things, like hanging more shelves, running air lines, etc, so I figured I'd just do it now while I have them time.
I only have a 1 car garage, so it's on a MUCH smaller scale then most of you guys.
Here's where I got last night. The insulation helps a TON. My little heater is only running about a third the time and it's much more comfortable.

 

[bluesman2a]

I had my contractor leave me with a bare, unfinished interior shell, much like many here. I knew my time, schedule, and skills weren't up to the whole project, so I paid them to get me dried/sealed up and leave. Then I did what I could when I could.

It took me a couple of months to get the insulation in and cover it all with OSB sheathing. It doesn't often get too cold here in georgia but I've noticed that the shop is a LOT quieter with insulated walls. I also noticed that paint makes a HUGE difference in lighting, I wouldn't go back to unfinished now for anything.

As for organization, I have to say I'm in the same boat as a lot of people here. I haven't been able to get the galvalume bottom section installed yet and it's hard to feel "settled" knowing it's all gotta get pulled back out again. Fortunately just about everything I have is on casters (for a reason), so it's not TOO bad.

 

[Harley Monster]

This continues to be an interesting thread. I am in the planning stage of my dream garage and my conclusion from reading this forum for several months is that I would rather have a large "unfinished" garage than a smaller one all dressed up.

I will put my currently available money in building the largest footprint I can then "dress it up" at a later date.

As I said in Post #3 of this thread: "I would rather have a large place to work and store things than to have a small show place, it will not be fancy but I hope not to compromise on the size."

 

[Tman]

I got pissed off and started more finish work in my shop. Cabinets hung, more organization etc...........it is going to **** when I rock the ceiling and coat the floor, I have a lot of tools and benches.

 

[Foul]

Fortunately just about everything I have is on casters (for a reason), so it's not TOO bad.

It took me about a year to realize that putting everything on casters was a brilliant idea, especially if I'm going to be finishing the garage at some point. I even built a couple small worktables and put them on casters.

dan

 

[mikeyr]

I wanted to insulate and drywall my new garage but finances did not allow it so I am now moved into my garage and will insulate and rock this summer. BUT I have already started hanging things from the trusses/rafters and I find that quite appealing for "extra" space. Since I heat in the winter and there are vents in the roof and side walls, I have to do something.

My wife suggested just insulating, no drywall, that way I could still use the rafters to hang things from, yes we both agreed it would be ugly but I am more worried about fiberglass dust coming down all the time, how bad is that ?

Other options ?

 

[Mike83]

When I built my garage my wife made me insulate, drywall, and paint it before putting anything in it so it would not look half finished. Man I love that woman.
Of course being finished does not mean it is clean.

That's a big giraffe in the photo