Garage cement wall ideas?

[mb23]

So my garage is under way and for the most part the first floor is pretty much all or 3/4 under grade leaving the concrete slab all around the inside of my garage.

Looking for options instead of sheetrock and framing to save that space as we were limited to 22 ft wide on the build due to property lines.

Does anyone have any ideas on what finishing is I can chose or any ways to make it look finished and not like concrete slab?

 

[shocktrp]

Personally I would leave it bare (or paint it), but I did see a basement once where the guy threw wads of spackle directly onto the cement & then stuck the 1/4" sheetrock directly to that.
Or instead of framing it out with 2x4's you could just attach 1" strips to the concrete & screw your sheetrock into that.

 

[mb23]

Personally I would leave it bare (or paint it), but I did see a basement once where the guy threw wads of spackle directly onto the cement & then stuck the 1/4" sheetrock directly to that.
Or instead of framing it out with 2x4's you could just attach 1" strips to the concrete & screw your sheetrock into that.

I was thibking of going that route, 1" strips an sheet rocking on top. But do I need to wait a certain amount of time to let the concrete cure after it's been poured?

 

[mustanginky]

I've thought about painting mine as well, considering the finish crew left messed of sparkling and caulking all over it. Mine is the same way yours is. And it looks terrible.

 

[Flange]

Assuming that your concrete walls have been tanked then you have a few options.

If the concrete has been well done then either leave it bare or paint it.

You could go with the 1 inch strips and sheet rock as mentioned by others

You could bond sheet rock directly to the concrete using wall board adhesive. This method is used all of the time in the UK for bonding sheet rock to brickwork or blockwork.

You could put a coat of cement render on it and then a coat of finishing plaster on it. This would look like finished sheet rock but would be much more solid.

You could tile it.

One other option if you need to insulate as well would be to use wall board adhesive to bond phenolic foam backed sheet rock to the walls

There are probably a few other options but these are the first ones that come to mind.

 

[cgv69]

My basement is poured concrete and one corner of the basement is a walled off storage room. I also didn't want to frame in the concrete walls but wanted the room brighter so what I did was...

Knocked down the high spots from the pour with an angle grinder then mixed some drywall compound together with some white paint (something like a 30-40% mud\60-70% paint) and then used the largest nap roller brush I could find and coated the walls with that.

The mud fills fills in most of the smaller holes and imperfections and the paint gives it all a nice even coat coating. It looks pretty good IMO and has lasted just fine. Granted a lot of it is now covered with shelf units but I have had people down there who didn't realize they were just painted concrete walls until I pointed it out to them.

 

[hoho98925]

Do this: buy some bags of Rapid Fix brand, Wonder mixx. Fill all bigger holes tie holes etc. grind down any bumps and panel lines. Mix up the wonder fixx, smooth it over entire wall. Let dry then sand it smooth. You will wave a perfectly smooth wall ready for whatever finish your want. This product is made for fixing concrete walls. Super easy to use and it's easily sanded.

 

[steel 35]

I would put Red Head drop in anchors every 2' ? then put strips, french cleats, cabinets ect , if you don't want anything that works too, you can take the bolts out; but you don't have a bunch of unusable holes in the walls.

 

[mb23]

Assuming that your concrete walls have been tanked then you have a few options.

If the concrete has been well done then either leave it bare or paint it.

You could go with the 1 inch strips and sheet rock as mentioned by others

You could bond sheet rock directly to the concrete using wall board adhesive. This method is used all of the time in the UK for bonding sheet rock to brickwork or blockwork.

You could put a coat of cement render on it and then a coat of finishing plaster on it. This would look like finished sheet rock but would be much more solid.

You could tile it.

One other option if you need to insulate as well would be to use wall board adhesive to bond phenolic foam backed sheet rock to the walls

There are probably a few other options but these are the first ones that come to mind.

Also thought of the adhesive and sheetrock straight on top, mu other issue is how to get outlets and light switches with out framing. I assume I could cut the outlet boxes into the cement recessed.

 

[wssix99]

Check out the Concrete Underground thread for some great ideas. You can cast the electrical in to the wall but you don't want drywall in direct contact because it will wick water out of the concrete.

You might look at polishing/grinding the concrete and then sealing it. That would look finished and you might even be able to get decorative with the aggregate you'd expose.