Life inside concrete walls.

[-Stew-]

No, I'm not going to jail! But I am buying a house with a concrete block garage. All my garages before have been wood framed. And when I needed to hang something, I just ran a screw into the stud, and hung it up. Any one have any advice on decent options for a solution to this with block walls?

Also, any good suggestions on what color to paint the inside?

 

[Old Man Roger]

Tapcon.

 

[Shiftless]

1/4 inch Pegboard or slat wall might work for you

 

[Bucko]

Tapcons are your new best friend just make sure the hole is drilled deep enough and don't reuse a tapcon or the hole (unless you use a bigger hole and tapcon).
4x8 sheets of pegboard is cheap and can be easily framed with 2x2 and attached with tapcons.
Simple 2x4's put up with tapcons then hang your stuff from the 2x4's.
Cabinets can also be attached with tapcons.
You see the running theme with tapcons!

 

[bluedog225]

Tapcons not needed. Drill a 1/4 hole for a 1/4 tapcon (or any screw) and put some cedar or wire in the hole to firm it up. Holds plenty and is removable.

 

[RivennHewn]

Hollow, or filled is the real question.

How much weight your hanging is the other.

 

[Metal-Marc]

Paint the walls a dark color.

 

[Mainiac Mat]

Block walls are actually pretty soft and with a good hammer drill and bit you'll find drilling the holes very quick and easy (if not a wee bit messy). As has been said, Tapcons are your new best friend, just make sure you use the correct size hammer drill bit with them, as there is little margin for error on the hole diameter.

I'd consider putting up a long row of French cleats with Tapcons (counter bore and pre-drill a clearance hole in the cleat stock) and then hanging cabs, hook boards, etc... on the cleats.



But before you do anything, if the block wall is not already painted on the interior, I'd hit it with a good thick coat of masonry paint.



This will give you better reflected light and keep the moisture down. Moisture may be your biggest challenge if the block is not well sealed (inside and out). As for color, they say yellow is the "educational color" .... that is to say, teacher types prefer it as it gives "happy upbeat vibes".

 

[Renegade1LI]

I would think about furring out the walls to insulate, will make the building much more comfortable if you plan to heat or cool. Now you have lots of choices how to finish off the walls, I like wood or sheet rock & with the furring you can mount & hang like in a wood framed building. Always nice to go with a color that will help brighten the shop & not look to dirty, I like some lighter grays, white is hard to keep looking good.

 

[Firebrick43]

Get a small ads rotary hammer like a Bosch bulldog. Much faster than a hammer drill

 

[bluedog225]

+100 on the bulldog. It walks through my 6000 psi concrete walls.

 

[Garcky]

I had a garage like that for a while. On the side walls, I attached full-length horizontal 2x4s at 6' above the floor and 36" above the floor (workbench height). Anchors and counterbored holes for the attachment bolts. I used those to attach stuff to the walls, as needed.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Epoxy in the hole if it will take a lot of abuse.

 

[Jackfre]

Is is raw block or has it been coated? I was surprised at the difference in my basement shop when I painted the walls with the UGH masonry paint. Much brighter and it seemed to reduce the humidity level some

 

[nadogail]

Tapcon is the general consensus for fasteners, use them liberaly (don't be stingy with them). I have become partial to French Cleats. A good coat of Masonry Paint is recommended, UGL seems to be the brand of choice. I like a paint color called Whisper White for a top coat.

 

[-Stew-]

Thanks for the info! In regards to the paint, any reason not to just paint he inside with Kilz Primer? It's a bit cheaper than the Masonry and strucco paint, costs about half the price of the Behr. I'm not looking for fancy or super nice, just looking to brighten the place up and parts of the walls are painted white. I'm going to buy an airless sprayer for the job; and to do the outside of the garage and the house.

Firring the walls out, insulating and drywalling doesn't interest me. I'm in Arizona, I don't plan on doing any HVAC. Maybe a woodstove, as I'm at elevation and apparently it gets fairly cold in the winter. The garage has 14 foot walls and open rafters, I do plan on closing in the ceiling to keep heat in and for aesthetics.

I like the tapcons as a quick and easy solution for hanging stuff on the walls! The more I think about it, I'm hoping to limit hanging things to decor. The property has a 12x12 pump house and a 10x8 metal garden shed as well as the garage. This give me plenty of places to stuff picks and shovels, and put limited use, long term storage stuff out of the way.

 

[f121]

Do you have Rawlplug Uno’s over there?

Attaching stuff to concrete block is very typical in Europe, where most houses are built from block. Drill a hole, tap in a plastic plug, screw something to it. If it needs to be really really strong you can use resin anchor or expanding steel wall plugs, but a 7mm Uno holds most things

 

[DTE]

I can tell you from experience Kilz will stay on the walls better than paint, even masonry paint. Here is a shot of my block shop at home. The peg board at the top is fastened with Tap Cons, The shelves are hung with butterfly type anchors and Tap Cons. The wall are light gray which is a five gallon bucket of latex Kilz that Lowes tinted to my spec.
Mine is raw block on the outside and the humidity is never over 60%. The building is about 5 years old maybe a little more.

 

[yeldogt]

Paint prep depends on the condition of the walls --- if painted or not and how clean. as to paint almost any will do --- masonary paint is for moisture mostly not for adheasion.

I have not had gread luck with tapcons in old school cinder block. Attachmnet depends on weight and if hollow

 

[Mirage2521]

My very first post here but I have lived my entire life in block houses. Tapcons are great but for 90% of lightweight hanging they are serious overkill. I just buy plastic anchors, tap them in a hole and zip in a screw.

Tapcons for televisions. Plastic anchors for a 3 pound neon light fixture. IMHO

 

[Old Man Roger]

My very first post here but I have lived my entire life in block houses. Tapcons are great but for 90% of lightweight hanging they are serious overkill. I just buy plastic anchors, tap them in a hole and zip in a screw.

Tapcons for televisions. Plastic anchors for a 3 pound neon light fixture. IMHO

Never even considered that. Still gotta drill a hole in concrete, but then you can screw and unscrew.
This is why I love this site..lol

 

[The Cobbler]

did not read all posts, but tapcons for me, for the win,

 

[mogandave]

My very first post here but I have lived my entire life in block houses. Tapcons are great but for 90% of lightweight hanging they are serious overkill. I just buy plastic anchors, tap them in a hole and zip in a screw.
to i
Tapcons for televisions. Plastic anchors for a 3 pound neon light fixture. IMHO

Yeah, I've been in brick for about 20 years once you get used to them, the plastic anchors are great. Easy to pull out and fill when your done with them as well.

You do need a decent hammer-drill though...

 

[walta]

If you are going to live in a concrete box you must own a real hammer drill and not a toy model you need a big heavy drill! If your holes are half inch or less a Jacobs chuck like a wood drill is marginal at best real tools will use SDS or SDS+ chucks and bits. I like a tool with a cord because they do not die from old age ever 7 years or so.

Something like this will make holes quickly and easily unlike something that looks like a normal cordless drill.

It is important to limit the number of holes you put in the walls and only put holes in the mortar joints. Every hole weakens the wall. One place I worked had offices with block walls people wanted a hole every few months when they got a new plaque.

https://www.grainger.com/product/BOSCH-Hammer-Drill-Corded-39RY34

Tap cons seem like a good idea but for me they fail almost as often as they succeed. If the wall is too hard and the hole is tight the screws teeth get ground off by the wall and the screw fails to bite into the wall and just spins in the hole. If the wall is softer and the hole is oversized the screw reems out the hole and the screw spins in the hole. When they do bite in you are left wondering how strong is the connection given the number of failures.

I have had good luck with the cheap plastic plugs you hammer into a hole and insert a screw for stuff under 60 pounds.

Walta

 

[-Stew-]

So I began painting today. This wall and that upper left corner is about 450 square feet. And it needs a second coat. I used Kilz 2 All purpose paint and primer. Is this what I should expect for coverage? If so, this is gonna cost a lot more than I bargained for.

If this is typical coverage, am I at any risk buying name brad primer for cheap off facebook and using it instead of the Kilz? The Kilz is $120ish for 5 gallons, or I can buy five gallons of primer or interior paint for $40-70 from a bunch of different sellers on facebook. Looks like guys taking home leftovers from jobs.


This is my first time using an airless sprayer

 

[Old Man Roger]

All I know is don’t get kills or primer on that FL250, that stuff doesn’t come off.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

+100 on the bulldog. It walks through my 6000 psi concrete walls.

Hell of a dog

 

[nadogail]

When you buy paint from an unknown source to whom will you complain if the product is defective? Paint can be damaged from improper storage.

 

[mogandave]

So I began painting today. This wall and that upper left corner is about 450 square feet. And it needs a second coat. I used Kilz 2 All purpose paint and primer. Is this what I should expect for coverage? If so, this is gonna cost a lot more than I bargained for.

If this is typical coverage, am I at any risk buying name brad primer for cheap off facebook and using it instead of the Kilz? The Kilz is $120ish for 5 gallons, or I can buy five gallons of primer or interior paint for $40-70 from a bunch of different sellers on facebook. Looks like guys taking home leftovers from jobs.


This is my first time using an airless sprayer

You might try turning it down. I only used airless once and it really seemed to burn through the paint.

Someone here likely know what the issue is.

You have no drop-cloths?

 

[bluedog225]

Properly sized holes for tapcons and they are pain to install.

Same hole with a smaller screw and any sort of thing in there to compress works great. E.g. a piece of copper wire, cedar, plastic, paper (maybe), lead, a wire nail. And, as you said, allows for easy removal. All in shear. If in tension, I’d only rely on epoxy or compression collar, and even then, only in accordance with the engineering specs.

 

[LeonardY]

When you buy paint from an unknown source to whom will you complain if the product is defective? Paint can be damaged from improper storage.

100%
I had a friend buy from someone on craigslist and the paint was watered down.

 

[-Stew-]

When you buy paint from an unknown source to whom will you complain if the product is defective? Paint can be damaged from improper storage.

In my time on this planet I've learned complaining does very little in the grand scheme of things.

In two years when half the paint falls off the walls complaining to some random dude I bought paint from off FB, whomstever is working the paint counter at the Home Depot, the local hardware store, or the AI chatbot on Amazon will all give me some variation of "Aw man, that *****" followed by a blank stare.

 

[BigGarage]

Also, any good suggestions on what color to paint the inside?

Here is my inside. Grey walls and blue floor.

 

[nadogail]

Paint color selection is mostly a matter of personal preference.

I don’t feel comfortable taking sides in any future arguments.

 

[dfiler2]

@BigGarage, that's a really nice looking space, I like the floor color, what is it?

 

[CraigStu]

For Tapcons I would buy the Tapcon drill bit and try w/ a standard drill first. I say that because my experience is that block is pretty soft stuff. May not work but if it doesn't all you lose is a little time. I needed to ad a 2x4 to the concrete foundations in our house. So I tried as I say above but no go. I bought a corded hammer drill for $100 and it works great.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/DEWALT-1-2-in-Corded-Hammer-Drill/50314841

 

[BigGarage]

@BigGarage, that's a really nice looking space, I like the floor color, what is it?

I just checked a partial can that I have but there's paint on the label and I cannot read the color. I had the base tinted blue at HD when I painted the floor. Sorry.

Dennis

 

[dfiler2]

Actually I was interested in knowing the type of paint, Thanks!

 

[-Stew-]

$37 for a 5 gallon pail.

Glidden Maintenance 5 gal. White Flat Interior and Exterior Paint 920 05 - The Home Depot

Enjoy the GLIDDEN 5-Gallon Flat Interior and Exterior Paint 920 05, covers up to 1,750 sq. ft. mildew-resistant paint is recommended for indoor and outdoor application at The Home Depot

www.homedepot.com

 

[mogandave]

Looks good!