How Much Does It Cost to Get My Garage Drywalled?
Updated: Mar 27
How much does it cost to get my garage drywalled?
Well your in luck Alpha Drywall can help you out here. But first there are a couple of things you should know as a home owner or anyone really with garage......ya thats probably everyone thats reading this. Ill outline the points and then go into a bit of depth about each one to get you and idea of how much work goes into getting your garage drywall, taped and/or textured.
Getting ready for drywall
Is your framing in your garage ready or capable of holding drywall sheets?
Will you be insulating the walls for temperature and sound?
Do you want mold resistant drywall or regular drywall?
What type of finish do you want, Smooth or textured?
Does the drywall and mudding go before or after the Epoxy floors?
Here are the basic questions you need to ask yourself before you call your local drywall repair service. We can always help you decide what options to go with if you ever need any help. If you made it this far......good. Glad your still with us and you seem to really want get your garage done. Well wait no further I will now go into each of the numbered Items above.
Is your Framing in your garage ready for drywall?
Step number one. Take a second to look at the framing in your garage. look at the walls and the ceilings. The walls are usually framed with the correct spacing of studs to hold drywall, the ceilings are the areas where its usually hit or miss when it comes to framing. Do you have studs running accross your ceiling? you might have a couple but in order for the ceilings to be able to hold drywall you need to see if you have enough studs spaced 16 or 24 inches apart from eachother. If there arent enough studs they must be added when contacting your preferable drywall contractor. DO NOT let them hang drywall on a ceiling without enough studs to support the weight. Your ceiling will always have the chance of falling if not framed correctly. Adding framing members to your ceiling will normally increase the cost to get your garage drywalled and finished. This is one of the reason drywall isn't so cut and dry. Any reputable drywall contractor will need to walk the job first and check what your garage specifically needs to get it ready to begin drywalling.
Will you be insulating the walls for temperature and sound?
Step number two. Now that you have the framing taken care of you need to ask yourself if you want your walls and ceilings in your garage insulated for temperature and sound. Typically R-13 and R-19 are best for sound proofing, so if your trying to keep your neighbors happy when your watching a game or anything in your finished garage, those 2 are going to be your best friend. If your going for a temperature regulation you want to go with R-19 to R-23. Those are usually used in outside (perimeter) walls. Those are what keep the energy bills bearable. There is always the king of insualtion (in my opinion) that is, Mineral wool. This stuff will keep sound down to a minimun and temperature regulated better than those mentioned above. Of course its alot more expensive then the ones mentioned above but if your going for the best, that is what we reccommend. Its used in Hospitals for soundproofing gaps above the T-bar Ceilings where the steel framing meets the bottom of the deck of the floor above. Its also used for fire-proofing. (In hospitals its usually sprayed with a sound barrier spray for sound proofing and a fire proofing spray for fire rated walls). Then you need to consider what thickness drywall you want to use, 5/8" drywall is typcially used for sound walls. So to end number two, you want to decide what type of insualtion you want, and the drywall thickness you want, if you do want any that is.
Do you want mold resistant or regular drywall?
Step number three. We are getting close to the end of this. Bear with me here. This one is simple and short. The question is do you want mold resistant drywall or regular drywall? Regular drywall is typically used in the garages we have done but everyone once in a while we get a client that wants mold resistant drywall. To keep it simple, I can explain it like this. Do you wash your car in your garage, spray your walls in your garage with water or wash your garage floor out often? If you said to these then I would reccommend you get Mold resistant drywall (The green and purple drywall). If you said no to those above, then go with regular drywall. Remember using mold resitant drywall will increase material cost for the job.
What type of finish do you want, Smooth or textured?
Step number four. Now we are getting to the good stuff. The question is, what type of finish do you want in your garage? Do you want a smooth or textured finish for the glorious garage? If you want a textured finish for your newly hung garage, you want to go with a level 2-3 finish, level 3 finish will cost a bit more money than a level 2. I know, I know, your thinking "what the hell is a level 2 and 3 finish and where the hell did level 1 go?" Do not frett, Alpha Drywall will explain all. After you have decided that you want texture, then the next thing to decide is what type of texture. there are a bunch of textures out there and each one has its own labor rate. To keep this simple I will keep it to the 2 most common textures, Orange Peel Texture and Knock Down Texture. Do a quick google search and you will see that you probably already have it in your home and just didnt know the name of it, but its extremely common. Just pick whichever you think looks best. Any reputable drywall contractor can deliver both textures. Keep in mind, knockdown texture requires more labor than orange peel texture and will increase the labor cost.
Now for smooth finish. If you want smooth finish you want to go with Level 3 - 5 finish. Level 5 finish is the best finish any contractor can deliver, (will go more into detail about finishes soon). Level 3 is the absolute bare minimum for smooth finish. Doesnt look very good but it can still pass for smooth if done correctly. Level 4 finish is standard finish for any smooth walls. Any office you go into typically has a level 4 finish on it. So when hiring a drywall contractor for your garage you should ask him what Level finish they are going to be giving you for texture and for smooth. Remember texture 2 - 3, smooth 3 - 5.
Finally the question you have probably been wondering in the previous sentences. What the hell are Levels for finishes? its pretty simple and I will explain it as best as I can.
Level 1 finish - Joints of drywall are taped and screws are coated once. (that's it just taped with no coat over the tape)
Level 2 finish - Joints of drywall are taped and screws are coated 1 time.
Level 3 finish - Joints of drywall are taped and screws are coated 2 times.
Level 4 finish - Joints of drywall are taped and screws are coated 3 times. (see where im going with this)
Level 5 finish - Joints of drywall are taped and screws are coated..........drum roll please.......3 times (wait what?!) yes that is correct. When doing a level 5 finish on drywall the difference between 4 and 5 isn't the amount of coats on the joints and screws. When your contractor is doing a Level 5, THEY MUST coat the entire wall from floor to ceiling with a smooth consistent layer of mud. There should not be any part of the drywall that does not have mud on it. Everything must be sanded smooth and to perfection. keep in mind higher the level of finish you want the higher the cost of labor goes up.
The drywall contract you hire to do your work must know the difference between these finishes. If they do not we highly recommend you find another. When learning the drywall trade these are the basics you learn first. What the difference is between each finish. So anyone with experience in drywall should be able to answer this question. What level finish are you giving me with smooth or texture?
Does the drywall and mudding go before or after the epoxy floor?
Step number 5. I know what your thinking, geez this is long. We are almost done stay with me. This one is very simple as well. Does the drywall and mudding go before or after the epoxy floor? Well that depends on you as the homeowner honestly, If you want the drywall to go after the epoxy floor the drywall contractor will normally charge more because they need to take precautions and move a bit slower to make sure screws are not falling and digging into the floor and masking off the floor as well. This all takes time and will cost more to get your job done.
Finally at the end. Your question was "How much does it cost to get my garage drywalled?" Well its not that simple, you need to look at your garage and decided what exactly it is you want. From the framing to the insulation to the drywall and finish. Everything adds a little to the material and labor bill. Not everyones garage cost the same to finish. Someone might want level 5 finish cause they want it to be a gathering place to enjoy sport games or family gatherings, some might want a quick texture to hide the exposed wood studs and just park their cars there. In any case, each garage is different as is every client, everyone has their own goals and wants for their home and its up to us as they drywall contractors to help you guys the homeowners in any way we can to make sure we deliver a product that you can be happy and feel good about.
If you have any questions or are interested in getting your garage drywalled and finished or any drywall project you might have, please contact us. We will be happy to help out and deliver a project you can be proud of and feel good knowing you went with the right contractor for the job.