TGIF! I have a special treat for you TODAY. I think this is the first time EVER Jeff is making an appearance on my blog.
Here is a Before & After of our garage:
I thought it would be fun if I asked Jeff a few questions for the blog and these are his answers below!
Why did you decide to start this garage project?
Here is a Before & After of our garage:
I thought it would be fun if I asked Jeff a few questions for the blog and these are his answers below!
Why did you decide to start this garage project?
Finishing the garage would not have been on my radar
screen at all except my dad kept harping on how terrible the existing drywall
in the garage looked. At first I didn’t
think much of it until March of this year when I purchased two sets of blinds for
the garage. I picked up the blinds
because I didn’t want people to be able to see me working in the garage at
night. After I put the blinds up, I
thought they looked great but they made the rest of the wall look terrible by
comparison. I started pricing out what
it would cost to cover the wall with sheetrock… And of course it wouldn’t make
sense to put that up without insulating the wall… And once both of those things
were done, I might as well put a fresh coat of paint on everything. As I started pricing the project out, I
figured, I might as well just do everything all at once.
Not as much as there should have been… I believe I made
the decision to take on this project and just started buying supplies. I figured I could go one step at a time and
teach myself along the way. My issue is
that I was always so excited to get to the next step, that I would dive right
in before really knowing what I was doing.
As a result, I didn’t do a ton of planning but figured things out along
the way.
I had zero expertise.
I remember as a child, I would always try to ‘help’ my dad with his home
remodeling projects. In reality, I’m
sure I would just get in the way or ask silly questions. He is incredibly handy and I’m actually
disappointed that I have not done more to this point in my life to learn more
‘handyman’ skills from him. Because my
low level of construction knowledge, I had to rely heavily on my dad’s
instruction when he would spend a day during the weekend helping out. In between days when my dad was able to help
out, I would view many youtube instructional videos.
How long did it take from start to finish?
I started the
project on March 19 and finished on May 18.
Total hours invested were 112.5.
Total days I actually worked in the garage were 33.
What was favorite part of this project?
My favorite thing about the project – and it is a very
small detail – was putting the plastic outlet covers/garage door opener back on
the walls after they had been painted.
All of a sudden the garage had a very sharp and clean look. Putting the finishing touches on the project
pulled things together and started to make the effort feel ‘worth it’.
The most difficult part of the project was doing
anything above my head… taping/mudding, sanding, and painting a ceiling that
was 10.25 feet above the floor was no easy task. When working above your head, it is very
difficult to apply any constant pressure.
It was also tiring for my arms and VERY frustrating to move the
heavy/cumbersome ladder every 2 minutes.
Nothing was more frustrating than putting a coat of joint compound on
the ceiling and looking at the finished product, knowing I would need to do it
all again for a second and third coat… and then sand… and then paint. Any day/night I was able to work on a
vertical wall was a ‘easy day’ by comparison.
My dad was very helpful in many ways. In addition to helping out on weekends with
physical labor, he helped to educate me throughout the process. As I mention above, I didn’t know as much as
I should about construction and building… So he was very helpful in explaining
some of his techniques or ‘tricks of the trade’. One trick he had that was VERY helpful was
drilling two by fours into the exposed wall studs to rest the full sheetrock
panels on when fastening them to the wall (especially up high). By doing this, the two by fours would hold
the weight of the sheetrock while we just needed to slightly guide each one
into place and screw them in. Tricks
like this one made the vey daunting aspects of this project much more manageable.
Any advice to someone who is thinking about finishing their garage?
That is a good question.
My first thought is ‘DO IT’. This
or any home project is immensely valuable in the knowledge you gain alone. In addition, you are increasing the value of
your home by doing it. As far as
providing tactical advice, I would say to spend extra time planning how you
will handle the mess. For my project,
the drywall dust after sanding was overwhelming. I would try to sweep it but it would just
make a cloud of dust everywhere… I would try to suck it up with the shop vac
but it quickly clogged the air filter. For
someone starting a similar project, I would suggest looking into a wet sanding
technique to try and limit the dust as much as possible. Another option could be to purchase a joint
compound designed to limit the dust during sanding.
Jeff, great job on the garage. I love the before and after pictures. You can tell a lot of time and hard work went into this project. You and your dad should be very proud!!! Carol
ReplyDeleteThank you Carol! I'm glad you enjoyed reading about this project! I'm happy we have the before pictures to look back at to see the progress.
ReplyDeleteNice job Jeff! I hope I get a chance to see your house and garage this summer. Amah
ReplyDeleteThanks Amah. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out as well. We look forward to you coming up to see the house.
DeleteDo you hire out??? Lois
ReplyDeleteUnfortunantly at this time, I only have the resources to take on projects in the Madison area. I will let you know if that changes in the future.
DeleteAwesome job, Jeff!!!! What is the next project!!!!! John
ReplyDeleteI think the next project will be adding some edging/mulch/flowers against the back exterior wall of the house. Hopefully we'll have success with that project as well! Thanks for reading!
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