Painting the interior of a garage.

ACR_SCOUT

Hello,
I have a drywalled 20x20 garage. It was built in the late 70s. It only had the basic mud job. I tried to finish it a smooth it out but I did a terrible job. Add to that the mud wouldn't stick to the old drywall. It seems to be sticking to the primer ok.

So far I have primed everything. Had to use bullseye and kilz because the local hardware ran out of bullseye. I don't think this will be a problem.

The screwed up drywall joints don't look too terrible with just the primer. What do any of think it will look like under flat white on the ceiling? Also I am thinking about exterior Grey paint on the walls. What are your thoughts? I am also thinking about adding sand to the wall paint. Again, any thoughts here?

I want it to look good but after all it is just a garage.

Thanks.
Frd

joecaption

It's only going to look as good as the wall was before the paint went on.
Poor prep job, poor looking paint job.
Forget about using exterier paint on an interier, not going to gain anything.
If you buy a high grade (paint store. not a box store) flat paint it will help hide the flaws in the prep work.

jsheridan

Joecaption, I think you should have qualified OP prior to telling him that he wouldn't gain from using exterior paint. What if he lives in Alaska? Or Siberia? A chemist might come along and tell me otherwise, but I wouldn't put an interior wall finish on interior walls in an unheated garage where temps could go below freezing for a long period of time. As far as I've ever known, they're not formulated for that environment. OP, use exterior flat. After the first coat you can do some spot spackle touch up, prime, and refinish any horrid spots. Flat will mask flaws that a sheen will highlight.

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Gymschu

Over the years I have discovered that an exterior grade paint CAN be advantageous in a garage. Why? Because some people wash their cars in their garage, mud and dirt splash up on the walls from vehicles, etc. A quick squirt of the hose can wash all of this off if the paint is exterior grade. Just saying if you're intending to do those kinds of things in your garage.

sdsester

And Joe, flat paint will not hide flaws. Granted, they might not show as much as with semi-gloss. I sort of hoped your bad painting advice would go away after you reached 10,000 posts.

Last thing I would propose doing is texturing a garage wall surface. In my opinion, adding sand is not going to do anything but increase surface area for all things in a garage to attach to?

OP. No paint is going to fix tape and drywall problems so bite the bullet and do the prep work to the point you can live with the results.

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ACR_SCOUT

I guess I need to work on the walls a little more. I am not going to worry with the ceiling.

As for the walls i need to finalize the plans for where the cabinets will be installed.

I really suck at mudding. That eight inch knife has officially kicked my @$$. I do Ok with the six inch knife.

I am working on this in stages because I don't have storage elsewhere to store my stuff.

I want to get the ceiling done as quickly as possible so I can get the lights installed.

Brushjockey

Scout- use a 12" - will span problems better. Use a pre mix like plus 3, add a bit of water ( not much ) to loosen it up. Better to spend a bit of time getting the hang of it than spend more time sanding.

Good luck- you can do it!

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sdsester

Did I miss something in this thread?

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ACR_SCOUT

Nope. Just making a statement for clarity of urgency.

sdsester

Most often with new construction, electrical runs get put in place before drywall? Even with renovations too.
And nobody but some space alien type drywallers I have hired are good at mudding without practice. A wider knife will really help. And don't be afraid to goop the mud on and then scrape it off. I've seen so many people make work for themselves being timid and I guess planning to store a half bucket of mud in the private safe with gold and family jewels. Get over it. Mud is one of the few relatively cheap building materials on the planet. Of course do not be wasteful but don't be afraid to bring the mud you need to the task.

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ToolSeeker

Now is the perfect time and place to hone your skills. Then if you ever need to do anything inside the home you will feel a lot more confident about it. If you tell us the problems you are having with the mud maybe someone on here can help you.

jsheridan

I agree, a perfect place to practice. That's how apprentices learn, doing closets and garages. Although, I've been in some new construction housing where it looked like they let the apprentices do the whole interior.

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Andrew LB

Exactly. I learned how to drywall by doing my garage... which turned out so well two different neighbors paid me to do theirs.

Just make sure to properly tape and throw a bunch of mud. Using a small knife like an 8" will never give you good results. I always use a 12-14" knife and after putting down the mud, use the large blade size to thin it out and create a uniform surface.

This is what you're shooting for:



I personally use the Screw & Glue method of installing drywall. All studs are first given a good bead of Liquid Nails (make sure you buy the bigger 32oz "magnum" calking gun size), then screwed with coarse thread drywall screws. My Makita impact driver works great and makes quick work of big jobs.

Also... don't make the mistake many people do and buy your mud from the paint section at home depot. Go to the back of the lumbar area where the drywall is and get the premixed 5 gallon bucket for $12. Everything in the paint section costs 5x more because of its fancy consumer packaging.


Edit:

Oh yeah. And once everything is dried and sanded, YOU MUST PROPERLY PRIME drywall. Always use a primer that is specifically made for Drywall. At the very least use a PVA primer, and if you can spend the money... buy the good stuff like Vinylastic from Dunn Edwards.

The most important thing to remember in order to get a good paint job is proper surface prep. Not priming or using a crappy primer will result in an uneven surface and flashing caused by variations in the surface porosity. When properly primed, no variation exists.

ACR_SCOUT

Remember my house was built in 1978 and the drywall in the garage would not hold the mud even after several days of cure time. I primed ever with Kilz primer and now the mud seems to be sticking.

Several folks here have suggested a bigger knife so I guess I will go pickup a 10" knife.

I have the 5 gal of light mud. I did discover that thinning it with water helps.

I guess back to practicing.

ToolSeeker

One problem may be the light mud. The lighter the mud the less glue it has in it that may be why you had a problem with it sticking. Your first 2 coats should be all purpose (bright green lid) at the least, then the light or ultra lite for top coat because less glue, easier to sand.
If your going to get another knife get a 12".