How To Paint The Garage In Four Simple Steps? Full Guide From Local Pros.

Reviewed by Pavel Buyeu
Updated: 09/20/2023

How to paint the garage

In this guide, you will find all the useful information for painting the garage. It will help you to make an evaluation of the project, so as to understand if it is appropriate to contact a painter or if you intend to proceed independently.

Painting the garage: project evaluation

Before starting to paint the garage it is essential to evaluate the costs, the difficulty, and the timing. Not only that, but considering that environments such as garages need treatments to eliminate or prevent the appearance of mold and reduce the presence of humidity in the air, the difficulty could be greater than normal. Therefore, contacting a professional or a specialized company is the best solution.

In general, the overall estimate of the difficulty, costs, and timing appears to be:

Difficulty - Average

Timing - 1-2 days

Total cost - Medium

Preparatory phase: preparation and smoothing of the surfaces

Garages or car boxes are underground environments generally located in the basement of buildings or houses. They can present problems such as fungi, mold, humidity, peeling, infiltrations, and stains.

Therefore, the preparatory phase of the project is extremely important in order to identify the aforementioned problems and remedy them. Specifically, it will be advisable to consider whether the walls need a preliminary intervention aimed at eliminating the root problem.

Once these complications have been identified and resolved, it will be possible to proceed with the so-called shaving. In this way, it will be possible to prepare the surface to be painted later making it smooth and free of imperfections. The goal, in fact, is precisely to give homogeneity to the surface to allow the professional to carry out a precise and clean job.

Smoothing basically consists in distributing a smoothing paste over the entire wall using spatulas. By distributing the product it will be possible to eliminate the imperfections of the plaster and any depressions present on the wall which will subsequently be painted.

This operation can be done using the materials available in a classic DIY store, however, the expert hand of a painter will guarantee a better and much more precise result.

Smooth and fill the walls

Before painting the garage it is essential to smooth the walls by eliminating any holes or depressions in the plaster due to the use of nails, screws to fix the furniture to the wall, etc.

To overcome this problem, it is sufficient to equip yourself with a putty, in the form of a thick paste or powder to be mixed with water, and a metal spatula to model it. At this point, taking the dough and placing it over the hole, will be sufficient to fill the hole so that it is invisible to the eye. To remove the excess of the product and smooth out the paste, simply spatulate until the desired result is achieved.

When the grout is completely dry, the sandpaper can be used to smooth and make the treated surface smooth and homogeneous. Also in this case the operation can be easily carried out independently with the tools and materials that can be purchased in a do-it-yourself shop. However, the experience of a house painter will make the practice faster and more accurate.

Anti-mold and anti-humidity treatments: heal environments and prevent their appearance

The premises obtained in the subsoil such as garages or car boxes are often subject to infiltrations and the strong presence of humidity. Not only that, the presence of the latter condition could result in the appearance of fungi and molds that manifest themselves through peeling of the paint, green or brown spots, and even bad odors. These conditions not only damage the aesthetics of the garage but make it an unhealthy and unhealthy environment.

To heal the environment or simply to prevent its onset, it is essential to treat the walls with anti-mold (mold removal cost) and anti-humidity products. These can be simple paints that insulate the environment at a thermal level ensuring stable temperatures or products that can act directly on the bacteria that are the cause.

Following an in-depthassessment, an expert in the sector will be able to tell you what the state of your garage is and will be able to advise you which solution is best suited to your needs.

In fact, it happens very often that due to lack of skill or to save money, the wrong products are used that do not solve the problem or that, even worse, aggravate it.

For this reason, an external consultancy from a painter may prove essential in order to obtain a healthy environment ready to be painted in a homogeneous and uniform way. Professionals can access professional quality products that are much more effective than those commonly found on the market. For this reason, a more professional solution may be the definitive answer to the problem.

Many do not know that the industrial anti-mold and anti-humidity treatments allow increasing the duration of the paint that will later be used to decorate the environment. In this way it will be possible to avoid repeating the operation after a short time, thus saving money and effort.

Finishing and retouching

Whether you decide to paint your garage yourself or you are entrusted to a painter, the final phase, that is the one dedicated to the improvements, will be fundamental. In fact, an accurate and refined work will look much better than a rough painting. Only an expert, therefore, can obtain a homogeneous and aesthetically pleasing result, on the contrary, a beginner cannot have the same care and precision. In any case, the step dedicated to finishing must be carried out by both a painter and a do-it-yourself lover. So if you plan to proceed with the painting of the garage independently you will have to think about the expense to be incurred for the purchase of suitable materials. The finishing of the corners and ends, in fact, is essential to correct any errors, remove streaks and accumulations of paint and also retouch the edges.

As for the time required for this step, you must consider that a decorator will generally be more precise and therefore the time taken will be a few minutes. On the contrary, if you have no experience in this regard, you will find a greater number of inaccuracies and errors to correct, therefore this step may take up to an hour. Dedicating the right time to this activity will allow you to obtain a much better result. Finally, if you want to know the costs of this step you will have to take into account that, if you choose a company this will be included in the final price of the work. If, on the other hand, you plan to paint yourself, you can spend a maximum of 2 euros for the purchase of a small brush.

Why use professional products?

The use of specific professional products allows for obtaining a qualitatively better and longer-lasting result. Specifically, a high-quality anti-mold paint acts simultaneously by covering stains but above all by counteracting the proliferation of fungi and molds. If your garage has problems such as stains, fungus, and humidity, then it will be more convenient to consult an expert who purchases paints and tools himself. This will guarantee you professionalism but also the use of excellent and effective products.

In fact, if you don't have the proper tools you will have to buy them. More specifically, you will need rollers, flat brushes, floor covering sheets, gloves, etc. You can find these in common home improvement stores, however, you will have to consider that they do not have the quality professional tools. A good roller or brush allows the professional to work with greater precision, obtaining a more homogeneous and aesthetically pleasing result. For this reason, if you cannot access professional products, you can contact a painter or a team of experts.

Are you still sure you want to do it yourself?

If you want to paint the garage, you can choose whether to contact a painter's company or work independently. Regardless of your decision, you have to think that painting such a humid environment as the basement or garage is much more complex than refreshing the relatives of a room in the house.

You must also think that if you are an expert at work, you will undoubtedly obtain a qualitatively better result. To help you make your choice, you can evaluate whether your garage is prone to mold or stains and halos caused by condensation, low temperatures, humidity, or infiltrations. If the walls seem to have none of this and the space is still small, you can also opt for do-it-yourself. On the contrary, if the situation seems particularly critical to you or the walls seem decidedly large then the advice is to contact a painter.

As for the costs, if you decide to contact a company, these will be declared and agreed with a quote before the work begins. If you opt for the do-it-yourself, however, these are not definable right away. In fact, it may happen that you have to make sudden expenses that are higher than what you thought. Even a small error in calculating the square footage, in fact, can force you to buy extra paint cans and therefore increase the budget dedicated to painting the garage.

In summary, choosing a company over do-it-yourself is decidedly more advantageous from several points of view. In general, therefore, you must consider that a job well done, from the beginning, will allow you to obtain painted walls in a homogeneous and finished way, paying in a single solution and above all without stress or unexpected events that will force you to spend more money than planned.

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