Painting garage (concrete block) walls and ceiling

DETAILKING · 08-03-07, 10:34

Well, I put it off for a long time but I am finally going to paint my entire garage. The garage is ~20' wide by ~33' long with 7' ceilings. The walls are concrete block and currently unfinished. The plan is to paint them with one (heavy coat) of block filler prime to smooth out the surface and then 1-2 coats of latex paint. I am not sure what color yet, but since the ceiling will be white, I think white walls will make the room look too sterile. I am leaning towards painting them a light gray or beige. What do you think? Currently the concrete floor is unfinished.

Ceiling is finished sheet rock, but they did a very poor job with the taping and spackling. I hope 2 coats of flat white paint will improve the look of it or else I might either have to retape most of it or go with a textured (sponge) finish.

DantheMan · 08-05-07, 07:38

So what do you really want to know?

Sounds like you're going in the right direction on the walls.. I personally prefer light colored walls myself. Going straight white will help out a ton with the lighting. Maybe you could just do a 3ft strip of light gray at the bottom to help break it up some..

On the ceiling, it sounds like you just got the standard 1 coat garage finish.. Its not that they didn't know what they are doing, but its pretty standard for a garage to not be completely finished like a house.. Flat paint will help to a degree, but I can pretty much guarantee you wont be satisfied.. And even if you decide to texture it, it still has to be finished or you will still be able to see pretty much everything you see now through the texture.

Good luck with the project!

Joshua312 · 08-05-07, 08:07

I have a black open cieling, white walls, and a light gray on the floor. White walls really help with the lighting IMO.

blkZ28Conv · 08-05-07, 08:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshua312

.... white walls, and a light gray on the floor. White walls really help with the lighting IMO.

Ditto. I also have cement brick walls (needing re-paint

) that are white and this color really brighten things up.

holland_patrick · 08-05-07, 08:41

when i did mine I went with a white high gloss. it will refect more light and it's easier to clean for the concret i used the thick water proofing stuff (dri lock) it goes on nice and thick and fills in a lot of those little holes.. Now i know i'll never have a problem with water(it's above grade and would come in the doors at that point) but i just though it was a better product.

20jettatdi03 · 08-05-07, 08:43

i have my garage painted grey on the side walls and on the back wall its one shade lighter. Helps brighten things up a bit IMO

holland_patrick · 08-05-07, 08:50

you can see the new walls and the old walls here.

you can see the walls finished here

you can see here where the high gloss really helps the light.

DETAILKING · 08-05-07, 03:07

Well, the block filler is whte so I guess I can see how that looks once the first coat is on. I am going to finish up with latex, either white if I like the look or a light gray.....that will also help with the lighting over the raw concrete block I have now. I always thought high gloss paint was very hard to apply.....I will probably go with a latex semi-gloss or satin (eggshell) on the walls after they are primed....ceiling will be flat white.