How to equip a garage: 135 photos of do-it-yourself design options

What man doesn't like to spend time in the garage? This place is a universal male bridgehead, which, in addition to traditional functions, serves as a gazebo, a workshop, and sometimes a living space. Moreover, it must fully comply with the main purpose - storage, maintenance and feasible car repair.

Is it difficult to equip a garage with your own hands?

Summary of the article:

Space layout

This stage should be taken as seriously as possible. The quality of the home begins with the foundation, and the convenient and comfortable garage begins with the planning of functional areas. If the space is large in area, you don’t have to bother much, but the owners of small garages will have to strain their brains and imagination in order to fit everything they need on a limited square meter.

These efforts will be more than paid off when the garage rack fixed in the right place breaks down and does not harm your car or a friend with whom you play backgammon.

To simplify the process, arm yourself with a piece of paper and a pen. Sketch a plan of your garage, in which first mark the place for transport. Please note that the car was freely accessible from all sides, and not a single shelf in the garage threatened him.

And with the remaining space you can experiment - organize a workplace in the garage, a sitting area, choose a place for auxiliary furniture and accessories. And of course, decide on the design so that the garage is not only functional, but also beautiful, comfortable.

Decoration materials

It is important to understand that the garage is not the place where you can finish everything with your favorite wallpaper or siding, and lay your favorite linoleum on the floor.

The specificity of the room imposes certain requirements on the materials used. They must be fire and moisture resistant, resistant to mechanical damage and other external influences.

A good option for wall decoration is a facade clapboard. Of its advantages, it is worth noting:

Aesthetic appearance that creates coziness.
Water resistant
Environmental friendliness.
Does not burn.
Under it you can hide various heaters and sound insulation.

The only significant minus - it takes up space, so it is more suitable for large garages. For smaller rooms there is a cheap and angry option - plaster. Yes, comfort will fall victim to practicality, but the precious volume of the area will be intact.

If there are no problems with finances, ceramic tiles will be the ideal solution. It is expensive both in material terms and in time, but:

For a long time.
Practical - maintaining the cleanliness of such walls is not difficult.
Beautiful - a huge scope opens up for stylish design variations.

Particular attention must be paid to the floor and ceiling. The floor has a high load, both in the weight of the car and in the drawers, workbenches, and spare parts characteristic of the garage. It must be resistant to chemical influences and damage, withstand the full amplitude of temperatures. The best solution in this case is concrete slabs coated with cement.

Of course, you can try to give the floor a marketable appearance and cover it with tiles or parquet, but even models specially adapted to high loads will not last long, so the coating will need to be updated regularly, or put up with a tired look.

At present, bulk floors are becoming more and more popular, look at them if gray concrete does not give rest to your creative soul.

If you do not consider the ceiling as a place to store small things and old skis, then it will be logical to use the same material for decoration as for walls. When equipping hanging storage places, carefully consider the fasteners, do not hesitate to seek the advice of a specialist, so that all this joy will not fall on your car in one fine moment.

To the elements of decoration can be attributed to the gate. They not only protect your property from encroachments by dishonest citizens, but you from weather conditions, but they are also the main object of the exterior and one of the most significant in the interior.

The sophistication of the design depends only on financial capabilities, the choice on the market is huge - from classic gates to sectional gates with remote control.

Observation pit and cellar

Perhaps the most important place in the garage. If the cellar is a business, then without a viewing hole, a garage is not a garage, but just a covered parking space. The costs of its arrangement will more than pay off with the money saved on visiting repair services. Despite the apparent simplicity of the process, there are nuances that need to be emphasized.

The first thing you need to start with is to determine the dimensions and boundaries of the pit in accordance with your dimensions, mark out the space, make sure that there will be no problems with the race and calculate possible “conflicts of interest” with other functional areas.

When strengthening the floor of a dug hole, do not skimp on a substrate of crushed stone. Flooded concrete can be coated with boards for comfort.

The walls of the pit are also preferable to pour out of concrete. They are stronger and more durable than brick, and in spring there is much less chance of temporarily losing their work space due to melt and groundwater. For greater strength, it does not hurt to reinforce the structure.

It will be useful to provide niches for tools and trifles in the walls in advance, without additional efforts this is possible only at the pouring stage.
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With a full cellar is more difficult. Due to the volume of work, it is difficult to do without the services of specialists. To all the described manipulations, the need for good ventilation and a drainage system to protect against groundwater, if any, is found in the local landscape, is added.

Heating

An important task is maintaining a normal working temperature in the garage. For most people, a moderately cool background, which is provided by thermal insulation of the walls, floor, ceiling and good gates, is quite enough.

However, for those who spend a lot of time in the garage, the issue of heating in the winter comes to the fore - you won’t especially work in the cold. There are several options for creating a comfortable warm environment:

If the garage is near the house and there is central heating, then there are no problems at all. Just connect to your home heating system. Cons - expensive, and may cause questions from utilities.

Good old potbelly stove. You can improve the effect using bath methods - stones and water.

Buleryan type furnaces. Such furnaces are an improved version of the potbelly stove. Thanks to the cunning pipe weave system, a significantly higher fuel efficiency is achieved.

The room is heated very quickly, while carbon monoxide is almost excluded. The downside is the price. If you can make a potbelly stove yourself, having minimal welder skills, then only a craftsman will make a buleryan stove.

Gas heating. Relatively inexpensive to maintain, but installing a complete heating system will cost a pretty penny.

Electric heaters. Classical oil and water heaters can serve as an excellent and convenient alternative, a “thermal curtain” can be installed above the doorway in the gate.

Ventilation

Many people recklessly ignore the importance of the ventilation system in the garage, but in vain. After all, it is the air circulating in the room that creates a comfortable environment for the owner and his property.

So, poor ventilation can cause dampness, and that in turn will significantly reduce the life of the metal elements of the car and wood in the decoration of the garage. To the owner himself, dampness threatens diseases of the respiratory system.

The products of combustion and evaporation of chemicals will affect the health of the whole organism as a whole, and especially the health of the nervous system. These arguments are enough to understand the importance of good ventilation. Depending on the volume of the premises, the following types of systems are used:

Natural ventilation based on the laws of physics. The movement of air occurs without compulsion. In order for the “draft law” to work and the air to begin to move due to the temperature difference inside and outside, a pair of ventilation holes equipped with shutters is enough.

Mechanical differs in that the circulation occurs in a forced manner, while the air itself can be cleaned, ionized, heated or cooled. The downside is the cost of installation and use.

The essence of combined systems is to supplement natural ventilation with mechanical devices. The best option.

In conclusion

To equip a garage that meets all your requirements, it’s enough to simply determine your needs and set aside time for thoughtful planning. And then you will create a multifunctional cozy place that you will want to return to again and again, and in the articles on how to equip the garage there will be photos of exactly your brainchild.