The garage is traditionally a box for repairs and car parking, however, this room can additionally be used as a storage room, cellar or even a small recreation area. The options for its construction and design can vary greatly both in materials and technologies, therefore there is no single way of finishing garage surfaces, including the ceiling. Much depends on budget, building material and personal taste.
Features of the
Most often, garages are built with a flat roof with large concrete masses, separated by partitions of the same material. Finishing in this case allows you to hide a not very decorative concrete surface, insulate the room and give the space a certain style. Frost and condensation can appear on the concrete, and the finish will help prevent moisture from dripping from the ceiling onto the vehicle. In addition, the garage space can also be used to equip a loft-style living area or a small workshop for an artist or carpenter. In these cases, the ceiling can be not only concrete, but also wood or even metal.
The ceiling of the garage serves not only a decorative function, it is equipped with various lamps that will be needed for servicing or repairing a car. For cladding the ceiling with their own hands, they use both traditional boards, drywall or plaster, and modern technologies, which require a certain level of skill. The garage should be warm, well ventilated and well wired.
How to sheathe?
First, you need to choose a material for the ceiling sheathing itself, it must have not only decorative properties, but also protect against moisture or a sharp increase and decrease in temperature. The material must not be exposed to aggressive substances such as fuel or brake fluid. If there is no additional heating in the garage, the ceiling should be insulated using suitable materials. The most suitable for this are:
- foam insulation;
- penoplex;
- expanded polystyrene;
- mineral wool.
Some of the most common garage ceiling finishes are:
- wet plaster;
- drywall;
- PVC panels;
- OSB, fiberboard or MDF.
Ceiling decoration wet plaster has been popular for many years for its reliability and durability. The design process is divided into the stages of spraying, priming and coating. Today, this method of finishing the ceiling is practically not used, although it is cheap, since it is quite labor-intensive and energy-intensive.
The plaster ceiling was replaced by the option from drywall. Such a finish is quickly and easily done by hand using a galvanized profile and inexpensive drywall sheets. The material perfectly hides the unevenness of the ceiling and allows you to mask communications. The damaged area is easy to replace, and the material itself is environmentally friendly and safe, but unstable to moisture and "eats" at least 4-5 cm of the ceiling height.
PVC panels (lining) can be sewn onto a frame made of timber, cladding can be made using a profiled sheet. The lining is more moisture resistant, it is resistant to fire and can be easily cleaned with plain water. Simplicity of filing will save on professional services and reduce repair costs. Unfortunately, PVC panels are quite fragile: direct mechanical impact or impact can break them apart.
Recently, in addition to the already familiar wooden or PVC lining, planken is used. These are boards with chamfered edges from 7 to 14 centimeters wide, which are laid out on the crate both horizontally and vertically.
In cases where practicality is more important than decorativeness, you can hem the ceiling OSB, fiberboard or various adhesives made from pressed wood shavings … Oriented strand board, unlike other products, is impregnated with resins and paraffin at the production stage, as a result of which it acquires increased moisture resistance and does not need an additional protective coating. Such plates are environmentally friendly, easy to install and adapted for further painting in any color.
However, for all their moisture resistance, the edges of such boards remain susceptible to destruction by moisture, and they require additional protection.
Dimensions (edit)
For a comfortable stay and work in the garage, the ceiling height must be at least 2 meters. However, if you plan to cover the ceiling with plasterboard or plywood, then the height should be at least 2.5 meters. In order to select the correct ceiling height from all options, the following parameters must be taken into account:
- vehicle height;
- free space above the car (200-300 mm);
- a place for lighting;
- the height of the garage door.
Installation of the structure
Ceiling cladding with wooden or PVC lining, corrugated board, OSB or plastering is not particularly difficult. Decorating the ceiling in such ways in the garage is carried out according to the instructions and is no different from work carried out in any other room. It is necessary to pay the utmost attention to the installation of a frame made of wooden beams.securely attached to concrete walls or ceilings. It is better to hang metal corners on the walls, which are attached with anchor bolts.
As an alternative to the listed finishing methods, you can install a suspended or stretch ceiling.
A suspended ceiling is suitable for high rooms and requires a fairly large financial capacity. The suspended structure lowers the ceiling by 150-200 mm due to the peculiarities of the fastening of the aluminum frame. However, due to the same frame, there is an additional opportunity to hide the location of electrical wiring for lamps and sockets, ventilation or a system for raising an automatic garage door.
Another option for finishing the garage ceiling is the tension option. This method is chosen infrequently, due to the inconvenience of its operation. Most often, such ceilings are used in heated garages, combined with the residential part of the house. The advantage of the tensile structure is the speed of installation and high decorative effect of the coating.
Warming
It is not enough just to concrete and sheathe the ceiling and walls of the garage, they also need to be insulated to prevent the occurrence of drizzle and condensation in such a small enclosed space. For thermal insulation, you can use:
- mineral wool;
- Styrofoam;
- glass wool.
In the case of using foam, glue must be applied to the material. Then the sheet must be glued to the ceiling, secured with dowels and all gaps must be eliminated using polyurethane foam. Then you can move on to plastering.
In the case of using mineral wool or fiberglass, the insulation must be placed between the frame bars, after which the lining itself or fiberboard must be fixed.
Waterproofing
In the garage, you can often see water drips both on the walls and on the ceiling of the building. This speaks not only of non-compliance with the technology at the construction stages, but also of the formation of condensation on the ceiling, due to a sharp temperature drop and freezing of the roof material. To get rid of the ingress of water into the garage, it is desirable, of course, to eliminate the causes themselves.
However, sometimes this can entail the dismantling and complete replacement of not only the roofing, but also the roof floors themselves. If it is possible to localize the place of damage, then it is best to completely perform a spot repair. In other cases, in order to save money, the ceiling is waterproofed from the inside of the room using the following options:
- roll materials;
- coating mixtures;
- injection waterproofing.
Roll materials are most often used for waterproofing outside and are not suitable for indoor ceiling lining. Injection hydro and vapor barrier is a fairly effective method. With the help of injections of a special solution, various microcracks and voids in the structure are filled. The disadvantage of this method is the need to purchase expensive professional equipment or pay for the work of specialists.
Lubricating insulation is a mastic that is applied in one or several layers to the prepared surface of the ceiling. Drying, such mastic turns into a strong film that does not allow moisture and steam to pass through. However, in garages that have been waterproofed with a caulking compound, an additional installation of forced ventilation is required to remove exhaust gases and various vapors.
Lighting
When planning the finishing of the ceiling and its insulation, one should also not forget about high-quality lighting. Typically, in a garage, lighting fixtures are installed not only on the ceiling, but also on opposite walls. Each such device must be switched on and off separately in order to meet the functionality of the room; it is not recommended to use a "carry" in the garage.
If the ceiling is designed using a rack or suspended structure, then they can be easily combined with thin modern lamps. These light sources do not heat up much and have a lifespan of 10,000 hours. With their help, electricity is significantly saved.
Spotlights look good in a stretch ceiling, however, overheating of the case must be avoided so as not to damage the PVC film. You can also use various energy saving, LED lamps, or even make special pendant lights yourself:
- the string wire is pulled without sagging at a distance of 1 m along the wall and fixed;
- lamps are suspended on the resulting line using a wire bent in the shape of the letter S;
- the cable is screwed to the hooks with electrical tape.
Creating such structures in different parts of the room will illuminate even the darkest corners of the garage.
Helpful hints
If the ceiling in the garage is metal, then it must be insulated and waterproofed using foil-clad materials. They are fixed with a stapler or glue on a frame made of corrugated board. The ceiling can be simply painted with water-based paint. For this, the surface must be cleaned, leveled and dried.
The lathing frame timber must be pre-treated with antiseptics to protect against rodents and insects, which very often appear in the garage. You can also use a metal profile to create a frame, it is more durable and less susceptible to aggressive environments or rodents.
Regardless of the material chosen, you must pay great attention to the correct installation. It is not recommended to save on fastening materials and neglect the recommendations of various specialists, and then the cladding will not require repair and will serve for many years.
How to sheathe the ceiling in the garage is shown in the next video.