How to equip a garage: 135 photos of design options with your own hands

What man doesn't like to spend time in the garage? This place is a universal male springboard, which, in addition to traditional functions, performs the role of a gazebo, a working workshop, and sometimes a living space. At the same time, it must fully comply with the main purpose — storage, maintenance and feasible repair of the car.

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

Summary of the article:

This stage should be taken as seriously as possible. The quality of the house begins with the foundation, and a convenient and comfortable garage begins with the planning of functional areas. If the space is large in area, you will not 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 limited square meters.

These efforts will more than pay off when the garage rack fixed in the right place breaks down and at the same time does not harm your car or a friend with whom you are playing backgammon.

To simplify the process, arm yourself with a piece of paper and a pen. Sketch out a plan of your garage, in which first of all mark a place for transport. Pay attention to the fact that there was free access to the car from all sides, and not a single shelf in the garage threatened him.

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

Finishing materials

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

The specifics of the room impose 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 will be facade lining. Of its advantages, it is worth noting:

Aesthetic appearance, creating comfort.
Water Resistance
Environmental friendliness.
Not lit.
Under it, you can hide various insulation and sound insulation.

The only significant disadvantage is that 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 precious volumes of the area will be intact.

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

Durable.
Practical — it will not be difficult to keep such walls clean.
It's beautiful — there is a huge scope for stylish design variations.

Special attention should be paid to the floor and ceiling. There is a high load on the floor both by the weight of the car and by the boxes, workbenches, and spare parts characteristic of the garage. It must be resistant to chemical influences and damage, withstand the full range of temperatures. The best solution in this case is concrete slabs covered 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.

Currently, self-leveling floors are becoming more and more popular, take a closer 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 would be logical to use the same material for finishing as for the walls. When equipping suspended storage spaces, pay attention to the fasteners, do not hesitate to seek advice from a specialist so that all this joy does not fall on your car one fine moment.

The finishing elements include gates. They not only protect your property from the encroachments of unscrupulous citizens, and you from weather conditions, but also are the main object of the exterior and one of the most significant in the interior.

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

Observation pit and cellar

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

The first thing to start with is to determine the dimensions and boundaries of the pit in accordance with its dimensions, mark the space, make sure that there will be no problems with arrival and calculate possible "conflicts of interest" with other functional zones.

Strengthening the floor of the excavated pit, do not skimp on a substrate of rubble. Poured concrete can be covered with boards for comfort.

It is also preferable to fill the pit walls with concrete. They are stronger and more durable than bricks, and in the spring there is much less chance of temporarily losing the workspace due to thawed and groundwater. For greater strength, it does not hurt to reinforce the structure.

It will be useful to provide niches for tools and small things in the walls in advance, without additional effort this is possible only at the filling stage.

With a full-fledged 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 is added the need for good ventilation and drainage system to protect against groundwater, if such are available in the local landscape.

Heating

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

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

If the garage is adjacent and there is centralized heating, then there are no problems at all. Just connect to the home heating system. Cons — expensive, and may cause questions from public utilities.

Good old bourgeois. You can improve the effect with the help of bath methods — stones and water.

Furnaces of the "Bulerian" type. Such furnaces are an improved version of the bourgeoisie. Thanks to a clever system of interlacing pipes, a significantly higher fuel consumption efficiency is achieved.

The heating of the room occurs very quickly, while the ingress of carbon monoxide is almost excluded. The downside is the price. If you can make a bourgeois yourself, having minimal welder skills, then only a master will make a bulerian oven.

Gas heating. Relatively inexpensive to maintain, but it will cost a pretty penny to install a full-fledged heating system.

Electric heaters. Classic oil and water heaters can serve as an excellent and convenient alternative, a "heat curtain" can be installed over the doorway in the gate.

Ventilation

A lot of 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 be the cause of dampness, and that, in turn, will significantly shorten the life of metal elements of cars and wood in the garage decoration. The dampness itself threatens the owner with diseases of the respiratory system.

The products of gorenje 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 already enough to understand the importance of good ventilation. Depending on the volume of the room, the following types of systems are used:

Natural ventilation based on the laws of physics. The movement of air occurs without forced prompting. In order for the "draft law" to work and the air to start moving due to the temperature difference inside and outside, a pair of ventilation openings equipped with flaps is enough.

Mechanical differ in that circulation occurs in a forced manner, the air itself can be purified, 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.

As a conclusion

To equip a garage that would meet all your requirements, it is enough just to determine your needs and allocate time for thoughtful planning. And then you will create a multifunctional cozy place that you will want to come back to again and again, and in the articles on how to equip a garage there will be photos of your brainchild.