We are looking for another home and part of my criteria is a large second two car garage or the space to build one. I am looking for ideas on how to design / finish the interior of the garage. I am thinking motorsports themes with reds, blacks and checkered deisgns.

The floor is a big part of the design. I am thinking I want the clean glossy look with some parking spots painted in. Does concrete have to be polished to get that look or is a flor coating durable and a good method?

Anybody have good photos of their man cave garages?

Also I want a space for a couch and chairs with a TV. Would be interested to have people way in on furniture design etc...

 

Go look at garagejournal.com; plenty of ideas there on the forums.

 

First, consider how you are going to use the garage. Are you actually going to work on cars, or just sit there and enjoy them as part of the ambiance?

The bad thing about a garage, I that no matter how big it seems when you start, it will fill up very quickly.

My garage is 30x45, 3 bays, 12 Ft ceilings, and it's not really big enough. I have a 2 post lift in the center. With the motorcycle, the ATV, (working kind for use around the farm, not the play kind...lol), my M3, and the MINI, My wife has to park her new Kia Sportage AWD turbo outdoors.. (I had nothing to do with her picking that, but it's not bad at all...)

As soon as you start adding things like an air compressor, tool boxes, workbenches, media blasting cabinet, parts washer, and storage. It fills up very quickly. If you aren't into that kind of garage, put an addition on the house. It's a much better return on investment than a man cave.

Another thing to think about it controlling the environment. If you don't build it, prepare to spend a lot of time and money on insulating, finishing, heating and cooling, and plumbing. A working sink is a godsend, and will greatly reduce your significant others outrage when you wash your dirty, greasy, hands in the white Kohler kitchen sink...lol

As for the floor, again what are you going to use it for? Short of doing it for a living type garages, a two part epoxy floor finish will probably look great. The concrete does not need to be polished, but it does need to be etched with acid. You also want the non slip chips added. (the speckle flakes) So you don't bust your *** if you spill things. Without the flakes, those floors without the chips are slicker than fresh goose poop. Figure about $0.50-$1/sft if you can diy, triple that if you have someone do it. Then there is the tile option. $6-$10/sft installed... You really are talking serious money there. But hey, it's your Garage Mahal...

 

Agree totally with Richard, but would add a few items:

I have a 3 1/2 car attached garage, but built a second detached 2 1/2 car "shed" for my tractors, ATV, winter storage of my Harley and MINI, etc. It is a "working" shed that gets pretty dirty from all of the work done to (and by) my toys.

My attached garage is still a working garage, but is fixed up pretty well for 3 cars and a motorcycle. A wall of Rubbermaid storage cabinets keeps all of the tools, etc. cleaner and out-of-sight. I had an epoxy floor that held up very well for 7 years, but ultimately was pretty stained from the tires, oil spills, etc. I tried the solid PVC tiles, but didn't like that they keep water / humidity condensation from the concrete below from evaporating/running off, and were always wet underneath. I recently removed the tiles and recoated with a poly urea coating that is more flexible, but is 20X harder than epoxy. FYI, the paint chips add color, not slip resistance...for anti-slip (mandatory), you dust with white silica sand.

If you are planning to use it for real work/maintenance, a few things I added that I really like are a sink w/ hot&cold water; two floor drains, electrical outlets every 4 ft (with 240V); two workbenches; built in shop vac and air compressors.

There's no limit on what you can do, but you'll need to first determine if it's more of a showroom, a man-cave, or a working shop. Garagejournal.com has more ideas than you will have $ to do.

 

The chips add color to some brands, and anti-slip properties in others or they use sand. It depends on who makes it.

If you get condensation on the floor, you don't have a controlled environment.

if you are thinking of building a garage and plan on a lift, make sure that the floor will support a lift. Most residential garage floors are only 2-3" thick. When I had my lift installed, they had to excavate a 3'x3'x1' area for each post, install rebar to tie it to the existing floor, and pour 4000psi concrete. Then had to wait 30 days for the concrete to cure. It cost as much to install the lift, as the lift itself cost. (but still worth every penny.

 

Here's mine. Mostly finished but now the HVAC duct is covered to match the wall.