CASE STUDY · DENVER, PA · 1 WEEK
The Garage Grows Up: Drywall and Fire Separation in Denver
JOB CARD
A garage with bare studs is a garage that eats heat, collects cobwebs at industrial scale, and makes every project feel like it is happening in a barn. The owner of this Denver garage wanted a workspace he could stand in past November, and the path there ran through insulation and a lot of drywall.
Garage drywall looks like the simplest job we do. It carries one code requirement most homeowners have never heard of, and skipping it can matter to both safety and insurance: the fire separation between garage and house.
The wall that buys you time
The wall and ceiling between an attached garage and the living space are a fire separation assembly. Code wants specific drywall there, typically 5/8 inch Type X on the ceiling under living space, with penetrations sealed, because a garage is where the cars, fuel cans and questionable extension cords live. The Gypsum Association publishes the fire resistance data these assemblies are built from, and the difference between regular and Type X board is measured in minutes your family gets that a fire does not.
We hung Type X where the separation required it, standard board elsewhere, and sealed every penetration. The self closing hinge on the house door completed the assembly, a two dollar part that most garages are missing.
Insulation first, comfort forever
Before a single board went up, the exterior walls got batts and the rim joists got sealed. An uninsulated garage with beautiful drywall is a beautifully finished refrigerator. With insulation and drywall together, this garage now rides ten to fifteen degrees closer to the house year round with zero added heating.
We finished the walls to a level appropriate for a garage: taped, two coats, sanded honest. Nobody needs a level 5 skim coat behind a tool wall, and we say so rather than billing for polish the room will never show.
Small building, real trade
A full two car garage hang and finish runs a fraction of any interior remodel and pays back in usable months per year. If your garage still shows its skeleton, the drywall page covers what we do, and Denver homeowners get our shortest drive in the whole service area.
SHOT ON SITE BY OUR CREW. NO STOCK, NO STAGING.