Semi-Gloss: Semi-gloss finishes provide a slight shine and are highly durable, making them ideal for high-traffic areas like garage walls.
Professional recommendations often lean towards semi-gloss, gloss, or satin finishes as the best choices for garage doors due to their durability, aesthetic appeal, and weather resistance.
There are basically two types of paint that you can use on your garage floors -- latex acrylic paint or an epoxy paint. While the latex paint is a bit of a cheaper option in the short term, epoxy paint is more durable and will provide a better bond to the concrete making it more chip resistant.
Avoid using eggshell paint in high-contact, high-traffic areas such as door and window trim, baseboards, cabinetry, and doors. It's best to use semi-gloss paint in these areas.
Garage walls should be painted satin if you want them to be easy to clean, wipeable, and reflect more light. Flat paint is more difficult to clean and is best for low traffic spaces.
Lighter paint colors, especially white or light grays, can make a garage feel more open and bright by reflecting more light. This can be helpful if the garage has limited natural lighting.
Powder coatings are the go-to for roll-up, steel, aluminum, and overhead garage doors. This finish option keeps the material of the door protected and insulated and can also keep whatever metal you choose rust-free. Other advantages of powder coatings include: Resistant to chemicals.
Eggshell is always an interior designer's preferred paint finish, which is why we chose this as our ultimate finish for walls. The name eggshell stems from the fact the finish appears mostly flat with just a touch of luster... similar to a chicken egg!
Eggshell paint offers a soft sheen that adds elegance and is more washable than flat paint, making it ideal for moderate-traffic areas. However, it shows imperfections more than matte finishes and lacks the durability of glossier options, so it may need more frequent touch-ups in high-traffic areas.
In terms of durability, eggshell finishes are more durable than lower sheen finishes like flat and matte and can be wiped down with a wet cloth if necessary. But, a semi-gloss finish can withstand some scrubbing and heavy cleaning that eggshell can't.
Eggshell Paint
Eggshell finish, perennially popular with professional and DIY painters alike, has a low-sheen reminiscent of flat or matte, but it is infinitely more durable than its namesake.
If we're talking about your garage floor protection options, we may as well start with the best – a polyaspartic floor coating. This high-performance coating is comprised of professional-grade materials that are applied by trained pros using special equipment to deliver long-lasting flooring protection.
The amount of paint needed can vary based on the size of your garage and the type of paint, but typically, a 2-car garage could require around 5-6 gallons for two coats of paint.
Satin offers a subtle sheen and is moisture-resistant, making it easy to wipe clean. For the most durability, though, semi-gloss is the way to go. It's resistant to stains and scratches and reflects light, making your garage feel brighter.
In many instances, warm water and a sponge is all you need to make a wall paint-ready. Scrub the wall surface and be sure to clean corners and nooks well. But add a grease-cutting detergent to the water to remove scuffs and smears. Wipe clean with a damp towel afterward and allow it to dry completely before painting.
Using Rust-Oleum CombiColor Original to paint garage doors is an excellent way to rejuvenate their appearance and protect them from further damage.
Key Takeaway: Painting eggshell over semi-gloss requires two coats of paint and careful attention to detail. To ensure a professional finish, it's essential to stir the paint thoroughly before beginning and use even strokes with each coat. Taking your time is key when layering multiple coats - so don't cut corners.
When applying an eggshell or satin finish paint on walls it is important to roll back over the cut in while the paint is still wet, this is called rolling wet on wet. Otherwise if you let the cut in dry, not only are the brush strokes very visible, but the cut in and the rolling may have different tones to their color.
Professional painters frequently utilize premium paints, such as Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams, for their work. Sherwin-Williams is widely regarded as one of the top paint brands, providing a broad range of premium quality paints, including environmentally friendly options.
For one level of sheen up from flat or matte, eggshell and satin are good choices. “Satin is slightly shinier, and both are easier to clean than flat or matte paint,” Handel says.
Gloss or semi-gloss sheens are some of the best options for garage doors. Gloss finishes are easier to clean than satin and stand up well to UV rays. Gloss sheens are also moisture-resistant, protecting your door and paint from water.
The best material for finishing garage walls is usually considered to be drywall. It increases the fire resistance of walls and is easy to install. However, you do have another garage wall-covering option. Oriented strand board (OSB) can be screwed to the wall framing but does not require taping and finishing.