Ceiling drywall
Ceilings
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Drywall in Frederick & Central MD
Garage drywall
Garage walls and ceilings boarded out, including the fire separation between the garage and the house — which is a code requirement with a specific board and a specific detail, not just drywall in a garage.
Licensed & insuredFree written estimatesFrederick-based crewClean-site guarantee
Quick answer
How much does it cost to drywall a garage?
A single-car garage boarded, taped and left paint-ready runs about $1,800 to $3,600 in 2026, and a two-car $2,900 to $5,800. Where the work includes the rated separation to the house, that portion is priced at $2.40 to $3.90 per square foot because the board is heavier and the joint work is not optional. We quote the two separately so you can see which part of the number is code and which is finish.
The work
What garages actually involves.
Two different jobs get called garage drywall. One is cosmetic: an unfinished garage you want boarded, painted and usable. The other is the rated separation between the garage and the living space, which the code specifies because a garage is where the fuel, the fumes and the car are.
The separation detail is unglamorous and routinely botched. The wall between garage and house takes half-inch board as a minimum, the ceiling beneath a habitable room above takes five-eighths fire-rated board, and the joints have to be taped — an untaped joint is a path, and the rating is for the assembly, not the sheet. We have opened up plenty of garages where the board was right and the joints were bare, which means the detail was never finished.
The rest of a garage is a practical problem rather than a code one. It is unheated, so it swings through Maryland's full temperature and humidity range twice a year; the ceiling will have a bike and a kayak hanging off it by next summer; and the lower two feet of wall will be hit by a bumper, a mower and a bin. We board accordingly.
Rated separation done right
Joints taped, not left open
Ceiling hung to carry storage
What garages costs in Maryland
Garage pricing by the square foot of board at a taped-and-coated finish. The fire-rated work is a separate line because its board and labour genuinely cost more.
- Hang and tape, paint-ready
- $1.80 – $3.00 per sq ft
- Single-car garage, walls and ceiling
- $1,800 – $3,600
- Two-car garage, walls and ceiling
- $2,900 – $5,800
- Fire-rated separation, per sq ft
- $2.40 – $3.90
- Firestopping penetrations, per location
- $45 – $120
- Impact-resistant lower course
- $9 – $18 per linear foot
Ranges, not quotes. Real numbers come from a walkthrough — access, condition, height and finish level move a price more than square footage does. Estimates are free and in writing.
Get your numberFull garages cost guide for MarylandPrefer to just talk?
Call and describe the job. You’ll get a straight answer on whether it’s something we do and roughly what it runs.
(301) 524-1729
Self-performed
Garage drywall
What’s included
Everything the garages scope actually covers.
Written into the estimate, not assumed. If something on your job is not on this list, it gets priced and named before anyone starts.
The separation built as an assembly
01Correct board on the garage side, fire-rated board on a ceiling under habitable space, and every joint taped. The rating belongs to the finished assembly rather than to the sheet.
Penetrations closed properly
02Wires, ducts and pipes crossing the separation sealed with the right firestopping material rather than expanding foam out of a tin.
Ceiling hung to be loaded
03Five-eighths board and tighter fastening on a garage ceiling, because yours will be carrying a storage rack within a year whatever anybody intends today.
Finish level matched to use
04A garage does not need a level 5 skim and you should not pay for one. Taped, coated and ready for paint is the sensible specification and we will say so.
Impact zone considered
05Options for the bottom couple of feet — a raised board line with trim, or a sacrificial sheet material — so the first bumper knock is not a repair.
The door jamb and header detailed
06The man door into the house is part of the separation. If the jamb and header are open or the door is not self-closing we will tell you, even though it is not our trade.
On the job
Drywall work across Frederick & Central MD.
What the trade looks like at each stage. Photos of our own recent jobs come out at the walkthrough, on the actual house.
Straight answers
Garages questions
Not covered here? Call and ask — you’ll get a real answer, not a “depends on the job”.
The code asks for a rated separation: half-inch gypsum as a minimum on the garage side of the common wall, and five-eighths fire-rated board on the garage ceiling where there is habitable space above it. The part people miss is that the joints must be taped and the penetrations firestopped, because the rating applies to the assembly as a whole. Your inspector signs that off — we build to it, we do not certify it.
The separation does, as a condition of the rating. The rest is your choice, and a taped-and-coated finish ready for paint is what we would recommend — a garage sees no raking light and does not justify a skim coat. What we would not do is leave it hung and untaped, because bare joints in an unheated space open up with the seasons and the board edges take damage.
The drywall will not and should not — the fixings have to reach the framing above it, and that is true whatever the board is. What we do is hang the ceiling in five-eighths with tighter fastening so it does not sag between joists under a loaded rack, and tell you where the joists run before the board hides them. If you know what is going up there, say so and we will note the locations.
Same crew, same visit
The rest of the drywall work.
Most drywall jobs are two or three of these at once, which is why they are priced and scheduled together rather than as separate call-outs.
From the field
Read up before you book.
Longer answers than a quote page has room for — how the work fails, what putting it right actually involves, and when waiting is the honest call.
Sources worth your time
Check us, and check the work
None of these are ours. They are the offices and standards bodies that set the rules we work to, so you can verify what we say rather than take it.
Frederick County permits and inspections
The county office that decides whether your job needs a permit. Routine gutter work does not; structural and roof work usually does.
OpenNational Association of Home Builders
Where the residential-construction standards and material research behind these decisions are published.
Open
Talk to the people doing the work
Get a straight number for the whole job.
Tell us what needs doing. We’ll walk it with you, sequence every trade it touches, put the price in writing, and leave you to decide.
Get a quote
Let’s price your project.
Two short steps. No obligation, no pressure — just a clear number and a straight answer about what the job involves.
Tick as many as you like. Most jobs are two or three of them at once, and I sort out the detail when I come and look. Nobody gets turned away for choosing the wrong box.
