Heated Garages

[Anni Apple +Midnight]

I'm building a myself a garage in the new year and am wondering what you guys think. I am debating whether I should use standard overhead heaters or if I should go with in floor heating to maintain a relatively moderate temperature over the winter months (40 to 45 degrees F).
I've figured out where the hoists and racks are going to be laid out so penetrating the water coils is a non issue. Which would you go with?

 

[Salerio]

I would go with the system that is more energy efficient. 45 degrees F for a garage is more than enough warmth for those cold winter days and it would be much quieter if the floor heating is the method that would save some bucks energy wise.

 

[Unbreakable]

Floor heating, the concrete will act as a bank for the warmth. Hot air rises, if the source is high you'll need fans to circulate it. You can keep the heat lower if your feet are warm.

Make sure you insulate the floor with several inches of styrofoam underneath it.

 

[Danielle B]

The plan if I go that route is to do 2 inches under the slab as well as 2 inches around the outside of the foundation and kneewall - which will be about a foot tall. Actually maybe I should call that an ankle wall seeing how my knees are actually 22 inches above the ground.
Some have told me that a metalized bubble wrap is also good for insulation but it doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

 

[blueeyed girl]

Well I'm going to be building a workshop/garage in the spring too and I'm seriously looking at geo-thermal. The ground water here is around a constant 60 degrees so in a closed loop system the only electricty you use is for the pump. The beauty is that running it in the summer will act as a cooler too so it will be comfy all year round.

Same idea as radiant floor heating but instead of heating elements, there is tubing laid into the floor.......

I will tell you though, overhead heaters would be cheaper initially and easier to install but not as cost effective to run.....

One thing I would focus on as well is to make sure your walls and roof are VERY well insulated.

With lifts and stuff I'm not sure this is a hobby garage or a working one but Home Hardware sells some pretty reasonable Kits that include everything but the foundation and the garage doors. I priced one out and it was about 25% less than buying the materials off the shelf. The one I was looking at was about 20 x 30 with a 12/12 pitch roof and if memory serves, it was around $7K.....

 

[SecurityAnalyst]

My budget on it is around $150,000 and I am looking at 4000 square feet. Seems cheap but the steel building I priced out is coming in at 44,000 and cement work will be 65,000 to 75,000. After I get everything in like heat etc I should be around the 150 mark. The tubing is pretty cheap and really all you need is a hot water heater and a circulation pump.
I looked at Geothermal but the costs of driving in the piping etc down is a bit prohibitive. I was quoted 35-45,000. You can buy a lot of propane for that kind of money.

 

[MGSA]

Twenty five years ago I dug down my basement another 2 feet deeper and put radiant heat tubing in the new concrete, it doesn't cost anything to heat because they run from existing rads on the main floor.

It's nowhere near 4,000 square feet though, more like 600. That's going to be an impressive garage.

 

[hottemp]

Much less impressive than whats going to be inside it!

 

[california_love]

I'm going to guess a couple of his and hers Porsche Cayennes?:na:

 

[Bobber Geldkraft]

You might want to consider how long you plan to keep this garage and which options would be more attractive to potential buyers.

The in-floor system can probably be most easily installed during initial construction while other systems can probably go in at any time. This might be something to think about. Can you even retrofit the floor system down the road if you don't opt for it initially?

What about realiability and repairs...If a floor unit goes, can it even be fixed? External units could be repaired/replaced much more easily.

Just some things that popped into my head.

Good luck with the garage.

 

[duck]

Ditto when I looked at doing a custom build. My GC did it for his home, but said it was more cost effective when the gov't was offering incentive subsidies. The payback is ridiculous if you're paying full bang out of your own pocket.

 

[mimi momo]

HAHA! No.

64 Lincoln Continental Convertible
74 Cadi Eldorado Convertible
57 Chevy Pick-up
Looking for a mid 50's Ford Panel van.
Couple of BMW bikes PLUS this magnificent machine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cM9S2AzU28

I need room for the long table.

 

[Bakar]

Wow, nice rides especially the first 3.:great:

 

[Kevin[Loves Jayneeee]]

That's a BMW??? nice ride....I prefer mine tho......

The 3rd down is more my style....thinking of picking up an oldie and fixin' her up......40's or 50's ford or chevy. If I could get my hand's on an old 20's if the body is repairable, I'd do a tame street rod out of it......one went up on the show "auction kings" in perfect running order for $8,000.00 damn it was a nice one......

 

[Buffy]

Sorry t-boy but believe it or not I'd rather ride my bike than fix it! HEYOOOO!
(Yes Harleys are better than they used to be.)

However I have a fetish for German engineering. Actually maybe I should go find a v-rod.

I'm not fond of rat rods or anything like that, but I love a car that can scat when I want it to.

 

[ibeaver]

LOL you sound like the flunkies up here....little does anyone know that they are all computer controlled fuel injected now but just an aside, wait until you run into electrical problems with all these high tech 2 wheelers.

A guy I ride with up here had a v rod and traded it for a honda spaceship bike with dual clutches and finger tip shift (kind of like paddle shifters). When I first saw it I thought: ok, now where do the rocket launchers go?). Talk about complicated: 4 into 2 into 1 into 2 exhaust....yeah, that'll be cheap to fix.....

They also harp on honda cruisers and how blah blah good blah blah they are...I simply said to one guy: Did you buy your wife a cubic zirconia or a diamond as an engagement ring? Because that's what all the rice cruisers are: imitations of the real thing. No air ride suspension, no a/c, no 4 into 2 into 1 into 2 exhausts, 2 wheels, 2 cylinders 1 tank, 1 seat and torque 'til tuesday.

 

[Adulthood]

if you figure on working out there in the winter you might want to do the radiant heat and also add a pellet furnace for the days you want to be out there. The things are pretty efficient and will help make it a bit more comfortable to work in.

 

[~CriCkeT~]

I jest. I had a V-rod for a while but I was able to turn it around for a huge profit.
My bimmers have been trouble free over the last 10 years. I figure why mess with my good luck? The V-rod was a pretty nice bike but just not to my taste.

If I run across an old car as you describe I'll let you know.

 

[Ur Hunny]

Nice list.........Lucky bugger.

 

[Aaron_J88]

Nice list, but when it cums right down to it... I'd rather ride what goes in my garage...

(Mrs. CG & her GF use my garage as a smoking room...)