shop heat

Hi Silver,

FWIW:

1. First assumption is that your shop has a concrete floor.

2, Do you have level ceiling joists, or exposed sloping rafters? ....... & if so, ceiling height please?

3, Next, in either case, what is either the ceiling or under roof construction like?

4. What is the exterior wall construction like?

5. Are openings sealed well to prevent cold air infiltration?

No doubt like with most hobby's, "cost" is a "major" factor, but either you pay for:

A. Insulating the entire shop, "once"; and/or,

B. Provide a smaller work area, "once"; and/or,

C. Just add more heat & pay through the nose for fuel "often" every time you go to your shop in winter.

Let us know what you have with your shop, & what you prefer, & help will surely be on the way.

Solutions are endless once you describe in detail what you have.
 
Hi Guys,
My "shop" is a 20 x 16 meter hangar at Stellenbosch airfield, about 50 km from Cape Town.
Here in sunny South Africa the outside temps at my "shop" peaked at 42 degrees celcius a few times this year.
Regards
Chris
 
Sorry for you guys back East with all that snow.
Not much need for heat out here in SoCal. (We need water.)
Conversely, I have to stop working in my garage when it gets too hot in the summer.
 
When I built my shop 16 X 32 with office work area to the side 10 X 24 I was fortunate to be able to install in-floor radiant heating powered by a natural gas water heater. 4 inch concrete on insulated floor. I also have a air tight small woodstove to take a little chill out of the air when starting up in the morning. During our cold Canadian weather spell (about -25 deg. celcius), the water tank was working 20 out of 24 hours.
 
Have 42x80 but only heat two rooms 24x28 & 24x14. Decent insulation but not heavy. Concrete blocks from footer to stud wall insulated in otherwise hollow section. R13 in walls & R19 in ceilings. Five thermopane windows. Insulated doors. Natural gas furnace at 50 degrees when not working. WIFI thermostat to raise temperature from house(or anywhere) before going out to work(play). Have not noticed much difference in total gas bill but will probably eat those words when the next gas bill arrives.
 
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Roger V said:
Have 42x80 but only heat two rooms 24x28 & 24x14. Decent insulation but not heavy. Concrete blocks from footer to stud wall insulated in otherwise hollow section. R13 in walls & R19 in ceilings. Five thermopane windows. Insulated doors. Natural gas furnace at 50 degrees when not working. WIFI thermostat to raise temperature from house before going out to work(play). Have not noticed much difference in total gas bill but will probably eat those words when the next gas bill arrives.
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:D Mine probably does not count but this winter has been a killer for us. :o Last months fuel oil bill was $3,100.00 to heat our 3 buildings :eek:! Their sizes are 40x80, 40 x 60, and 32x40. We typically operate the building at 62° during the day and down to 50° in the evenings and weekends. The thermostat in each building brings the temps up 1 hour before we arrive and starts lowering about 30 minutes before we leave. I definitely am ready for Spring!! ;)
 
I live in michigan it's been a really cold winter I youse a Q mart electric ceiling heater . My garage never gets lower than 35 deg it is well insulated and in 15 min it's 70 deg it has a electric thermostat it turns on and off so it's cost effective to youse !!!
 
My metal 30x40 shop is insulated with six inch batts installed as the siding was installed. A pain to install BTW, but well worth it.

It has been down to -2 deg this winter with horrible wind chills (minus below walking around outside) and the coldest I have seen it is 34 deg. without heat.

I installed a small potbelly stove (from my childhood home) and burn wood. I have a ceiling fan and after the stove burns less than a half hour it is up in the 60's near the stove and the mid-fifties elsewhere. Several days ago it actually got too hot near the stove. I probably burn 8 or 10 chunks of wood on cold days (my stove won't take anything big or longer than about 15 inches).

IMHO it's all about INSULATION. My neighbor has an identical building with NO insulation and he CAN'T work in really cold weather.

Ted
 
Geothermal - our garage is under the house and the foundation is cut back in to the side of a mountain. So the floor is 10' below ground level. The temp this morning was -15 yet the garage was still 51 degrees. During the summer when it is 100 outside the garage floor is 70 degrees. Normally the garage stays at around 55 all winter and 65 degrees all summer, so when you pull the car (Jeep) into the garage with all the ice and snow, it is completely melted off by morning. During the winter , a couple of sweat shirts and you are good to go. Then all you have to do is squeegee out the garage. Owh yah..the cost - free!
 
H. L. Chauvin said:
Hi Silver,

FWIW:

1. First assumption is that your shop has a concrete floor.

2, Do you have level ceiling joists, or exposed sloping rafters? ....... & if so, ceiling height please?

3, Next, in either case, what is either the ceiling or under roof construction like?

4. What is the exterior wall construction like?

5. Are openings sealed well to prevent cold air infiltration?

No doubt like with most hobby's, "cost" is a "major" factor, but either you pay for:

A. Insulating the entire shop, "once"; and/or,

B. Provide a smaller work area, "once"; and/or,

C. Just add more heat & pay through the nose for fuel "often" every time you go to your shop in winter.

Let us know what you have with your shop, & what you prefer, & help will surely be on the way.

Solutions are endless once you describe in detail what you have.
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The shop is a pole barn that has open rafters that are13'6" from the concrete floor. The interior walls have 4'' of insulation ,but the roof is bare metal the peak of the roof has vents every 5'. The storage areas are separate rooms which is about a 1/4 of the shop. The wood stove is a double 55 gal wood stove with a fan. the sliding doors are as tight as possible but are bare metal. I've contemplated putting a ceiling in the shop on the rafters but haven't done it as ladder work is not an option, at 70 yrs old it's a little shaky for this beat up body.
 
Brobrian said:
Sorry for you guys back East with all that snow.
Not much need for heat out here in SoCal. (We need water.)
Conversely, I have to stop working in my garage when it gets too hot in the summer.
Click to expand...

I have the same problem here in Australia, it gets too hot in the shed to enter. Anything in the mid 30C's (80's) and up make my shed too hot to be in. I have a skylight and my A is parked underneath, receiving direct, UV filtered light, and on one day that was low 40C's (100's) outside, I measured the surface of the A with an infared gun. It measured 59C, or 138F. Just a bit too hot for me.
 
I use plastic tubing set in the concrete then hook it up to a 80 gallon gas water heater with a pump to move the water through it. This keeps the floor warm just add fans to move heat around . Cheap to heat
 
we have an energy logic waste oil heater at our shop. it works excellent and is very low maintenance. all summer we save the oil in heating oil tanks and 55 gal drums. the tank also serves as a work bench which is very handy.
cant beat free heat but you need to have a source for the oil
 

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I HAVE A 14X26 ROOM AT THE BACK END OF MY GARAGE. USE AN OIL FIRED HOT AIR TRAILER FURNACE FROM A MOBIL HOME. SET THE THERO AT 60 DEGREES. TURN IT ON ABOUT AN HOUR BEFORE I GO OUT. WORKS GREAT. I DO USE KEROSCENE AS # 2 OIL STARTS HARD IN OUR LOUSY COLD WEATHER.:mad:
 
Merc Cruzer said:
Geothermal - our garage is under the house and the foundation is cut back in to the side of a mountain. So the floor is 10' below ground level. The temp this morning was -15 yet the garage was still 51 degrees. During the summer when it is 100 outside the garage floor is 70 degrees. Normally the garage stays at around 55 all winter and 65 degrees all summer, so when you pull the car (Jeep) into the garage with all the ice and snow, it is completely melted off by morning. During the winter , a couple of sweat shirts and you are good to go. Then all you have to do is squeegee out the garage. Owh yah..the cost - free!
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Doesn't daily heating and melting salt ladden snow really rust out the body quickly?:confused:

I leave my modern car outside year round because I have 2 A's in the garage. I give the Olds a good desalting after all the snow melts. This year we've had so many snowfalls that the roads are almost always wet with liquid salt slush, so it's going to be tough on the cars. I try to pick only days with dry roads to make my shopping trips, but it isn't possible this winter.:mad:
 
Silversink, you gotta hire some 'kids' or insulation co. to insulate/add your ceiling in your work area. Gotta go at least R22. Someone here already said it is all about insulation and he was right. If you are 70, I am not far behind you. We have many more good yrs ahead of us. You gonna let old man winter spoil that?? You can't take it with you. Do it and be happier in the winter when you can't do anything else anyway. Remember, you are dead a long time.
 
We have been getting smacked around pretty good here. My house power has been off since 3 am and still is off with no timeline for restoration, from the heavy snow and then the ice storm. I put in a whole house generator two months ago the wife said i was nuts. Today she is kissing my *** for doing it.
I even have my landscape lighting on:eek:
I am keeping an eye out to make sure one of my neighbors don't smash it
 
My shop is 30x64x10 and pretty well insulated but no heat. Temps get pretty darn cold in NW Ohio. I dress warm and once I'm moving I really don't get cold. I also have a ongoing wood carving project that will warm you up real well after an hour of chiseling. The only bad thing is that since it is so cold no one comes out of the house to visit me. I eventually make it back indoors around supper time though.
 
1930 coupe said:
Could you give some more information on how you sealed your overhead doors. What is spring loaded hinges?
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Anyone that has overhead doors( most everyone) needs to check out this website-greenhingesystems.com. I installed the best doors I could find and adjusted them as well as possible, and they still leaked a lot of air. Installed these spring loaded hinges that put tension against the door to press it against the jamb and now it is tight- no leaks. These should be standard equipment on all overhead doors.
 
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