Shop/garage heating & cooling: what'd you go with?

[427king]

Im doing the same thing. Checked around and the best is radiant heat with hot water tubes in the slab .Higher initial cost to instaLL but better overall heat and warm cement floors.Cheaper over the long haul. The down side is in a forced hot air system you can use the same ducts for the AC system if you want it,but i dont think ac is as important as heat[at least not where i am!]..Can always run the AC separate.

[Chevy454]

We've already missed the boat on that option, if ya get my drift! LOL!!

[k92]

I use a hotdawg forced air natural gas heater in my insulated 24x30 shop w/o any problems. I believe that it's 45,000 btu.I keep the shop at 60 degrees when I am not out there and can get it to 75 in about 15 to 20 minutes if I want.I used r-19 in the ceiling and r-13 in the walls and sheetrocked over it all so it's really pretty tight. Heater comes in many different sizes,mounts on the ceiling and cost me avout 450.00 with shipping.

[Postsedan]

I had a very similar set up in my old gargage...it`s a vertical wall unit at is only 17" wide and 5 feet tall...made to fit between the the standard wall studs...vents out the rear. 45,000 btu... worked great. I bought mine from Grainger Supply.

Dan.

[Belair62]

I put a home furnace in my barn and its only 24x25...one thing you must keep in mind rob....if you are going to be working with fuel in there in the winter...you must double vent that sucker...intake air has to come from outside or you can make a nice kaboom.

[kwhizz]

[ QUOTE ]
I put a home furnace in my barn and its only 24x25...one thing you must keep in mind rob....if you are going to be working with fuel in there in the winter...you must double vent that sucker...intake air has to come from outside or you can make a nice kaboom.

[/ QUOTE ]



Good Tip...............

Ken

[DarrenX33]

[ QUOTE ]
I had a very similar set up in my old gargage...it`s a vertical wall unit at is only 17" wide and 5 feet tall...made to fit between the the standard wall studs...vents out the rear. 45,000 btu... worked great. I bought mine from Grainger Supply.

Dan.

[/ QUOTE ]

Pretty much the same setup in mine.. Works like a charm.

[mmcporter]

Rob,

I am building a garage as this is being written and I went with the 75,000 BTU Modine Hot Dawg unit running on Propane. Radiant was simply too complicated and expensive for my detached unit, and we don't plan to do AC, so this option made sense. Like many of the others who responded, we are putting in a ton of insultation and sheetrock to make sure it's a tight structure.

Good luck.

Morris

[budnate]

last advice..at least for out here, a guy wants to lay real heavy duty plastic on the ground prior to pouring the floor to hold back the moisture/cold from coming in that way..

[mmcporter]

Actually budnate, you are correct. We put several mil polly on the ground between the crushed stone/sand and the slab. We also put fiberboard around the perimeter of the foundation before pouring the slab so that expansion and contraction can happen in a controlled way. We also took the masonry saw and cut some lines into the slab so that there is less likely to be cracking later. Finally, we used 3,500 PSI cement and put a ton of rebar along the front end where the garage meets the driveway so that the beginning of the slab won't crack if a car sits there.

Fun stuff!!