heating my garage

A

andymartin

Well-known user
Nov 23, 2011
661
32
Fife
since i know have a shed the garage is a toys free zone:):):)

well apart from the cat and my tools

so i want to have a big workbench along my back wall and put some kitchean cuboards in for storage will make the place a but neater all ready got a massive worktop for nothing just needs some old kitchean units should be easy for that

my next plan is to try and heat the garage its just breeze block is there any cheap ways? i know i will need to put decent windows in and new garage side door...

i can see this being into late this year before i start on this but the cogs are turning and i like to get into things

this will keep the cat warm and let me go out there in all weathers work on the cat and the kids quads and may be usefull in future fixes?

any ideas folks and when is the next meat in scotland? dont tell me we have to wait till april i was outside to day giving it its first polish
 
Is it an integral garage or a detached garage?

What sort of size is it?

As you say you need to seal it up first. So make sure the door is a good seal. If the walls are single block then it may be worth insulating the walls but will be pricey. You can buy some insulated plaster board to put round or use celotex or similar.

What about the roof? Is it pitched or flat? Any possibilities of insulating that?

What do you want heat for? Do you want a constant low level heat in there or do you want instant heat just when you are working in there? Do you want to spend full days in there or are you expecting to just spend the odd afternoon tinkering?

Propane space heaters are quick effective ways to heat a space like that, they work quickly but they do need space around them otherwise you'll be blistering the paint off the car!

You can get an electric version of the space heater with a big fan but they're limited to 3kW on normal mains so only give a warm output, this is obviously safer but it takes longer to warm up. For my garage this is what I would use.

Cheapest way is what I've done this year - just put extra thermals on!
 
i think it may be thermals its a detached garage the garage is huge you can get a car and half in there roof is flat felt would love it to have constant heat incase the wife kicks me out there but would love it to be a place for me and my 4 boys to plonder about in and not get disturbed by women
i would imagine it will not be long before my eldest son wants to start making models etc
i have been searching ebay i think a space heater eletric one would be best overall
 
The electric space heaters are OK, I used to use one in a small warehouse (probably a little larger than a double garage with huge wooden doors) where it was unsafe to use a propane one due to stored cardboard etc. The advantage with them was the fact that they do blow the heat around a bit whereas uv/halogen tend to just heat the area around them.

Don't be too over optimistic about how well it will work though! 3kW only ever felt warm even right next to the heater as it's being blown away before it could get hot, however I always found it enough and when you were working packing etc it was more than enough (although you are a couple of hundred miles further north and probably a good few degrees colder!)


Oh just remembered it made it loads better when we painted the floor as well, as before the fan would kick up dust from the concrete floor, worth giving the floor a quick paint first - and just reminded me I have a big tin of paint ready to re-paint my garage floor. (might have to do some work to be able to see my floor though!)
 
thanks for the tips folks i would not have thought about the floor, need to find new windows and a side door first then work from there
 
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