Garage Thoughts

Once again, I am starting to worry about the winter temps. It has been rainy and cold (low 60's) for the past few days and it serves to remind me that I still have to address the garage situation.

It is an over-sized 2-car garage (44x46) with a loft. Electrical service was supplied off the house panel underground by the previous owner and I started to insulate it, but have only done the walls to this point with R-19. The problem (actually many problems) is that it was not designed correctly at all.

Here are the problems:

1. It was built with 7 foot garage doors. I actually have to remove my 3rd brake light on the van or else lower the tire pressures to park inside as the 1-ton van is just a little bit taller than 7 feet. Judging by the framework of the loft, there is no room to fit taller doors that I can see without doing a lot of re-engineering of the frame.

2. The house only has a 100 amp panel (electrical was upgraded in 1979, so it was expected) with a sub-panel powering the garage. As a result, the garage only gets 30 amps....barely enough to run power tools with the lights on and not enough to run multiple heaters. In years past, I had to run a heater off the house exterior outlet and one off the garage, but there wasn't anything left for a block heater.

3. The loft wasn't engineered for proper load bearing. The spans are too far apart to hold any real weight and it would be a nightmare to run new spans in between to beef up the rating. As it is, I only have half of it closed off with plywood since realizing the weight limitations. The loft is basically useless space which sucks as it has a nice set of loft doors up there and it would sure be useful for storage.

4. It is also unheated at this point. It will stay about 7 degrees warmer than outside air temperature without heat and it does heat up well with a construction heater, but it still requires a heater left in the van when parked inside.

Part of me wants to tear down the structure and start over with one that is built with my needs in mind, but that is more than I can afford to spend these days. So, my choices are to improve it or deal with what I have like in years past.

If I decide to upgrade, I would install a new electrical service independent of the house with a 100 amp box, insulate the attic flooring, and install an overhead shop heater and external outlets. I would still be stuck with the issue of the short doors, but I would be able to keep the shop above freezing while running heaters in the box truck outside.

Just not sure if it is worth the expense since the door height issue will still be a major pita and it would never be the garage that I actually want / need.

Just not sure what direction to go.....

Over here people use portable propane heater if the want to work in the garage in the winter. Not sure if it would be safe to run all night

That is what I have been doing for years, but it is only useful to warm up the garage before loading the van and for heating when working in the garage. After that, the freeze begins.

I want to be able to keep things above freezing during the night like my old heated shop was.

That is the big question, would it be worth it to upgrade this garage at about $3,000 - $4,000 or find a heated shop to rent? The only place that I have found had enough height to park the box truck inside as well, but would cost $550 per month and was located 8 miles away.

I personally would upgrade, because with proper upgrade, you wouldn't need to spend as much heating the garage and a whole less headache and worries if you go on vacation for a couple of days.

I'm a fan of spray foam insulation. It's expensive, but IMO the best bang for your buck you can get. Seals the walls tight.

I'd also heat the garage with natural gas/propane. 2-3 ventless heaters would make it toasty in there.

I have thought about the propane heaters. Seeing as how I need propane for my LG heater, setting up a tank in the backyard to feed garage heat and to refill my tank for the Little Giant makes some sense.

I actually have a buddy that delivers propane to this area and it would be right on his route. Just not sure if I want a tank in my yard.....will certainly consider it though.

I would propane heat the garage.    

Not sure about what to do with the box truck,   probably just have to run space heater in there.    

If its winter and Im not going to be using the van like for the week of christmas then I wrap the little giant in thermal blankets,    sometimes if its really cold I will do it for even just overnight til the next day of work.

only takes a few seconds to wrap blankets around it,    also usually wrap the pump on the machine.  

then a space heater that has a setting to keep it just above freezing about 45f

The propane idea is probably the best option. Will have to look into that once I get it cleaned up and insulated.

Where I live everyone has a propane 250 lb tank, Some of the smaller homes have a 50 gallon thats probably all you need

Actually, there are the 125 or 150 gallon vertical tanks. Here, you can put them right next to your home (not the bigger tanks though). So if the back of your garage is secluded, you could butt it right up to the house and it's one less thing to mow around.

One of the smaller tanks, would likely run two propane ventless heaters for most of the winter. Unless you have them turned all the way up, anyway.

I have about 1/4 acre of open ground behind my garage and a dog kennel sitting on cement slab that would make for a very nice location for a propane tank.....about 12 feet behind the garage.

I think that will likely be the direction that I take....I just need to get it cleaned up and insulated before the demand goes up. Around here, propane sales have been way down so it is very cheap right now.