New canoe shop

[Robin]

I’m finally able to spend some time working on my little “new to me” canoe shop. I built a canoe rack but it will need to be adjusted, sheet rock screws and and electric drill are my friend. I need to hang the 20’ ash, build some rough cabinets with the pine rough sawn and this fall insulate and put up some pine rs vertical interior siding. I’m going to start looking into a gas heating system, have heard some scary price stories, any ideas on heating a 22 x 12 garage?

 

[Jim Dodd]

Yeah it's hard to down size !

Insulate the heck out of the place ! They say gas heat is the cheapest. especially if you have gas handy.

I have two 5,000 watt 220 amp Electric heaters in my 26' x 30' two car garage. It's well insulated, and I'm in Iowa. Inexpensive to install, with no venting needed, or Carbon Monoxide to worry about.

It can easily add a $100/ month to my heating bill.

Jim

 

[ppine]

I have had good luck with kerosene heaters. Maybe a small sheet metal wood stove.

 

[Odyssey]

That square stern and trailer sure looks at home.

 

[Boatman53]

Robin, I tried to send you a PM but your box isn’t receiving any new messages. You can reply in a PM to me but I was wondering where you ended up, as that shop looks very familiar and I’m curious if it is one of the houses we looked at.
Jim

 

[lowangle al]

What's in the four car garage? Chickens?

 

[Roybrew]

I like natural gas, but for a shop it may not be practible because of the wood dust, epoxies and resins. We had a mini split 110 volt electric heat and air installed in mother in-laws suit. It seems to do pretty good, and maybe added about 70$ to our electric. She kept her area about 76 degrees all the time summer and winter. Of course TN is a little further south, but it does cost more to cool then heat. Nice shop and contents by the way.

 

[Roybrew]

I guess what is an advantage of these things is the head unit can be mounted anywhere on an exterior wall. Mine had to have at least a clearance of 6 inches from the ceiling. I had a heat and air tech discharge it, so I could move the inside and outside unit, long story why. It wasn't very hard to move to different area of wall. I did everything except recharge the unit after I relocated it. The outside unit can be mounted on brackets attached to the exterior wall, just a point because I figure you get a pile of snow in the winter. The room is 16 by 24 feet. It does struggle when temps drop down to below 20 degrees F. Of course that doesn't happen often around here. Maybe a 220 be more beneficial in cooler climates. I think I would avoid any open flame units. I'd hate to smell expensive and unique canoes burning. Check them out on line. Might be to your liking. The one I've got is 10 years old, and I haven't had a problem with it,...yet.

 

[LanceR]

Robin, that canoe and trailer are just in your way. How about I come get them out of there for you?

Seriously though, congrats on the workspace. You might want to look up "garage heaters" and browse what's out there. They can be had in hanging and flush to the ceiling styles and the gas ones are vented outdoors and the flame sources are isolated from the conditioned space so there is no ignition hazard. Many of them incorporate an air filter which is a good thing but you might need to either change filters often or get a couple of cleanable filters so you can have one in place while another one dries.


Best regards and again, congrats on the new workspace.


Lance

 

[memaquay]

Lots of people around here have natural gas heaters in their garages. Don'y take up much room, pretty efficient. Runs about 5000 canadian to buy and install I believe. Could always have a wood stove for back up, if your insurance company is down with it. Ours almost went purple when I suggested it. Anyway, good looking garage. Now get that square stern out!

 

[stripperguy]

Your walls are still open studs, you can easily put some radiant heat lines in the lower section of the walls. Shim out the studs, insulate the hell out of it, add sheetrock or other sheathing (it is a shop!). Then you have options: small, high efficiency gas boiler, either LP or NG, a 40 or 50 gallon high efficiency water heater, or even a wood boiler...But, radiant is not so good for intermittent demands, best to set it and forget it. Even so, you can't get much more comfortable, safe and efficient heating than radiant.

 

[Murat V]

Good luck with the new shop, Robin. Looking forward to seeing many more pics of all your restoration efforts.

 

[Robin]

Thanks, lots of options to consider. I like all of them for various reasons. If the shop wasn’t attached to the house I would go with a small wood stove, we have plenty of wood and I like heating with wood. Not sure the insurance company would go for it though. I wonder if the heat pump would get it done, gets pretty cold here. While gas is expensive to install I think it would keep the shop warm at a reasonable price.
My friend Schuyler ran a wood stove in his shop and oil heat in his paint room, never an issue. I am slowing down on the canoe work so I could save the risky fumes stuff for the warmer season with the garage door open.
Thanks for the feedback, good stuff.

 

[Robin]

What's in the four car garage? Chickens?

ha, the chickens stayed in Ct, we miss them but I have heard they are loving life with the new owners of our old house. Here’s our new 4 car garage.
The door to the shop is on the right,

 

[sweeper]

The problem with the Heat Pumps is they aren't efficient below 27˚F (the number I remember for ours) at that point we burn wood

Looks like you're settling in very well

 

[Jim Dodd]

Looks like you have electrical service handy.

I found a a deal on my electric heaters, $75 a piece. Both heaters were less that 15' from my panel.
Here in the upper right hand corner you can see one of my heaters.



A thermostat can be hooked up, but I just adjust mine by the dial.

In any case Insulation is the key !

I spy a Dryer vent. That should help !

Jim

 

[Canotrouge]

I have 2 of those in my shop, 16x20 r35 in the walk and r40+ in the roof, we get a few weeks at below -40 and the shop is kept at around 14c but easily can be warmed up to 18-20c in no time!! These things are quite, efficient and almost zero maintenance, they take no space they are never in the way and they can be wired to a thermostat (I just use the integrated one and it was a mistake lol). They fit in between studs in the wall!! https://www.sesco.ca/products/17-he...ndmMjAwOHN3-wall-insert-soft-white-2000w-208v

 

[Alan Gage]

I think electric would be hard to beat in a small insulated shop just from ease and cost to purchase and install. It will be more expensive to run but if you're not heating it full time than it might take a long time for those higher running costs to offset the low install cost.

Radiant gas heaters are nice too and for a space that size it wouldn't take much. Around here propane is relatively cheap where natural gas isn't available. For such a small shop it wouldn't take much of a heater and running a single gas line isn't a big deal. You can generally go through the side wall for venting.

Roof/attic insulation will be more important than walls. And plugging up any air leaks is more important than insulation.

Alan

 

[Robin]

Thanks for all the ideas, the shop is slowly coming along. Right now I am insulating and putting up some pine boards rather than Sheetrock, I’m just to old to move sheetrock! Working alone, the ceiling is tough.
I also installed two new windows, my old eyes will appreciate the extra lite. I still haven’t deceided on heat, I have a small wood stove that will only be used while I’m in the shop, but a gas heater sounds good. I took Alan’s advice and have been working hard on doing the insulation right.

 

[scoutergriz]

Most shops up here run gas simply because our power costs are astronomical. Gas (and even fuel oil) can and is used safely in many high- fume areas by using either self- vented radiant units or conventional systems with a heat exchanger. both systems have the flame contained in a sealed unit with no ignition source exposed to shop air and are TSSA and UL certified