randomly heated garage
 

moved up to the gold country from the bay area last spring purchasing a place in twain harte above sonora a couple months back. at about 4000' and was dumped on in the storm that is blowing through to the tune of 2 feet of snow over the last few days. it's cold this week with snow, yet will be mid 40's with rain next week meaning it can be either for the next few months, but mostly cold.

the place came with a killer shop that is equipped with a wood stove and enough wood to heat it from time to time. my wonder is am i doing more harm than good by heating it for a few days while ill be working on a project or the like, then it possibly going bone cold for a week more or less? I will not be battling freezing weather to work in the shop, but the temp swings could be extreme from say bone cold mid 20's to 50-60* if im doing stuff. I will keep the stove fired for a few days if ive got stuff to do in there.


i keep the 911 in there along with a couple motorcycles that sit all winter, in addition to a quad i manage snow with that will love starting warmed. I guess im mostly concerned about the car. the building is insulated in the roof trusses and formed pony walls off the cinder block retainer along the back n sides. ive winterized and hopefully have put measures in place to deter mice invasion into the car.

the CMU walls where the stove resides is another concern. stands to reason the woodstove will heat the cinder blocks in it's general vicinity where as 5-6 feet beyond will not be as warmed causing in my estimation differing expansion rates. might I expect there is an opportunity for cracking at the joints or blocks themselves from this localized heating? the stove is approx. 12" from said wall. the block wall is 8' tall and retaining to a point of 6' along the back. may be enough mass to not allow the heat to effect the wall much?

id love to here your thoughts on both of my concerns.

I live in a similar climate....My garage was 28 F when I went out to work today. Propane furnace warmed it to 48 and I got a few chores done.......Might be another week before I heat it up again....Been doing this for years........2 911 longhoods, my 190 SL and 12 motorcycles have never suffered.......Warm it only when you are out there......

Nothing in your garage will suffer by getting warmed up briefly and going back to cold. It will have no effect on anything.

Humidity in the shop is more of a concern than temp swings in my opinion . Not sure what is considered a " good range " for humidity but whatever it is I would try and maintain it .

When I built my free standing 28 X 30 garage 15 odd years ago I installed in floor heating using a 45 gal hot water heater as the heat source. There are small hot water heaters now available that are probably more efficient and certainly less bulky than my set up.
I turn my system ON in the fall and keep in ON until spring.
The inside of the garage stays at 16 to 18* C all winter long.
It is just as comfortable as the inside of my house and is perfect to do whatever guys want to do in the middle of winter, (that you aren't allowed to do in the house)
There are frugal people out there that think it's ridiculous to keep my garage that comfy all winter long but my argument is that at my age, the extra $125/ month for electricity isn't going to make any difference. Once you're gone, you're gone.

LOL...at least turn the heat off before ya go :)!

I keep mine just above freezing through the winter and will heat it up when working in the garage.
Easy to do with a Reznor unit heater. I wish that I had done the infloor heat but didn't have time before the pad was poured.
Don't think you will damage anything by letting the temperature swing unless you are storing paints or other stuff that is sensitive to freezing.

thanks for sharing your experiences. I will proceed with heating during planned work out there. will probably get a 4x8 sheet of the plywood used for sheeting roofs with the insulating foil material on it and put it behind the stove against the CMU wall before I get it really cooking.

Not sure how good of an idea it is to put wood and foam near the stove- maybe cement board and a fireproof reflective material?

Living in MI, my heated garage can get super humid in the spring and summer. I keep a dehumidifier in it at all times. Without it, the floor is wet and slippery. During the spring, when the weather warms, I have to empty the DH every day.
Dampness is an enemy to metal.

the plywood roof sheeting im talking about has no foam, just a foil like covering that faces down into the attic when installed. increases the fire rating of the roof sheeting significantly per a contractor buddy of mine. but i follow you especially after looking close the stove is w/i 6" of the CMU wall. maybe something like you suggest in wonder board tile backer away from the wall face an inch or so there's some dead air space between the backer and wall.

Build a gas powered forge. Propane. VERY hot. Will heat shop up very quickly, and won't need to be on all day. Used to heat a shop that way years ago.

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Just light a little fire and see how you like it. Someone did this before you got there, and someone will do this after you left. Block heats slowly, and doesn't expand much. It is easily as impervious to heat as backer board.

It isn't like you are pouring cold tomato sauce into a pre heated Corning Ware casserole dish.

Store your gas can somewhere else, and pop open the garage door for a minute if you need to vent. Gas vapors tend to pool at the floor, and will flow right out the door.

I keep my garage at 58° throughout the winter and turn the heat up when I go out there to work. It’s nice having a relatively warm garage floor and tools when I go out there to work on something.

do you have any electronic devices in there that have cautions about avoiding a condensing atmosphere?

say, an old hp 5 digit multi-meter or laser interferometers?

otherwise, no problem

also a 'randomly heated garage' might seem to get you into trouble with Maxwell's Demon...

Heating and cooling (below freezing) I've seen causing flash rust on unprotected metal. I keep my shop around 50F at night and 62F when I'm working, higher if painting.
Humidity is more of an issue in the summer, I'm adding AC to my shop.

My brother heats and cools his shop only when he's in it working. Granted he lives in Northern Virginia so not quite a comparable climate but he does it and doesn't seem to have any adverse effects from it and his ship has finished drywall.

I threw an old wood stove in a garage for a few years. I would build a fire, have my breakfast and go out there. I threw some foil faced insulation up into the rafters. 60 or so is a nice working temperature for me.

It was very homespun, but a very pleasant working environment and a nice routine. Carburetors and such were rebuilt inside on the old kitchen table. OTOH, yesterday I was rebuilding the chute motor for my snowblower on my knees next to the open garage door, so what do I know? I had to bring the motor case into the house and warm it on the stove to glue the permanent magnet back into place. It was probably 20 out, and I was happy as a clam.

Heating up a garage space isn't about a roaring fire with flames licking up the flue pipe. It is just about creating a little heat and a little common sense without the need for perfection. It is a little winter adventure to get out of the house and maybe do something useful or engrossing.

The thing is, if it is just about doing something and spending time out of the house, you can always turn the workspace into a project in and of itself. What do you think you want to do ?

any brand names or manufacturers milt?


I will be receiving a snow blade for my quad Thursday and will get underway with that install asap. also working on an IROC bumper for the car and will be doing fiberglass work. will try those two projects to see how things go.

I used a woodstove extensively in my old bay area home so am versed in keeping things reasonable. if I ran it for a couple days even when out the house would stay warm for a day or more after getting the wood floors heated well.

I thought of one more item - any uncoated Mg parts will 'tarnish' (low level corrode) in just a single winter in a garage in the PNW

(don't ask my friend how he knows this...)

but you can coat Mg with Boeshield, Gibbs etc.