When my wife told me 10 years ago that we need to move my only demand was a three car garage. I knew I was home as soon as I saw the garage. It is a oversized three car garage with a workshop and a bathroom. I assumed there was a bedroom and kitchen attached to my garage. I love my garage but this summer has been HOT, it was 105 yesterday.
I looked at how to air condition my garage and decided that the most cost effective way was a window unit. I framed up a piece of plywood with 2x4s and added some supports for the unit. My wife insisted that I paint it to match the house so I primed it and painted the same color as the trim on the house.
This shows the door where the unit goes. I had just finished painting the wood in this photo.
I built a shelf that is the same height as the opening for the unit. That way I can remove the unit by myself for the winter. It is at the height where my palms are when my elbows are braced against my body.
As I finished the paint job it was a bit warm.
Here is the unit in place and running. It is a 10,100 BTU unit designed to cool about 900 square feet. It was 105 degrees yesterday and I had two cars with hot engines parked in there. I went out at 6:00 and turned on the A/C and it was 98 degrees in the garage. I went back out 30 minutes later and it was 84 degrees. That sounds hot but with the two ceiling fans running and the A/C blowing right on my work area in was not bad at all. By 8:00 it was the same temp as the house. You can see my 1st cordless drill on the wall.
I can just shut the door and the and the garage and the house is secure. The A/C unit just sits right outside the door. My plan is to just pull the A/C unit out and store it on the shelf for the winter. I can then store the wood frame against the ceiling in the garage. I have figured out a slot the foot of the frame will slide into and a lever that will swing over and secure the frame to the ceiling. The only draw back to this setup is I have to go through the house to get to the back yard.
In the end I spent a little over $500.00 for the A/C the wood and paint. I was able to wax my car on Sunday afternoon and I was cool and comfortable. It was a lot of work but it was wort the effort.
The wood door is the door to the bathroom.