Winterizing garage workshop

[Colin Campbell]

Living in the Great White North, and sharing a 1 1/2 car garage with my beloved, I'm in the process of trying to extend my shop time beyond the week and a half of summer. Beyond the obvious steps of opening the walls, running wiring in all directions, adding poly on the warm side, and re- covering, I'm also opening vents in the eaves (existing is completely closed off, and fiberglas was stuffed up in contact with the underside of the roof!), then finishing the ceiling as usual: drywall, poly, fiberglass between the chords of the rafters. My question deals with the effects of sharing with a car: how do the rest of you handle the ice and slush tracked in by the vehicle? Warming the shop to anything above freezing seems to invite a major humidity issue, rusty tools, strange warpage of stored woods, and so forth. I suppose I could keep it semi-heated most of the time, but the utility costs (electric) would likely be startling.

Any suggestions appreciated!

Cheers, Colin

[Clare Snyder]

An ice scraper and snow shovel followed by a stiff broom to get the excess moisture out.

Follow by turning on the heat lamps you installed in the ceiling for the job to heat the floor while leavinga door cracked open to allow the humidity to get "sucked out" and "Robert is your mother's brother"

The heat lamps warm you and your equioment without having to heat all of the air first. A few hundred watts is more effective than a 1500 watt space heater.

[Keith Nuttle]

A squeegee works well IF you have fairly flat floors in good condition. It removes more water than a broom.

At this point it is a little to late, but I have seen garages with a drain in the middle of the area where you park the cars.

[Colin Campbell]

Thanks for this, especially for the reminder about heat from lights: I had intended to look into halogen lighting, to get double use from the energy cost.

Cheers, Colin

[whit3rd]

...> The heat lamps warm you and your equioment without having to heat all

Yep, that's a good plan for a space that gets some winter use. Two additions, though: edged tools do NOT like condensing moisture, and might benefit from a cabinet with dessicant, or from taking 'em into the climate-controlled house. And, in addition to heat lamps, you can get IR panels that work well, at attractive prices, but don't get hot enough to combust sawdust.

'Radiant ceiling panel' is a good search string.

[Jack]

Explain to your beloved that a heated garage is the enemy of any vehicle living in the great white north, as the salt coating the roads and your vehicles only begins to create a rust bucket when it mixes with liquid water. The solution is to park outside, hope it only thaws out in the summer, and turn your garage into a nice shop.

[Colin Campbell]

A delightful suggestion, Jack, with considerable merit. I'm not entirely confident of success, though, and should I try it, I'll report back when I'm out of the hospital.

Cheers, Colin

[Jack]

Best of luck to you.

It worked for me, and to the chagrin of some, I'm still here:-)