Researching heat options.

[TheGreek]

Hey everyone. I'm new on here. Looking for advice and ideas. This is my first home so this is all new to me.
It's a new construction that we bought about 6 months ago in Northern Nj. The garage is 21x35 of 2x4 frame insulated and sheet rocked. Its attached with one common wall of about 30 feet. The rest is exposed and faces north. Ceiling is 2/3rds 10 feet high and the remaining 1/3 is 13 feet high. Ceiling is also sheetrocked and insulated 2x10s with an attic above. It has one 9x7 insulated garage door and one 16x7 insulated door. Has 2 double pane insulated windows 55x34. It sits on concrete slab. Right now it isn't heated and stays about 15 degrees warmer than outside. I am surprised at how cold it is but without a heat source I guess it makes sense. I'm not looking for 70 degrees in the garage. I work in shops and having cars and tools at about 55-60 would be perfect.
I've used the Hydronics explorer to the best of my ability and came up with heat loses of 15k to 25k btu depending on varying outside and desired inside temps. I am not sure if there is a standard temp to use for either one of those.
My original idea was to go with a hanging Big maxx heater but after talking it over with a contractor I felt it would be opening a can of worms. I am trying to stay under the radar with my garage build up and going for permits and trying to stay away from Plumbing, building and any other inspections is preferred. Next idea was to go with either baseboard or a hanging hot water Modine heater on an additional zone off my house heat, which led me to the Hydronic explorer. At this point I and going to try to see how much headroom I have left in the boiler to see if it can handle the extra zone. In the future I wanted to finish my basement and that would need a zone as well. I was told to measure the length of active fins of my current baseboards then multiply that length by 580 and compare that number to the IBR of my boiler. I don't know exactly what that means but will look into it.
If anyone can chime in if there Is anything I am overlooking or with any suggestions I'd appreciate it. Thanks

 

[Mike007]

Why are you against permits?

 

[TheGreek]

I have nothing against getting permits. Any work we've done so far was done with the necessary permits. I'm just new to the state and don't know how ppl react when they hear you want to start working on cars and stuff.

From what I have gathered so far putting a gas heater in a garage would most likely involve permits for hanging the unit, plumbing gas to it, venting the flue out to the main part of the house bc I don't want it out a side wall. Since the roof is below the 2nd floor of the house, I may not be allowed to just vent it out the garage roof. Lastly since I don't have any smoke alarms In the garage I may need to install hard wired alarms in the garage which would also require electrical work and another permit. It seemed to be a much bigger deal than I thought.

Maybe my contractor steered me in the wrong direction. Since you are in Nj maybe you can shed some light on these issues.

 

[Mike007]

I have nothing against getting permits. Any work we've done so far was done with the necessary permits. I'm just new to the state and don't know how ppl react when they hear you want to start working on cars and stuff.

From what I have gathered so far putting a gas heater in a garage would most likely involve permits for hanging the unit, plumbing gas to it, venting the flue out to the main part of the house bc I don't want it out a side wall. Since the roof is below the 2nd floor of the house, I may not be allowed to just vent it out the garage roof. Lastly since I don't have any smoke alarms In the garage I may need to install hard wired alarms in the garage which would also require electrical work and another permit. It seemed to be a much bigger deal than I thought.

Maybe my contractor steered me in the wrong direction. Since you are in Nj maybe you can shed some light on these issues.

No problem. We have a Uniform Construction Code in NJ that pretty much dictates how the whole permit process is to be handled. Despite that, different building departments will interpret the U.C.C. differently. A gas heater typically requires 3 permits. One of the following: Building / mechanical / plumbing and then Fire and Electrical. Trust me, I know permits are a major headache in Nazi Jersey. There are a few things that keep me pulling permits. 1) A lot of building departments are actively looking for work being done without permits. 2) If you get away with it, and then decide to sell in 20 years, some town inspectors are actively looking for work done without permits when it comes time for your required c/o inspection. Everything is computerized and with a few clicks of a mouse they can see if a permit was pulled or not. 3) God forbid something goes wrong and the heater starts a fire that burns your house down. If its determined the heater was installed without a permit the insurance company can deny your claim. This seemed unlikely to me until a friend went several rounds with his insurance company. His claim was denied until he was able to produce a permit for the work. 4) If you are a HO who is not an expert having work done, how else are you to know the work being done is code compliant and correct? Without a permit pulled by the installer, once he's paid it's your problem. If theres an issue with the installation and a permit was pulled, he can be fined $2000 if he doesn't make it right.

You may have the work done without a permit and never have a problem. As a contractor I'm involved in too many jobs to take the risks.

 

[TheGreek]

Another one of my concerns is trying to find out these codes. Calling the building dept and asking in my eyes is raising suspicion. I called to ask about the heat and they only mentioned 2 permits. Asking around I find I'll probably need 3. I'm more than capable of doing any of the necessary work, but I won't be able to get a permit. I totally understand and agree with the reasoning and in the event something goes wrong its not worth the risk.

It's my understanding that going with my existing hot water heat I won't need any permits so I can do it myself. Is that true?

Any ideas where I can find these codes in detail?

 

[Mike007]

Another one of my concerns is trying to find out these codes. Calling the building dept and asking in my eyes is raising suspicion. I called to ask about the heat and they only mentioned 2 permits. Asking around I find I'll probably need 3. I'm more than capable of doing any of the necessary work, but I won't be able to get a permit. I totally understand and agree with the reasoning and in the event something goes wrong its not worth the risk.

It's my understanding that going with my existing hot water heat I won't need any permits so I can do it myself. Is that true?

Any ideas where I can find these codes in detail?

Some towns don't require a fire permit. It's not correct, but hey thats their problem. I'm going to guess and say based on my experience, a permit technically would probably be required to add baseboard to an existing system. Thats quite a bit different then installing a new gas fired appliance. If you call the building dept. they may even tell you not to bother. And I think it's doubtful anyone would ever question some extra baseboard down the road. As far as the codes go, here is a good place to start: http://www.state.nj.us/dca/divisions/codes/codreg/ Typically the installation instructions are a good guide. If you install the equipment as per the installation instructions, you should be OK.

 

[TheGreek]

Any other suggestions or advice?

 

[dirttracker18]

Yes, DO NOT tell them that you are going to work on cars. It is strickly for heated storage of vehicles and other household storage.

I am not familiar with rules in your area but in most places the rules change when you are going to use the space for anything other then storage. What you do with your space after all the permits have passed is up to you but that is not the intent of finishing and heating the space. Understand?
Just my $0.02 but that is what I had to do here to avoid much more challenging requirements.