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Maybe one of those "turbo" vents that draw the hot attic air up and out would help you? Also, since heat is an issue, is it possible to give your metal roof a light color of paint? I don't know anything about metal roofs, but I'd think a white roof would not be as hot as a black roof. - Patrick

Glad you guys gave me some good ideas. I was going to try painting it with the paint I have (I'll have to read the label and do a test piece), and if that didn't work my wife was wanting me to put some kind of fancy wallpaper over it. Don't know if I could live with leaving it pink or not...

Will paint stick to extruded polystyrene...? I'm considering using some of that pink extruded polystyrene that comes in sheets to insulate the areas above my garage doors. I'm thinking about putting up about a 2' by 30' strip of the stuff across the entire front of my 3 car garage (over top...

Rough guestimates of what I did in my 3 car garage, although I didn't set a budget: Epoxy Floor - about $750 when it was all said & done. New Lights - about $500. A bunch of T-8's and shop lights. Insulate - about $1500. Heater - about $750 installed. Shelving, storage racks, paint, etc...

Gloss white will be "glary" in that light sources will be reflected. Imperfections under the paint will be more visible with the gloss. You could consider eggshell white. Look for the kind that is washable. I faced the same question about a year ago, and as it turned out one of my wife's...

Those are good comments - just what I was looking for :) So perhaps a better idea would be to run just the electric garage heater through the interruptible meter, and "give in" to my wife's repeated requests for a new refrigerator... Of course what that will actually mean is that the "old"...

The right answer is largely dependent upon the condition of the underlying surface. In my case, I had a really bad, pockmarked and pitted concrete surface to which I applied 2 coats of SW ArmorSeal. In hindsight, I should have applied 4 coats to "fill in" the craters. A friend had his floor...

My local electric company offers a hefty discount (50% off the normal rate) on electricity that is run through an Interruptible meter. That is a meter which is read separately from the regular house meter, and which can be remotely shut off by the electric company during times of "peak usage"...

Fascinating post, Chuckspeed.:) My wife works with a Mechanical Engineer who specializes in exactly this sort of thing (HVAC), and he said that Electric is better in the area where we live (I would have thought that Natural Gas was better). He took into account a pricing scheme from the local...

We do have a nuke plant a few miles away. - Patrick

With the prices of natural gas going up quite a bit over the last couple years, is an electric heater a viable option for somebody who lives in Minnesota? For an average 3 car garage - doesn't need to be heated all the time - just when I'm working on cars & stuff in the evenings. What say...

45k vs 75k ? Would it be better to have the 75k btu one or the 45k btu one? I'm thinking the larger one would heat up a cold MN garage quicker, and then not have to run as often as the smaller one. Maybe an efficiency thing that would save a bit of money in the long run? Anybody got any...

What if you live in a part of the country where you never need air-conditioning? Perhaps the option of overhead radiant heat then becomes a less expensive option for you? - Patrick

How quickly do they heat up a garage...? How quickly do they heat up a garage...? I'm thinking that on an ordinary winter evening, I get home and turn on the heater, then go in the house and have dinner, then go into the garage. Will it be warmed up much? Say my 3 car garage has a...

That's the kind of advice I was looking for! Thanks for sharing your experience. - Patrick

I live in Minnesota, and would like to be able to do more projects (car stuff) in the winter. Regarding a Radiant Tube heater, I have some questions for anyone who has one and can share their experience: Is it a DIY project to install? About how much would one cost? Are they economical to...

I had a similar situation as you. 3 car garage, with a dim 60W incandescent fixture over each bay. I got a ladder and removed the incandescent fixtures and hard wired four sets of 8' T-8's (actually they are 8 foot fixtures that take four 4' T-8 bulbs). World of difference! - Patrick

How does the plastic hold up in the cold? Does it get brittle? Where I live (in MN), my shop is below freezing for half the year, and if I make the mistake of leaving tools in my car overnight, they can get a lot colder. - Patrick

I just bought a 41" stainless steel CSPS from Sam's today for $474. - Patrick

This looks like the stuff I put up before winter. It hasn't held up well in some places. The flexible edge is cracking along where it meets with the woodgrained plastic. Plastic and "cold" don't mix. In all fairness, this might be something you have to re-install every couple years. - Patrick