New garage with small apartment in MT

[thinair]

Hey all, I'm building a new 600 sq. ft. garage with a 500 sq. ft. guest quarters above. Std. 2x6 construction with attic truss's to save some money.

Question is... what would be a good solution for heating the garage below and the small apartment above? It wouldn't have to be one system, I'm kinda on a budget and would like a decent product for the price.

I'm blowing the bank on radiant for the home addition, and the garage apartment may or may not be used that often. In Bozeman MT and winters get chilly for a few weeks of the year up here. Not to concerned about heating the garage during the winter, but will need to keep the pipes from freezing when the apartment upstairs is in use if in the winter.

Thought about a small GFA for apt, and heat tube for garage. Is there a simpler and more effective solution. Any other tips would be appreciated.

 

[Rossco]

Sounds like a great build down there in 'Gods County' MT.

INSULATION is your best and only friend.

 

[Randy in Maine]

Hard to beat PEX tubing in the garage slab and under the floors of an apartment moneywise.

Can you run your hot water out there from the house and just put in a couple more zones?

 

[thinair]

I'll check into utilizing my home's mod/con boiler to heat the garage and apartment. Or at least the apartment. Just wondering if I didn't care about heating the garage all the time how I'd go about keeping the water and drain that would run down the garage wall from freezing? Not sure if insulation alone would do it. Somebody has had to have this same issue on this forum.

 

[Randy in Maine]

For the domestic water, it helps to put that plumbing in PEX tubming in an interior wall and to insulate the pipes. I would set it up to drain easily if I were not going to heat it in the winter.

For the radant floor heat system, just run the correct level of antifreeze in the system and you will be OK. Personally I would just leave it all heated up to about 55º or so and would have a woodstove or propane set up to heat the apartment up to a more comfortable level when needed.

If you build a nice tight structure with good insulation, it will save you tons of money down the road.

 

[roscoe2000]

Since there is a chance you may not be heating the garage while the apartment is occupied, I would include heat tape inside of your insulation for the domestic water line and sewer line. You can wire it thru an outdoor thermostat or just an on/off switch.

The heat tape or heat tracer would provide you with a little piece of mind, seeing how our past winter has been.

 

[thinair]

I like the idea's here. The simple heat tape around insulated pex for dhw with a convenient drain sound like the simple way to handle it. Running a zone off my current boiler the 50' to heat the upper apt, also sounds logical. If I anticipate the need for heat, open the zone valve. Supplement with a small wood stove may be an issue as there is so little room up there as it stands, but I may be able to squeeze one in. Keep the zone thermostat at 55, and run enough pex to bring it up to handle design day just like the house. I'll be talking with the boiler guy soon, been looking at a Veissman Vitodens 200, it should be enough for the 1950 sq. ft. house and 500 ft. garage. I'll do a heat loss analysis on the house and garage soon then see if it makes sense to try to tie in the garage off the house boiler when I open up the ditch for the new sewer lateral that will pass right by the garage from the house on route to the main. Thanks

 

[thinair]

What about a mini split in the garage apt?

 

[Random Guy]

What's the layout of the apartment like? A mini split would probably work pretty well, but air would have to be able to circulate through the apartment so that the conditioned air could get to the rooms that don't have the unit in them.

 

[thinair]

It is an open concept just like a hotel room, nothing walled off except the bathroom. Thought about a small baseboard electric heater in the bathroom.

 

[Random Guy]

Sounds like a mini split would work pretty well, then. How cold does it get there? Mitsubishi makes some that have full heat capacity down to like 5 degrees. They call it Hyper Heating.

And if it gets colder than that, electric baseboard would make good backup heat for the whole apartment.