New to forum. Planning Garage Project

[slickgt1]

Hi All. I'm new to the forum. Been hanging out here for a while, lurking, reading. Finally ready to renovate my garage in NYC, Brooklyn NY to be specific.

My garage is basically under my house, and takes up about 40% of the entire lot/basement. Not too big, but anywhere to park is better than looking for a spot for 2 hours every night.

The size is about 18.5' by about 20' - 25'.

I need some advise first.
I want to do tile floor. One thing I have always wondered is if I can put electric radiant floor heating under the tile. I have installed it before on renovation jobs, but never in a garage. So I am curious if anyone has done that, and which manufacturer to you recommend.

I also want to have about 4 spotlights under the car area. I just need some light that I can flick on with a switch for when I need to be under it. Anything you guys can recommend? I guess it needs to be safe to drive over and such.

I also would like to run air to the 4 corners of the garage so that I won't need to have a 50' air hose from the compressor. I am thinking of doing that out of gas piping. I though about going the plastic kit route, but I would like to make sure that if I ever go to hand something on the wall, that I don't puncture anything.

My current ceiling is metal sheets. Probably fire code back in the day. I plan to remove all that and replace with fire rated Sheetrock. I need to open it anyway so that I can insulate, as my tenants living room is right above the garage.

I should have pictures up soon to show what it looks like so far, and my progress. Thank you all in advance.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Electric radiant floor heat is generally low powered - it's used mainly in bathrooms, and is just enough to keep the floor warm on your bare feet. It probably wouldn't be enough to heat a garage in cold weather. There have been a couple discussions on floor lighting in the past, here are a couple of them:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13907
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1419

For the air lines, if you mean PVC pipe that's a no no for compressed air. There are a jillion posts here on air lines, if you do a search you should be able to find some good information.

 

[slickgt1]

Hi Stuart,
Thanks for the reply. No I don't want the radiant floor to actually heat the garage. I want it mostly to keep the moisture off the floor, and get some warmth if I need it when under the car, or sitting on the floor by the bike. My garage is fairly warm in the winter. I have a massive steam line going through it, and it never dropped below 68 deg last winter. My main concern is will the weight of the car/bike damage the radiant floor? I don't think it will since the flooring usually gets a skim coat of cement/thinset before tiling, but you guys might have more experience in this area.

I forgot to ask you all another question. My concrete is cracked in a few places. Do you guys recommend I rip out those sections and re-cement it? I doesn't seem to move, but I don't want to take chances especially with tile going on it. I think I answered my own question.

My concrete slab also looks like it might have been painted at one point or another. Do I need to sand it or something before tile will stick to it? Is there a primer product, or some acid that I can do. I would like to avoid acid, as my tenants live right above the garage, and I live above them.

thanks again.