The Big M
Active member
Hey GJ!
I haven't posted in a while, but I just moved in to a new place with a garage that's basically a clean slate and was hoping to get some advice.
It's a 32' wide x 22'/24' deep attached triple with one 20' wide bay and one single 12' bay and a very basic electrical package (3 bare light bulbs and a minimal number of outlets). It's currently insulated, drywalled and taped with a rough coat of mud.
I don't have too many pictures yet, but as a first step to figuring out a game plan I sketched up some dimensions:
The first three areas I want to focus on are:
1- Heat
2- Lighting & Electrical
3- Paint
On the topic of heating, so far I've priced out both a forced-air unit heater and an overhead radiant tube. I had a radiant tube in my previous detached garage and really liked it, so was hoping to do the same in the new digs. There are a few complications involved with that, however. The quote I received was for a 30' length to cover the front of both bays, but in order to lay out the tube in that direction I'd be incurring extra costs for the gas line. That is, I have a covered deck on the north side and can't direct the exhaust out that way, so would need to have the intake end at the opposite side of the garage from the gas meter. I could exhaust out the roof but would prefer not to have a chimney added to the front of the house.
The ceiling height in the 12' bay is also lower than the 20' bay, so in order to keep the entire thing at the same level I'd be giving up some overhead height in the larger bay, and there's potential for reduced headroom over the man door into the house as well.
My floor area is around 750 square feet, for which the manufacturer recommends a 50,000 BTU heater in a 15' length. They also offer a 90 degree bend kit which would allow me to do something like this:
Any thoughts on this setup? I still need to take some measurements to confirm if this would fit, but my thinking is that the 5' length could warm the smaller bay, and the 10' length could warm the front of the wider bay, which is where my tools and workbench would most likely be. At the moment the 12' bay is where my truck project lives, and the 20' bay would be used for storage of the summer car and overnight parking of the daily driver. My intent is to keep the temperature just above freezing for the most part, and crank the heat whenever I intend to work out there.
My concern with the unit heater is that if I tuck it in the corner closest to the gas meter, the stub wall separating the two bays will present an obstruction to the airflow and make it difficult to warm the entire space. I'm also concerned about warm air just rising into the higher ceiling area of the 20' bay, but at least that would warm the conditioned space above (bonus room).
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I haven't posted in a while, but I just moved in to a new place with a garage that's basically a clean slate and was hoping to get some advice.
It's a 32' wide x 22'/24' deep attached triple with one 20' wide bay and one single 12' bay and a very basic electrical package (3 bare light bulbs and a minimal number of outlets). It's currently insulated, drywalled and taped with a rough coat of mud.
I don't have too many pictures yet, but as a first step to figuring out a game plan I sketched up some dimensions:
The first three areas I want to focus on are:
1- Heat
2- Lighting & Electrical
3- Paint
On the topic of heating, so far I've priced out both a forced-air unit heater and an overhead radiant tube. I had a radiant tube in my previous detached garage and really liked it, so was hoping to do the same in the new digs. There are a few complications involved with that, however. The quote I received was for a 30' length to cover the front of both bays, but in order to lay out the tube in that direction I'd be incurring extra costs for the gas line. That is, I have a covered deck on the north side and can't direct the exhaust out that way, so would need to have the intake end at the opposite side of the garage from the gas meter. I could exhaust out the roof but would prefer not to have a chimney added to the front of the house.
The ceiling height in the 12' bay is also lower than the 20' bay, so in order to keep the entire thing at the same level I'd be giving up some overhead height in the larger bay, and there's potential for reduced headroom over the man door into the house as well.
My floor area is around 750 square feet, for which the manufacturer recommends a 50,000 BTU heater in a 15' length. They also offer a 90 degree bend kit which would allow me to do something like this:
Any thoughts on this setup? I still need to take some measurements to confirm if this would fit, but my thinking is that the 5' length could warm the smaller bay, and the 10' length could warm the front of the wider bay, which is where my tools and workbench would most likely be. At the moment the 12' bay is where my truck project lives, and the 20' bay would be used for storage of the summer car and overnight parking of the daily driver. My intent is to keep the temperature just above freezing for the most part, and crank the heat whenever I intend to work out there.
My concern with the unit heater is that if I tuck it in the corner closest to the gas meter, the stub wall separating the two bays will present an obstruction to the airflow and make it difficult to warm the entire space. I'm also concerned about warm air just rising into the higher ceiling area of the 20' bay, but at least that would warm the conditioned space above (bonus room).
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
