Un-insulated garage Heat???

[The Fallis]

So I bought this house 2 years ago and have been sucking it up with no REAL heat or insulation. Sealed up the garage so i can at least retain heat for the occasional weekend I need it for. Found a deal for a 20' Gordon Ray Radiant Tube heater i am trying to pick-up. its 150,000 BTU so I should be good even with the lack of insulation to get by...

Dimensions are 31'-5" Wide and 23'-5" Deep.
Lower (two side car spaces) are 8'-3" tall and center space is 12'-3" to bottom of joists.


Would love opinions and input as this is not my area of expertise....





Rob

 

[lakeroadster]

Where's the shop located?

The PO at our place put a wood stove in the attached garage. It too was uninsulated.

He ran the stove when snow was against the building, that melted the snow, and the water wicked up into the sill plates and plywood sheathing.

In a really humid climate you'll get that condensation just from the water in the air.

Something to think about.

 

[Bretny]

Heating a uninsulated garage is a loosing battle especially with fuel you have to buy. I did it with a wood stove and junk pine wood i would have just thrown in the woods.

Putting plastic on the ceiling helped a ton. Cheap r13 in the walls and plywood over helped more. 2in foam on the roof rafters helped even more.

I have a 45kbtu in my 24x24 garage and im in NY. 150k may be good now but way overkill if you ever insulate. If you do ever insulate why not just start with the ceiling or one wall. Its way easier doing it now rather than 7yrs from now when the place is full.

 

[bad_idea]

My father had a friend years ago with a wood stove in his uninsulated detached garage. Was great. After an hour or so the garage was toasty. Check CL and you can pick them up cheap. That's what I am planning to do. There is always free firewood out there somewhere.

 

[dodgeramsst2003]

My father had a friend years ago with a wood stove in his uninsulated detached garage. Was great. After an hour or so the garage was toasty. Check CL and you can pick them up cheap. That's what I am planning to do. There is always free firewood out there somewhere.

Only issue with this, is check your insurance. My barn has the chimney for a wood burner and the PO had one, but took it with him. My insurance will not allow a wood burning stove of any type in an outbuilding. Currently looking at the same problem as the OP, but I at least have some foam board in my barn.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Radiant tube heaters are often designed to be used in spaces with higher ceilings than what I see in your photos. Find the user manual for the heater and see if it has information - you don't want to melt the top of your car.

 

[pbon]

You might want two heaters. One would be something like a torpedo, pribably 50-75k for your space. Run that for 20 minutes to get it warm. Then switch over to a radiant heater located closer to your work area to maintain the heat. You will have to run the torpedo periodically. I did this in my 19x29 for a few years for occasional winter shop use. A single hanging forced air heater would also work if you have NG or large tank propane, 50-75k. If insulated, 45- 50k, but more would help since its not.

 

[Double J]

Radiant tube heaters are often designed to be used in spaces with higher ceilings than what I see in your photos.

I agree. A 150k BTU 20' tube will be toasty for sure. For reference, I use a 130K 40' tube heater for a 2,000 sq ft shop (14' walls, 17' at the peak) and could easily of went 110K BTU.