Garage Heat

[lamarbur]

Your thinking in the old days here.. Just stood up two new steel bldgs, one fire the other highway dept. Both have in floor radiant heat in 6 inch concrete. Both buildings are keeping the promise of no more than 4 degrees difference between floor and ceiling.. Both buildings the ceiling (in center) is 18 ft with 15 ft outer wall height. We monitor this constantly and so far find a two degree difference. We had compacted base at 118%, tow layers of two inch styrofoam insul board placed on 8 mill poly, with 6 inches of poured concrete.. Radiant heat IS the way to go, if done properly.. BTW, one building has 3, 14 X 14 overheads and one 20 X 14 overhead,, the fire has 4 14 X 14 overhead doors..

 

[PineRidge]

In my opinion I think the determining factor is this: Do you want to maintain heat in the garage area all winter long? If you do then I do think the Wirsbo in floor system is tops. But if you only want to turn the heat on when you go out to work like I do then it may not be the best solution for your needs. It is slow recovery from a cold start because all that cold concrete is one big heat sink initially. Once you get beyond that initial start up phase its very easy to maintain an even temperature.

 

[bebster]

My strategy is a combination of those suggested. My garage is 30x54 and the basement of my barn in progress of building. I figure it is cheap to run radiant tubing in the slab, and will do so. I plan to keep the floor of the garage at around 45 degrees. This is a nice temp for vehicles to over-winter, and not too bad for humans making an occasional trip downstairs.

Now if I really want to spend some time in the garage, I'll need to get the temp up. So I'll install a 30,000 BTU gas-fired heater (Modine or Rannai probably) that will crank the temp from the ambient 45 to 70 pretty quickly.

I'll insulate the walls to R=10 (including R12 garage doors from Wayne-Dalton that are 8'6" tall for the tractor to get through).

 

[PineRidge]

Bebster you sound like a man with a serious back-up plan to me. Your going to have a warm garage one way or the other. Good for you, I like that. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Junkman]

Guess that I am out voted on this one.... What I remember about radiant heat is that it was inefficient and expensive. Had I known this 2 years ago, I would have installed it in my new garage. Now I am going to build a new garage just to try it out.... That means that I have to buy more junk to put into it.... Thanks for the update.....

 

[PineRidge]

<font color="blue"> Guess that I am out voted on this one.... </font>

Junkman look at the positive side of this scenario. You can build another garage and install Wirsbo in the floor. But then it would be empty so you may need another larger tractor to help fill it sufficiently. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Get my drift?

 

[NIXON]

Thanks for the info guys. I should have stated up front that once the heat is on it'll stay on .(set at about 50-55 during the winter months ) I do plan to insulate the concrete , no matter what . It'll be a pole building so there'll be plenty of cavity space for insulation . For garage doors .. Raynor (high r value ) . I like the idea of a small secondary heater if immediate temp rise is called for ! The one thing I've never been happy with is Garage door seals .You'd think that there'd be a better system out there . Again , Thanks ! Gotta say I love TBN . There's nothing else like this site . John

 

[lamarbur]

He has a large cover-it system. I'm guessing 20 X 40 or so. If he replaced that with a one and half story pole bldg, he can try out the Wirsbo in the floor. Then, we probably wouldn't see him post much, he'd be in his new barn having fun..

 

[bebster]

What kind of R value are you looking to get for your garage doors? Highest I've seen is R=12.

You might look at this product for slab insulation: Insultarp Provides R=10 in a 1/2" thick blanket. I like it because it conforms to any soil contour irregularities, which I think will take the weight of vehicles better. Rigid insulation (eg 2" foam panels) might be prone to voids I think. These blankets cost about $0.85 per sq foot in rolls that are 12' x 50' (and smaller). Also serves as a vapor barrier. Julie Miller at the company put me in touch with a local distributor who stocks it (866) 698-6562.

 

[NIXON]

Bebster,
I'm looking at the Raynor Innovation series doors . Claimed R value of 18 . I'll have to take a look at Insultarp !
I had planned on 2" of rigid foam Cover with Astro Foil for vapor barrier and added insulation . I get the Astro foil Cheap ... My company sells it /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif But I'll definately check out the insultarp . Thanks ! John