How To Heat A Garage

[KevinGG]

At some point I'd like to insulate my garage and keep the tortoises in there during the winter. I plan on getting some more warmer climate species so I'd like to have the temps around the high 80s in the day with a drop at night. My winter temps are usually in the 30s at night and 50s during the day. My garage is around 10'x25' and 10' high. So let's say I were to insulate the entire garage, weather strip, etc... What would be the most efficient way to heat a garage of that size?

Any personal experience would be much appreciated. Thanks everyone.

 

[Yvonne G]

A lot of the ambient temperature in a insulated garage comes from the enclosures therein. But those electric oil-filled radiators do a bang up job of heating a room.

Let's ask @Will to explain his garage for us. He has many enclosures in an insulated/finished off garage.

 

[wellington]

I did a third stall of our garage. I made the ceiling lower in that portion and installed a ceiling fan. I use not only MVB and an oil filled radiator heater but also the fan to push hot air back down to tort level. I also did a wood insulated floor over the cement floor and insulated walls and ceiling too.

 

[Maro2Bear]

A lot will depend on how much you are willing to initially spend up front, and if the garage will also be used for other storage things, or is it going to be single purpose tort house. Lots of options.

 

[KevinGG]

I did a third stall of our garage. I made the ceiling lower in that portion and installed a ceiling fan. I use not only MVB and an oil filled radiator heater but also the fan to push hot air back down to tort level. I also did a wood insulated floor over the cement floor and insulated walls and ceiling too.

Thanks wellington. Lowering the ceiling and installing fans are smart ideas. I was thinking of putting down rubber matting instead of installing a floor. Were you heating that garage before you insulated it? If so, any idea what difference in electric bill was? I'd also love to see pictures of your space. Thanks again

 

[KevinGG]

A lot of the ambient temperature in a insulated garage comes from the enclosures therein. But those electric oil-filled radiators do a bang up job of heating a room.

Let's ask @Will to explain his garage for us. He has many enclosures in an insulated/finished off garage.

Thanks Yvonne. I'd also be interested in what @tortadise has to say since he has built so many "greenhouses".

 

[KevinGG]

A lot will depend on how much you are willing to initially spend up front, and if the garage will also be used for other storage things, or is it going to be single purpose tort house. Lots of options.

Will hold only turtles. Any personal experience heating a large space?

 

[wellington]

Thanks wellington. Lowering the ceiling and installing fans are smart ideas. I was thinking of putting down rubber matting instead of installing a floor. Were you heating that garage before you insulated it? If so, any idea what difference in electric bill was? I'd also love to see pictures of your space. Thanks again

No we didn't heat before. We actually had a new garage built for the three stalls knowing torts would be in one of them. The one stall is approx 10x20.
I will try to find my old pics.

 

[wellington]

This is in its very new stage. Two leopards kept apart and a Russian. It has since been redone a couple times, another leopard added and them all placed in upper table type enclosures.
I would build hide box like in the back right, as the warmest spot, except basking spot and p on thermostat. The rest of the space doesn't have to be heated quite so high then. Hide was 80, shed floor area 70/75 with a basking spot of 95-100

 

[KevinGG]

No we didn't heat before. We actually had a new garage built for the three stalls knowing torts would be in one of them. The one stall is approx 10x20.
I will try to find my old pics.

Then you've done exactly what I plan to do. We have a three stall garage and we just plan to add a wall to segregate one stall. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

I have a couple of questions for a specific response, but otherwise this is what I did.

My garage only had stud walls covered on the outside with stucco. The garage door is metal. In the summer even with three vents to the outside the garage would heat up to well over 100F as the metal door faced west.

I used 1.5 inch insulation foam panels cut to fit each door panel. That alone, while doing nothing else brought the hottest days down to the mid/high 90F.

Then I used roll fiberglass to insulate between the studs on all exterior walls and the ceiling. The walls were further covered with .5 inch foam board with the foil side facing into the garage. In the winter I cover the vents, in the summer they are all open.

As Yvonne mentions the enclosure themselves add much heat just from lighting. So now with about 14 52 Watt T5 HO, and 7 24 Watt T5 HO lamps and four 40 watt floods the day time ambient gets to the upper 80F while each enclosure might get a bit higher during the day against a outside ambient of 55F to high 70'sF. That is pretty consistent.

The outside ambient overnight is on average 50F but may go as low as 38F. I run an 800 watt under-desk heater sitting on the floor, set to keep the lower shelves at 70F. I use one fan to circulate the air. This heater sometimes cycles during the day as well.

The shelves that the enclosures sit on will be walled around to further make the area heated or cooled smaller. I have in mind to set an exhaust fan at a high on the wall vent and a air-in fan set near the floor vent to blow air through in the summer. These are on the south side of the house. I'll have to learn what the fans will do with a thermostats, but I'd look for an ambient that does not exceed 90F.

Back at the enclosure level I have a few things I do. Most enclosures are enclosed, so this time of the year, when we have dry air, it works for two purposes to keep them closed. Increase both warmth and RH. In the summer when we have warm moist air I open windows on each enclosure.

This is all still evolving.

I put animals that do best with a seasonal temp fluctuation on lower shelves, animals with a constant year round temp on middle shelves and animals that cycle more based on RH on the higher shelves. That way I am lessening my environmental air temp and RH struggle.

So far I have found the pancakes to be least well able to deal with extra warmth, they do not do well at all if the temp gets above 90F (ambient) while the Forsten's do not at all like anything much below 65F, even as an overnight dip. Egyptians do alright with large temp swings, as do the dry forest hingebacks (spekii).

I have P. planicauda and they seem impervious to temps, but let their enclosure dry out and they are down, regardless of the temps. They are their own weirdness.

As for more insulation, I will use some .5 inch foam board to make a drop ceiling of sorts at the level of the rafters. Just sitting in place at the bottom edge. That will reduce the air volume and lower the ceiling. That, and an exhaust system should do it. There are now also solar panels of the garage roof facing south and west, so that cuts down on re-radiant heat from the roof. I did not use sheet rock as I didn't want to go that level of complexity, and it's not moisture proof, the foam board is. The wall between the house and the garage has 5/8 sheet rock (I think?).

So, is your 10 foot ceiling finished with sheet rock or maybe that is the start of open ceiling rafters? Do you have outside air vents anywhere? You'll need to have some kind of air exhaust for the once in awhile warm day that might overheat the garage, even in the dead of winter.

This last fall out of no where we had a few days that exceeded 100F (I'm within a few miles of the ocean) . I left work and went home to open the garage and had a major stressful day. Lost one very small pancake and I'm sure everyone had heat stress.

I recall that Bob Applegate (the father of kingsnake breeding) had his garage system set that if a certain air temp was reached all lighting and heating got turned off and vent fans came on or something like that. The point being you have to consider that odd "too much heat" occasion as well. The ambient needs something to reduce too-hot as well as too-cold.

 

[Maro2Bear]

Greetings, thinking along the lines of building a large, self-contained enclosure within one bay of your garage, i was thinking it would also be easy to install underfloor radiant heat panels. Heres a link to one product http://www.wattsradiant.com/products/heatweave/underfloor/

I know in our area, once it gets cold outside, the concrete floor in the garage stays very cold. I was thinking if you build your own structure inside you could easily install. Along with all the other great ideas already posted.

 

[mark1]

l heat a 20x24 building with an 8 foot ceiling with a 25,000 btu natural gas radiant heater , the building is kept 70-75 all winter , it has 4 old leaky dog doors in it , one window , and 3 doors .... the walls , ceiling , and doors are all well insulated .. it's the cheapest heat I've found , and I've tried a lot of types ..... if I could use it in my house I would ....

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006L7UZ/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

 

[KevinGG]

I have a couple of questions for a specific response, but otherwise this is what I did.

My garage only had stud walls covered on the outside with stucco. The garage door is metal. In the summer even with three vents to the outside the garage would heat up to well over 100F as the metal door faced west.

I used 1.5 inch insulation foam panels cut to fit each door panel. That alone, while doing nothing else brought the hottest days down to the mid/high 90F.

Then I used roll fiberglass to insulate between the studs on all exterior walls and the ceiling. The walls were further covered with .5 inch foam board with the foil side facing into the garage. In the winter I cover the vents, in the summer they are all open.

As Yvonne mentions the enclosure themselves add much heat just from lighting. So now with about 14 52 Watt T5 HO, and 7 24 Watt T5 HO lamps and four 40 watt floods the day time ambient gets to the upper 80F while each enclosure might get a bit higher during the day against a outside ambient of 55F to high 70'sF. That is pretty consistent.

The outside ambient overnight is on average 50F but may go as low as 38F. I run an 800 watt under-desk heater sitting on the floor, set to keep the lower shelves at 70F. I use one fan to circulate the air. This heater sometimes cycles during the day as well.

The shelves that the enclosures sit on will be walled around to further make the area heated or cooled smaller. I have in mind to set an exhaust fan at a high on the wall vent and a air-in fan set near the floor vent to blow air through in the summer. These are on the south side of the house. I'll have to learn what the fans will do with a thermostats, but I'd look for an ambient that does not exceed 90F.

Back at the enclosure level I have a few things I do. Most enclosures are enclosed, so this time of the year, when we have dry air, it works for two purposes to keep them closed. Increase both warmth and RH. In the summer when we have warm moist air I open windows on each enclosure.

This is all still evolving.

I put animals that do best with a seasonal temp fluctuation on lower shelves, animals with a constant year round temp on middle shelves and animals that cycle more based on RH on the higher shelves. That way I am lessening my environmental air temp and RH struggle.

So far I have found the pancakes to be least well able to deal with extra warmth, they do not do well at all if the temp gets above 90F (ambient) while the Forsten's do not at all like anything much below 65F, even as an overnight dip. Egyptians do alright with large temp swings, as do the dry forest hingebacks (spekii).

I have P. planicauda and they seem impervious to temps, but let their enclosure dry out and they are down, regardless of the temps. They are their own weirdness.

As for more insulation, I will use some .5 inch foam board to make a drop ceiling of sorts at the level of the rafters. Just sitting in place at the bottom edge. That will reduce the air volume and lower the ceiling. That, and an exhaust system should do it. There are now also solar panels of the garage roof facing south and west, so that cuts down on re-radiant heat from the roof. I did not use sheet rock as I didn't want to go that level of complexity, and it's not moisture proof, the foam board is. The wall between the house and the garage has 5/8 sheet rock (I think?).

So, is your 10 foot ceiling finished with sheet rock or maybe that is the start of open ceiling rafters? Do you have outside air vents anywhere? You'll need to have some kind of air exhaust for the once in awhile warm day that might overheat the garage, even in the dead of winter.

This last fall out of no where we had a few days that exceeded 100F (I'm within a few miles of the ocean) . I left work and went home to open the garage and had a major stressful day. Lost one very small pancake and I'm sure everyone had heat stress.

I recall that Bob Applegate (the father of kingsnake breeding) had his garage system set that if a certain air temp was reached all lighting and heating got turned off and vent fans came on or something like that. The point being you have to consider that odd "too much heat" occasion as well. The ambient needs something to reduce too-hot as well as too-cold.

Thanks so much for your response Will. My garage is finished on the outside with siding. Inside has no insulation, drywall, etc. Just studs. So I have a blank canvas. Seems like I should make the room as small as possible, lower the ceiling, and super insulate. I'll look into the foam board as I don't want to sheet rock either. I'm not so worried about water resistant walls or flooring though. I was thinking about setting up one of those fully enclosed plastic greenhouse for the aquariums and high humidity species. The space is on the bottom of a two floor garage so it doesn't heat up as much as a normal garage would. Don't remember it ever being very warm on its own. Will definitely install vents just in case.

A few questions for you:

Any worries with air circulation in a fully enclosed room? How large is your space that the lamps keep it warm? How quickly do the temps drop with lamps off? What are your usual day/night temps? Do you think an oil filled radiator would be the best heating option? How do you position the fans in your room? Anything you would do differently if you could start from scratch?

Feel free to answer as few questions as you like. I appreciate your help.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

I was looking at radiant floor heating for just the bathrooms inside my house for my own feet. All the installers I contacted said that there would need to be an inch or so of insulation then the radiant heat, then the floor. The product mentioned above look like it is put under a floor that is below the area to be heated. Maybe you would put this under an enclosure?

For Kevin GG application it might provide heat both down and up?? I don't know.

I have one fan up high and one low fan (position in the room) both on low settings. They are smaller box fans like this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KUC8R44/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20 I don't recall what brand I have or if they are 9 or 10 inches, but this is the general idea. They are set to ciculate the whole garage. I have a two car garage that is about 21' wide and 19' deep. It not yet partitioned.

I know a few people who use the small greenhouse inside the garage as an enclosure. They all say it works well. I think a few people have two or three so they can adjust one to be warmer or cooler.

The garage is enclosed but hardly air tight. I'm in and out through the door that goes from the garage to the house many times a day (it's an attached garage).

some of the lamps are in a fully enclosed enclosure some are in open top enclosures. It is more about humidity than heat. I don't know how fast the temp changes when all the enclosure light turn off. The overall room ambient temps are as I described them.

One thing to change. I have an automatic garage door the comes well into the garage when it opens. I'd prefer a roll-up door so I could have an actual insulated wall floor to ceiling.

The PDF is the outline of the garage and shelves. The other things are water heater, washer and dryer, sink and spare frig. The light blue is the foot print of the open garage door.

 

[KevinGG]

I was looking at radiant floor heating for just the bathrooms inside my house for my own feet. All the installers I contacted said that there would need to be an inch or so of insulation then the radiant heat, then the floor. The product mentioned above look like it is put under a floor that is below the area to be heated. Maybe you would put this under an enclosure?

For Kevin GG application it might provide heat both down and up?? I don't know.

I have one fan up high and one low fan (position in the room) both on low settings. They are smaller box fans like this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KUC8R44/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20 I don't recall what brand I have or if they are 9 or 10 inches, but this is the general idea. They are set to ciculate the whole garage. I have a two car garage that is about 21' wide and 19' deep. It not yet partitioned.

I know a few people who use the small greenhouse inside the garage as an enclosure. They all say it works well. I think a few people have two or three so they can adjust one to be warmer or cooler.

The garage is enclosed but hardly air tight. I'm in and out through the door that goes from the garage to the house many times a day (it's an attached garage).

some of the lamps are in a fully enclosed enclosure some are in open top enclosures. It is more about humidity than heat. I don't know how fast the temp changes when all the enclosure light turn off. The overall room ambient temps are as I described them.

One thing to change. I have an automatic garage door the comes well into the garage when it opens. I'd prefer a roll-up door so I could have an actual insulated wall floor to ceiling.

The PDF is the outline of the garage and shelves. The other things are water heater, washer and dryer, sink and spare frig. The light blue is the foot print of the open garage door.

Wow so heat may not be such a big deal for me. Your garage is at least double what I'll be building. The garage door is a good consideration. I may build everything behind the garage door tracks. The PDF is a big help with layout.

I was talking with Anthony earlier and he said that, in addition to a nightly cool down, he lets his whole room cool down in the winter to mimic a cool season. Do you have a seasonal cool down in your garage?

Thanks again for your help.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Wow so heat may not be such a big deal for me. Your garage is at least double what I'll be building. The garage door is a good consideration. I may build everything behind the garage door tracks. The PDF is a big help with layout.

I was talking with Anthony earlier and he said that, in addition to a nightly cool down, he lets his whole room cool down in the winter to mimic a cool season. Do you have a seasonal cool down in your garage?

Thanks again for your help.

I do have a seasonal cool down. Cause I don't heat to summer time temps.