In a tight space a simple thermostat to control the garage may work. I have also built myself 4 different studios over that period - two large and two small. I lived in a midcentury modern for a few years that someone else built back in the 60's - all concrete radiant floors. and have put radiant into every house I have built or rebuilt since. I did my first radiant system about 25 years ago. I'm just a homeowner - a bit of a serial remodeler. now you can't have the big door open all day! The key to making radiant work comfortably is to make sure the heat load is small enough that you keep the floor temp as low as possible. And you are correct - opening the door has little effect on the comfort once it is closed. The warehouse uses and outdoor reset on the boiler - along with both a slab and inside air temp sensor - as max temp limits. You can do a little better with natural gas. I have a little propane fired Baxi boiler ($3K) mounted to the wall that heats the whole house (1200 Ft) and the garage (1200 feet) + domestic hot water (in 3 zones) for around $2.2K per year on $3.19 per gallon of propane. My 40' x 28' shop is 21 cubic yards or 42 tons of thermal mass. Keep in mind that 1 cubic yard of concrete = 2 tons of thermal mass. the real plus is that it keeps "fire" out of the garage. In my opinion, the way you save money with the radiant floor heat is that you are only putting 120º F water out there and it is coming back to the heater at 80º so you are only adding 40º to it. My house has R-40 foam ceilings, the garage has R-40 every thing (SIPs).ġ linear foot of 1/2" PEX oxy barrier tubing per square foot in the slab. $1 per square foot for 2" on rigid insulation under the slab. our natural gas bill went up only $250 (with garage heat added) over the entire winter season / comparing the previous year, without garage heat.Įither way some of the costs are the same. over the next 2 years, our practice garage was set at a constant 72^F temp. one insulated man door.no windows in garageįollowed up with 6 mil vapor barrier, dry wall & paint.īack in the year 2000, my 1978 K2500 4x4 truck restoration, went on hold.son got a Westbury snooker table in the garage, and competed in national billiards championships. garage doors (20 gauge construction, fully insulated, no windows) code hereĪdded tin duck work, for under $1000.including 3 floor cold air returns / 3 hot air runs in ceiling, exiting over garage doors.Īdded Roxul, 6" bats in all walls / 12" bats in ceiling (ceiling designed with Wood-eye). furnace was 3 years old, paid $300.pilot light needs to be off the floor, min. garage (1.5 story) in 1991.poured floating slab on 1" thick foam.Ī few years later, put in NG forced air heating furnace (85% mid efficient unit) & sleeve AC unit (12,300 btu).on the cheap. but you can make a slab comfortable if you insulate it properlyīuilt my custom 24x30 ft. but not to todays standards - and I am very comfortable using panel radiators in the space. My home office is in my walkout basement - the slab was insulated. then do a heat load so you know how many BTU's the space is going to need. But I'm still going to use a hydronic fancoil in the HVAC and only warm the floors in the coolest part of the winter. I don't have NG service (propane or electric) so I'm installing a heat pump as I also want AC - the wood part of my studio will be a product called Warmboard and then I am going to use pex in the slab. so in the fall and spring they can overheat a space without proper controls. A concrete slab is a high mass floor - they take time to heat and to cool. Radiant floors work great in the same kind of big open space - with doors opening all the time. I don't think you will be happy with them in a new tight building. They work like a bonfire - heating objects. The tube heaters are fine in an open shop - like a car dealership with big open spaces and doors opening all the time. Can you tell me your floor temp in the winter? Mine usually never got above 37° or so. That way I would think the slab would stay warm and once the room was up to temp it should not cost any more to heat than the in-floor heat. Steve in MI: Good point about heating 24/7 with normal forced air heat and a good insulated floor. A mechanic friend of mine has it in his garage and he said it is comfortable at about 55° if you are actually working. I love the idea of in-floor heat for that reason and I would assume I would keep the heat on 24/7 in the winter months. I will be in the shop a lot more and I do not want to lay or stand on a cold floor. I plan to retiring in a few years so I am building this garage with that in mind. But the floor never got warm and even with good boots on I would have to go inside to warm up. Before we moved, I had a 2 car garage with a normal space heater and I would just flip the heat a hour before I started working. I am in Minnesota so I need to heat the garage for several months in the winter.
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