Having a heated garage may seem like a luxury, but when you add up the many benefits of heating your garage, you are sure to see that it is actually a necessity. A heated garage expands your usable space in winter. It protects your vehicles and belongings, and increases the value of your home. In this article, we discuss why and how to heat your garage in winter. Read on to learn more.
Add Usable Space To Your Home By Heating Your Garage
A garage is a great place to set up a home gym or entertainment center. It can provide you and your kids with recreation and play space in the cold winter months.
Your garage can be the perfect retreat for a wintertime pursuit of hobbies such as woodworking, tinkering, arts and crafts or whatever your heart desires. You just have to determine what kind of heating will work best in your garage and take appropriate steps to install it safely.
Planning Your Heated Garage Q&A
Questions you’ll want to ask yourself when planning your heated garage include:
- What size and type of garage heater will I need? Choices include:
- Vented natural gas or propane heater
- Mini-split heating & cooling
- Electric patio heater
- Radiant heaters
- Wood stove
- Solar
- How will I power my garage heater? Choices include:
- Home furnace connection
- Natural gas
- Passive solar
- Active solar
- Electricity
- Propane
- Wood
Depending on your situation, you may be able to mix and match several of these options to come up with a customized garage heating system that precisely pinpoints your needs.
- Will I be able to install my garage heating system myself?
The answer to this question depends on many variables, including the amount of work that needs to be done to your garage to make a heating system effective; your level of skill and the type of heating system you have in mind.
- What will I need to do to my garage to make heating effective and affordable?
No matter what kind of heating you choose, the very first thing you should do is insulate. Otherwise, you will end up spending a lot of money in a vain attempt to heat the outdoors.
For your heating system to be effective, you must insulate the floors, walls and ceilings of your garage. This is true even if you have an attached garage with a room above and a finished ceiling.
Insulation will make your garage heating more effective and efficient, and it will also improve home heating in the case of an attached garage.
- Is it possible to heat my garage cheaply?
To determine how much it will cost to heat your garage, you need to consider factors such as the aforementioned insulation, the amount of time you plan to spend in your garage in winter, the type of heating you choose and your local weather.
What If I Just Want To Use My Garage As A Workshop In Winter?
Of course, it may be that you just want a space to work on your car or do some other kind of labor on an occasional basis in your garage. For this sort of thing, you may be able to wear a jacket and get by with minimal improvements to the garage.
A powerful portable heater or a wood or pellet stove may be all you need for occasional wintertime tasks in the garage.
Even so, you’d be wise to invest in insulation. Heating an uninsulated garage is a fool’s errand.
If you’re just going to use the garage for a occasional shop, you may not need to finish the ceiling, but you should put some insulation in the roof, add insulation panels to the interior walls and put a layer of cushioning on the floor to keep your feet from freezing.
This is especially true if you are working with a metal garage or any detached garage.
What Are The Benefits Of Heating Your Garage?
If you use your garage to store your vehicles, you’ll find that keeping it warm (even if just enough to prevent freezing) will extend the life of your vehicles and keep them in better condition. Exposure to repeated freezing and thawing is hard on metal, rubber and plastic parts.
When temperatures drop below freezing, metal, rubber and plastic contract. When temperatures rise, these materials expand. Over time, you’ll find that various and sundry parts in your engine and throughout the body of your vehicle warp.
Connections loosen. Plastic parts crack. Tires experience wear and seem deflated. Protecting your vehicle from extreme temperature changes prevents these problems.
If you keep your vehicle in a heated garage, you won’t need to waste gas warming it up every time you drive. This not only saves fuel, it also prevents having carbon monoxide enter your home if you have an attached garage.
Heating your attached garage will also help keep adjoining rooms (both beside and above) the garage warmer in the winter. This is thanks both to the heating and the added insulation.
A heated garage will also protect any plumbing that may be running through. If you have a washer in your garage, you needn’t worry about the pipes freezing and possibly bursting in winter if you have an insulated, heated garage.
The same thing is true of any spigot that might be on the outside wall of your garage. Of course, you’ll want to cover the spigot, itself, to prevent freezing, but you won’t need to worry about the pipes that lead to it.
Heating Your Garage Is A Wise Investment
It’s easy to see that, even though insulating your garage and installing a heating system can represent a large expense, it will quickly pay for itself in terms of added useful space, reduction of heat loss and increase in the actual value of your home.
Follow the tips presented here to make the most of your garage space with effective insulation and heating.