It's actually 21'10" by 22'. Of course I'd want a centered design and was curious about cutting the racedeck tiles. I have a bandsaw that would probably work, but I wasn't sure how one did it.
So how is the RaceDeck to walk around on? My friend got the tiles from Sam's and they are kind of loud. Also, are the RaceDeck tiles really slip resistant?

Here's the tape I got and used on my trailer. I'm planning on using the rest of the roll somehow in my garage makeover. Maybe on the fridge or something, I'm still trying to come up with ideas.


http://racechex.com/chexstuff/page02.html

Annette

 

The standard racedeck is LOUD to walk on. Mine is the free-flow which is quiet (and $1.00 less per tile.) and drains water to the floor below.

Not sure about the non-slip...have not had it wet yet....but it shouldn't stay wet for long, as the water will flow through the tile.

Dave

 

thanks BocRon... they're also in my area.

changing gears a little bit. let's talk garage heaters.
anyone know if there's a store that carries the wall-mountable
version of the Griot's IR heater? my ceiling is too high
and i can't install it myself; even if i did, it's too high that the
effectiveness of the ir is probably diminished too much.

here's the Griot's heater (they only have ceiling mountable ones):

 

Call me crazy...but I heat my garage with two 200 watt light bulbs (standard cieling fixture. I just leave them on 24*7 and it keeps the garage around 50 degrees (mid 40s when it is below zero.) If I need a little more heat I will open the door to the house for a bit.

 

I may be missing something, by they couldn't you just mount that on a wall? Your walls are already exposed, put a 2x4 between your studs and mount it there. I tired that style heater and while it was great if you were underneath it, it didn't do much for heating the garage. I sold that and bought a Big Buddy propane heater from Lowe's. Cost about 100, is indoor safe and heated up the garage nicely.

Is that safe to put larger bulbs in the fixtures?

 

Yeah, IR won't generally heat the air in your garage. It only really works on surfaces that can absorb the IR energy (like burgers & fries). So propane may be the way to go though it is a bit more risky (Carbon Monoxide) than say an electric resistance heater with a fan. Actually I think the best are the oil filled radiator type floor models. That is what we have in the chilly rooms in our house. Completely safe and fairly energy efficient.

 

Yeah, thats why I spent the extra money to get one with an oxegyn sensor with auto cut off. I use just the little tanks, however it has the option to use the big 5lb tank. I may do that this winter, but if you do that, they recommend leaving the tank out side. But you bring up a great point, Be Safe!

 

I have never used a infrared heater, but I too would be concerned about their ability to heat the whole garage. They may be warm directly underneath them but the whole garage?

I had an electrical contractor install a Dayton brand electric space heater in my garage last summer. The heater itself is about 14" square and is hanging from the ceiling in one corner of the garage. The electrical panel is in the garage so it was easy to run a line to the panel. The heater is 220V and 18,000 BTU (I think) and does a good job keeping the garage warm even here in the Chicago area.

I am seriously considering installing what is called a ductless heating/cooling system next spring. This is a type of heat pump that has a module that would mount on the upper wall and would have a second module that sits outside. The contractor I spoke to indicated that it would be more energy efficient than the space heater I have now. Or, I could put in a system that just had the air conditioning part and save a few dollars on the installation.

Now I just need to figure out a way to put a drain in the floor so I can wash the car in the garage during the winter.

 

Sounds expensive

 

Alright guys, I've found the gurus! Some really great pics of garages/workshops in the galleries.
Also, the heating/AC section is great, I'm just starting to wade through.
From what I can surmise, these guys are all serious restorers (is that a word?) and have places for welding, sanding, etc, but I'm getting some great ideas.
Annette
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/

 

Morris9982,
There are some great pics on the garagejournal of mini-split systems, which is what I believe you are referring to. See my post above for the link.

Kenchan, I am hoping to put a PTAC unit in my garage at some point, but will probably have to wait on it so for now I'm going to mount a couple of these wall units. My friend put them in her husbands shop/office and they really keep it pretty toasty.
http://www.eheat.com/

Annette

 

Yup...I am talking the generic/old school/simple/bare bulb ceramic light socket. Having a covered fixture would contain the heat (leading to fire risk) and defeat the purpose.

I guess I should have said socket vs. fixture...

Amazing how much two 200 watt bulbs light up a garage when the walls are white...

 

Hum...I have a couple of those sockets in the garage...We have floresnt bulbs in there, they actually get brighter as they warm up, its fun to watch

 

Thats not a bad idea...I wonder how one or two of those would do just to regulate that garage so its not freezing...

 

hey, thanks for the input on the IR heaters for burgers and fries. lol
im glad i didn't place the order this morning...

i have an electric space heater but that thing's only good for maybe
a 4ftx4ft area. and yah, the propane heater was not too thrilling for the
wife as she hasn't put a large enough life insurance on me yet.

i don't have much of a budget on this heater... maybe a couple hundred
bucks for this year. what shall i do?

 

I plan on using a space heater or two in my small aluminum shack garage. I will probably glue up some insulation panels to the roof and walls, not sure if I should use the pink foam boards or the foiled bubble wrap rolls, but anything is better than a thin piece of metal between you and the outside. Probably piling up some snow on the outside to make half an igloo has some decent isulative properties!

 

I have a couple of these units and they work well: Oil Filled (Model 70030 at Home Depot). My only complaint is a lack of any meaningful forced air but the humidify is nice to eliminate static. So I think something like this would be a good alternative: Ceramic (Model PCH4199HD-U also at Home Depot).
Of course your selection of shops may vary.

 

thanks MiniMaybee- im going to check those out over the weekend!

i checked out Lowes and they seem to have a better selection(?)
i think im going to do two oil filled DeLonghi's. I wear contact lenses and
when i get hit with dry blowing air my eyes start to bother me, so the
oil filled ones would probably work out better for me.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...t&N=%205001847

 

i used the garage door insulation kit from Lowes last year on my
metal garage door and wat a difference that made in maintaining temperature!

it also had a nice sideeffect of lighting up the garage because it is
a pure white color.

 

Update! i went to Menards today and found one that looks pretty much
like this but has the gray face instead of the black. $34.99.

 

Seems like a great price !

Do the specs tell you how large an area that will heat ? Wondering if two of those will heat my 2-car garage (19 x 22, or about 420 sf).

THANKS !

 

i haven't looked at the box closely but im guessing maybe 100-120sq ft?
I am going to try the one and if it's good, im going to get a second one
over the weekend.

 

Ken....

You're doing all my leg work. Thanks!

I'm going to run over to Farm and Fleet. Considering they deal with livestock, perhaps they have something that would work too.

 

^^ had a F&F in Dekalb.

anyways, i tried mine out tonight and it's pretty toasty. You can probably
even put a small fan near the bottom of the heater to ciculate the air
a little bit. mine has 3 settings like most of them do...
low (700w) mid (800w) and hi (1500w)

if i crank 2 units at 1500w each that will pull too much current, so
if i do 2 units, i think im only going to run it at the med setting...but
even so, the heater gets pretty warm once heated.

 

I have one of those oil-filled radiator type heaters that Ken got, but it just wouldn't do much in my garage. We use it to heat one of our kids rooms that is on the cold side of the house. One of those might keep a small well-insulated one-car garage with a low ceiling warm if it isn't too cold outside, but for most garages it won't do much, you need a heater with some sort of fan on it.

I'll probably end up with a 220V ceiling mounted heater to keep my garage heated in the winter. It is 32'x 34' with a 13' ceiling and minimal insulation. Ideally I'd keep it at around 50 degrees in the winter, but that could get rather expensive in the colder months.

-Keith