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Thread: Cooling detached garage shop

  1. #1

    Cooling detached garage shop

    My workshop is located in a 2 car detached garage. The garage is old and uninsulated. I live in Texas so most of the year I can open the 2 garage doors when I am working in there, but in the summer is can still be really hot (around 100) in there, often hotter then outside.

    Since it's starting to get hot out again I am considering simple solutions to keep it more bearable in there. I don't want to insulate the garage at this time for various reasons, so I'm looking for simple relatively cheap solutions that can have a noticeable impact.

    1) The garage currently has no soffit vents or attic vents, I think this is why it can get so hot in there during the summer. I was thinking of installing an attic fan w/ a thermostat to help keep the temperature a little more reasonable. Maybe just have roof/attic vents at all would help with this?

    2) Install a window A/C unit for the times when it's too hot when I'm working out there (wouldn't run this except when I am in the shop). Since it's not insulated I wouldn't expect to retain much of the cool air, just to keep it bearable while I am out there. The hope is that with some attic ventilation too the garage wouldn't get so hot in the first place.

    Thoughts? Anyone else have similar solutions for uninsulated garage shops?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Fort Pierce, Florida
    Posts
    3,498
    How about a two-fer? Build a filter box and fix it so that you can either exhaust outside (as a summer attic vent) or inside (to keep the warmth in during the winter).

    There are plenty of plans available for building filter boxes using furnace filters and you would have the added benefit of cleaner air. This is what I have been planning to do when I retire and build my shop.

    Currently I work in an attached garage in Florida and keep a fan running at my back and the door up. That generally means that I have to stop working when it rains, or the rain blows in on my saws.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Chappell Hill, Texas
    Posts
    4,741
    I'd install at least 2 of those whirly gig fans. No power consumption and they really move the air.

    And, get a ceiling/wall mount fan and situate it to move air through your shop.

    Any windows? Last cheap window I ordered for my garage was $65 delivered, and that included a slider with a screen.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    West of Ft. Worth, TX
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    5,815
    You definately need a way for the heat to get out of the attic area, so ridge vent, turbines, or powered exhaust fan. If you want to go green, I think there are even solar powered power turbines available. With that, you should have soffit vents.
    Insulate as quick as you can. Plant some fast growing trees to help shade the building. Won't help this year or next, but in 5 or 6 it might help some. I still need to insulate my ceiling, but just the walls have helped a lot. But I have trees along the west side that keep the shop mostly in the shade, and that has been a life saver! Jim.
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  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Commerce Township, MI
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    702
    A vent on the roof would help but you need a way for air to get in first. I would add soffit vents and a ridge vent. It's the most efficient way to move air. Without insulation you are fighting a losing battle if you are trying to cool your shop.

  6. #6
    If you can, put some type of cannopy or awning in front of your shop doors. I recently did that for mine. It's one of the carport type cannopies. The shade in front of the doors does make a big difference. I have a fan exhausting on the opposite side of the shop.

    Awnings over the windows will help, too. These can be shop made to hold down the expense.

    When it gets too hot, I close the door and turn on an 11,000 BTU air conditioner. That's the largest one I could get to run on 110. While it doesn't do the best job in the world when temps reach the high 90's, it does help dehumidify the shop. That, in itself, does make the temperature more bearable.

    Turn on fans or AC in the morning before the day's heat builds up. Once everything in the shop gets hot, it tends to hold on to the heat and slowly release it back into the air.

    If you can't put awnings over your windows, pick up some cheap plastic window blinds. Keep them closed on the side facing the sun. Open after the sun has moved around.

    Agree with others to get the heat out of the roof area. Check out plans on the net for a cupola, if your roof ridge will permit. You can mount a box fan under it for use in the summer to exhaust the heat. During the winter, block it off with plywood, sheet foam insulation, etc.

    Hope some of these thoughts help. We're already hitting 90's here with rising humidity. It's gonna be a long hot summer.

    Lee in NC

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Central North Carolina
    Posts
    1,830
    My shop is a small 1 car size barn shaped outbuilding. It already had soffit vents, but no way for the hot air to get out. It was unbearable up there in the summer, so hot that I was using it to dry lumber. Then, several years ago I put a new roof on it and installed ridge vent and the second floor summer temperature dropped at least 40 degrees by just doing this. It's now usually only a few degrees warmer up there than the outside air temperature, and my insulated shop below stays much cooler. With a 24,000 BTU air conditioner I can keep my shop at 78 degrees when it's over 100 outside, and it had trouble maintaining 78 when it got above 85 outside before I added the ridge vent.

    The first thing that you need to do is vent the roof. Then figure out what else is needed to survive in there.

    Charley

  8. #8
    Thanks everyone for the responses and ideas. Hopefully I'll make it through the summer a little cooler then years past.

    Jon

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