Real Estate Update

No pictures here, sorry. I have an attached 3 1/2 car garage. Approximately 40% of the perimeter walls have the house interior on the otherside so they lose no heat and probably radiate some interior heat. The exterior garage walls are R14, the ceiling is 12 inches of blown celluose. I have three single car garage doors, chosen so I don't let all the cold in when a car goes in or out. Those doors have 2 inch foam insulation. These doors fit pretty good against the seals but there are a few small air gaps. We practice garage door "discipline" opening only when needed and closing as soon as possible. With that being said, my unheated garage will dip into the high 30's , 38 or 39 degrees F when we have 0 degree weather. Normally I see 42-45 degrees in my garage with out heat. I have added an oil filled electric heater set at 600 watts on occasion in the area I work and that made it pretty comfortable for me with a fleece outer layer.
I have a pretty good grasp of the garage temps because I have H/C running water on an interior corner so I monitor the temps to avoid frozen plumbing.
 
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Dyna-Glo-10000-Watt-Electric-Garage-Heater-with-Thermostat/1000787572
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I wish I could but I don’t have enough power in the garage. I only have 30A so max wattage for the heater is 5,000.
 
Got one garage door partially insulated using 1-1/16” insulating foam board (only stuff that would fit into the recesses of the door properly. Slid the pieces in place and used black, general purpose expanding foam to secure the panels in place. The foam board has a plastic film on each side that tends to peel off easily so I taped the edges with Vapor barrier tape. The edges that were to be gosmed were left raw so the expanding foam t]had something to bite into. Looks like Frankenstein job but seems to help quite a bit. Check out the temperature. This us by far the warmest it’s been in there. Once I get both doors finished and seal off the major air leaks, I should be good to go for the winter.


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Well folks, I had some business in Toronto on Friday-last so I took the opportunity to drop in on @bosco659 to see his superb shop and his new bike.

All I can say is WOW - is that a very pretty Ducatti Scrambler and a nifty garage-turned-workshop!

His '89 Toyota Supra is gorgeous and the spray foam insulation job and paneling looks super. In fact, I got some great ideas for the pole barn interior walls from @bosco659 which I plan to shamelessly swipe! He has planned a good spot for everything in the shop and it is going to be cozy-warm this winter in the arctic-blast of Canada between November and March.

I must also thank Vic for kindly treating me to a delicious lunch at a local diner which is in the best traditions of small-town Canadian eateries. We had a great chat about business travels to Asia, the meal was delicious and it was really great to renew his acquaintance!

Pete
 
Well folks, I had some business in Toronto on Friday-last so I took the opportunity to drop in on @bosco659 to see his superb shop and his new bike.

All I can say is WOW - is that a very pretty Ducatti Scrambler and a nifty garage-turned-workshop!

His '89 Toyota Supra is gorgeous and the spray foam insulation job and paneling looks super. In fact, I got some great ideas for the pole barn interior walls from @bosco659 which I plan to shamelessly swipe! He has planned a good spot for everything in the shop and it is going to be cozy-warm this winter in the arctic-blast of Canada between November and March.

I must also thank Vic for kindly treating me to a delicious lunch at a local diner which is in the best traditions of small-town Canadian eateries. We had a great chat about business travels to Asia, the meal was delicious and it was really great to renew his acquaintance!

Pete
Thanks for dropping by Pete.! I thoroughly enjoyed the time we had to trade stories. I’m hoping I can get the garage project completed this week as we have a week decent weather (for this time of year).
 
Howdy Sportsfans:

It’s time for a little update on the Great Canadian Pole Barn project.

I finally squeezed in enough time between working and Honey-Dos to finish the wiring in the ceiling of the barn plus I ran a couple of #10/4 AWG circuits across the bottom chord of one of the trusses to get 220v / 30A power across to the south wall of the building where I want to install the welder and the mini-split AC-heat pump. With those tasks finally completed, it was time to have the construction guys back to do the vapour barrier and steel ceiling panels (I hate working overhead).

Here are the results:

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Below you can see the molded plastic soffit guards that will keep the blown-in insulation from clogging the vents. There is a close-up of them below.

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…and in the shot below, about half of the ceiling panels are up.

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As of Sat. afternoon, all of the panels are up but there are a couple of small details that will be completed on Monday morning. The insulation guy is coming on Wednesday or Thursday to blow in the R40 ceiling insulation and then I will have the in-floor heating system connected and started. After that, I’ll finish the wiring in the walls and then do the insulation of them myself.

Slower than I would like, but we’re getting there.

Pete
 
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Should be toasty!

Let me know how you like those LED's. I had one of my cheapo linkable 4 footers die, about 14 months in with very light (arrrr) use. Ordered a 4 pack of replacements as they're still about the cheapest route but if they're going to croak at that rate I'll need to re-think things.
 
I agree with LED lights some are pure junk
I've bought cheap as in $1.25 per regular house hold bulbs and I might get a year out of them even in a bathroom fixture
But the flood lights I bought for the shop at $6-7.00 per bulb seem to have some longevity to them I guess you get what you pay for
 
Hi again all:

Ceiling Wiring
I have installed six duplex receptacles up there for the main overhead lights - 21,000 lumen / 150W LEDs see linky (150W Hero Series Hyperlights) and on a separate circuit I have hardwired regular lightbulb sockets in which I have installed two 18,000 lumen / 100W “petal” lights that I got on Amazon for ~ $50 / pair.

Those smaller lights have “bendable” petals like a flower (see photo) and throw an amazing amount of light - for very few dollars. If you have an attic, garage, or closet where you need light - these things are amazing. They are dead simple to install - just screw them into a regular light bulb socket. They’re supposed to last 50,000 hours, so at an average utilization rate of 20 hours/week for 40 weeks/year, I shouldn’t have to replace them until I am about 135 years old.

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The idea of having two separate systems is that the main ones will likely be too bright for those quiet times when I am just reading / watching TV or sitting around with my riding buddies having a BEvERage. The receptacles are simply to allow me to change a failed fixture without getting into the wiring itself (that could be a big deal as the ceiling is 12’ up - which is pretty high for a step ladder).

On the advice of an engineering buddy who is an HVAC specialist, I have also installed the supports and wiring for two DC-powered 60” ceiling fans for de-stratification of the air - to equalize temperatures and cut down on the heating and cooling costs in the barn. The controller is an AC-DC converter and reversible speed controller and I will connect that whole circuit to a thermostat so the building is toasty or cool in there all year.

The in-floor heating will be connected and started once the ceiling is insulated. These systems are really efficient but they are slow to change the temperature of the building due to the thermal mass and so I won’t be opening and closing the overhead door very often during the winter (it is a workshop and not a garage, if you know what I mean). Next spring I will get a 24,000 BTU / 2 ton mini-split AC / heat pump combo unit for the summer and so I have run two heavy gauge (#10 AWG) circuits from the breaker box to the south wall of the building. One circuit is for the AC and the other is for my Lincoln 180 MIG welder.

Pete
 
Your headed in the right direction
I'm still pushing for solar hot air heating if you have good southern exposure
Here on a sunny day I get a 20-30 degree uptick from the outside temperature even on cloudy days you can still snag some free heat just saying
In the summer you just cap them up with a cheap cover made of like one by six lumber in quarter inch paneling painted of course
 
Should be toasty!

Let me know how you like those LED's. I had one of my cheapo linkable 4 footers die, about 14 months in with very light (arrrr) use. Ordered a 4 pack of replacements as they're still about the cheapest route but if they're going to croak at that rate I'll need to re-think things.
I put some of those led lights in my garage and so far are working great.

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Howdy Sportsfans:

It’s time for a little update on the Great Canadian Pole Barn project.

I finally squeezed in enough time between working and Honey-Dos to finish the wiring in the ceiling of the barn plus I ran a couple of #10/4 AWG circuits across the bottom chord of one of the trusses to get 220v / 30A power across to the south wall of the building where I want to install the welder and the mini-split AC-heat pump. With those tasks finally completed, it was time to have the construction guys back to do the vapour barrier and steel ceiling panels (I hate working overhead).

Here are the results:

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Below you can see the molded plastic soffit guards that will keep the blown-in insulation from clogging the vents. There is a close-up of them below.

View attachment 231759

…and in the shot below, about half of the ceiling panels are up.

View attachment 231760

As of Sat. afternoon, all of the panels are up but there are a couple of small details that will be completed on Monday morning. The insulation guy is coming on Wednesday or Thursday to blow in the R40 ceiling insulation and then I will have the in-floor heating system connected and started. After that, I’ll finish the wiring in the walls and then do the insulation of them myself.

Slower than I would like, but we’re getting there.

Pete
Looking great Pete!
 
Under the threat of freezing rain tomorrow, I got my butt in gear and did what needed doing in the garage so the Beetle could be pushed back inside. Miss all the open space I had but I still have close to 80 sq.ft of free spare space for winter projects. Bikes are still in their own space to work on them too.

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