Hello everyone!
I am a new homeowner, haven't even moved in yet! And already have lots of plans... But you have to start somewhere, and I thought my hobby corner would be a good start...
The thing is, I have a fairly small garage with a carport next to the house, which is okay, but I want bigger things! I'm thinking of converting the carport into a cold garage and setting up a new carport somewhere else and expanding the current garage to use as a workshop, so I also want heating in it. What is the easiest/cheapest way to do this? I have geothermal heating in the house, but it's maybe 20-25 meters from the garage with a small gravel road in between. It feels like it's set up for heat loss at that distance? Expensive to install perhaps?
Solar panels maybe? But it's mainly needed in the winter, so the sun might not be up enough to keep it warm all day?
A small stove? I don't mind working a bit to get heat, but it might not be good for the building and machines to quickly jump between plus and minus degrees?
The garage is on a concrete slab on a small hill on the property, so to expand it, I have to "carve" away some of the hill first, that much I understand, but how do you usually handle the slab? Is it okay to just build on the existing one, or do you need to do something special to avoid a joint that might split in a few years?
Water and sewage? As mentioned, there is a road in between everything, preventing you from digging recklessly, but there is at least summer water drawn to the guest cottage, but if you want something less temporary, what might be the best solution?
Then there's the appearance! The house is a brick villa, regular red-brown brick, and on the small hill that is somewhat separate on the other side of the little road, there's a cluster of small buildings, the garage, guest cottage, storage shed, and such. All these are wooden houses painted red with white corners, which look lovely with their rustic charm, fitting nicely since the brick house is a bit detached from these. Of all the small buildings, the garage is the only one you see directly when you come to visit us, so in a way, it gets associated with both the house and the small buildings...
So I've started to wonder if one couldn't also make the garage/workshop out of brick! You can build very nice brick buildings, plus it's more or less maintenance-free! But then again, you "lose" the connection with the other houses...
We have quite a few professionals in the family and can usually get good deals, so the work effort and the prices of different options are, of course, relevant, but maybe not decisive!
I have a lot of questions about almost everything and hope to use you as a sounding board and inspiration.
Wow, what a long post that became! And that was just briefly about the garage... Hmm...
I am a new homeowner, haven't even moved in yet! And already have lots of plans... But you have to start somewhere, and I thought my hobby corner would be a good start...
The thing is, I have a fairly small garage with a carport next to the house, which is okay, but I want bigger things! I'm thinking of converting the carport into a cold garage and setting up a new carport somewhere else and expanding the current garage to use as a workshop, so I also want heating in it. What is the easiest/cheapest way to do this? I have geothermal heating in the house, but it's maybe 20-25 meters from the garage with a small gravel road in between. It feels like it's set up for heat loss at that distance? Expensive to install perhaps?
Solar panels maybe? But it's mainly needed in the winter, so the sun might not be up enough to keep it warm all day?
A small stove? I don't mind working a bit to get heat, but it might not be good for the building and machines to quickly jump between plus and minus degrees?
The garage is on a concrete slab on a small hill on the property, so to expand it, I have to "carve" away some of the hill first, that much I understand, but how do you usually handle the slab? Is it okay to just build on the existing one, or do you need to do something special to avoid a joint that might split in a few years?
Water and sewage? As mentioned, there is a road in between everything, preventing you from digging recklessly, but there is at least summer water drawn to the guest cottage, but if you want something less temporary, what might be the best solution?
Then there's the appearance! The house is a brick villa, regular red-brown brick, and on the small hill that is somewhat separate on the other side of the little road, there's a cluster of small buildings, the garage, guest cottage, storage shed, and such. All these are wooden houses painted red with white corners, which look lovely with their rustic charm, fitting nicely since the brick house is a bit detached from these. Of all the small buildings, the garage is the only one you see directly when you come to visit us, so in a way, it gets associated with both the house and the small buildings...
So I've started to wonder if one couldn't also make the garage/workshop out of brick! You can build very nice brick buildings, plus it's more or less maintenance-free! But then again, you "lose" the connection with the other houses...
We have quite a few professionals in the family and can usually get good deals, so the work effort and the prices of different options are, of course, relevant, but maybe not decisive!
I have a lot of questions about almost everything and hope to use you as a sounding board and inspiration.
Wow, what a long post that became! And that was just briefly about the garage... Hmm...
A cheap L/L pump is probably the easiest and cheapest and provides enough heat, alternatively electric convectors which will result in a higher cost in the long run. Culvert from the existing system also works but will probably be expensive.
The culvert solution can be recommended if you're already planning to bring cold/hot water into the garage, then you kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. Then you do it properly and won't have to complement in the future. But I agree with you that it is really expensive. The simplest and cheapest investment should be an electric convector, it's hard to factor in the other if you just want a little heat in the garage.
The cheapest as I see it should probably be a simple little stove you can put a couple of logs in, but if you're looking at the "future," you might want year-round water, hot and cold, and sewage and heating and everything to all the houses, and then it should probably be culverts at a minimum! But I haven't really decided how I want it yet, I guess I'll have to feel out the situation first....