How do you guys up North survive?

[Bill Bulloch]

It was so cold in my shop this AM that the CA Glue wouldn't dry. How do you guys up North survive? I do have an Electric heater in the shop, but it took 3 hours to bring it from 13 degrees to 57. I'm comfortable with 57.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

R-19 in the walls....R-38 in the ceiling and a Lennox 75,000 btu NG heater. Works well.

What tears this fat boy up is the 110ºF temps we get in the summer time. Our humidity is extemely low but I sweat so much that my glasses are constantly being soiled by the sweat and I can't see to work.

[gary Zimmel]

A few weeks ago we had temps of -40 and with the wind chill it was -54.:eek:

My shop has infloor heating with a natural gas boiler.
The building is well insulated.
During the winter I try and keep it at 15* C.
My gas meter spins quite quickly during the winter..

[Matt Ranum]

My shop is 24x24x8 with R19 everywhere and a 100,000btu lp furnace. Does nicely:p. I don't heat it all the time, only when I'm working which is only a couple days a week and overall it stays pretty nice in there. Its been around 0 here at night and 10-15 during the day and rarely does my shop temp fall below freezing when I'm not in there.

[Joe Adams]

During the winter I try and keep it at 15* C.

For those of us who don't speak Celsius, 15 degrees Celsius = 59 degrees Fahrenheit

[Steve Schlumpf]

This is the time of year where having your shop located in the basement really pays off! Temps in my shop remain around 58* in winter and stays around 65* in summer! The only thing I do not like about having the shop in the basement is the lack of natural light! You get used to it but would prefer seeing the sun every once in awhile!

[John M. Smith]

Lots of insulation, hot wood stove, and snow flying outside the windows. Doesnlt get any better thanvthat!

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

This is the time of year where having your shop located in the basement really pays off!

As much as I'd love to have a larger and/or detached shop, I have to agree. A simple walk down a flight of stairs and I'm there. temp is usually around 60 or so, since that's where my heating system is.

[Richard Madison]

Lots of insulation is good for both hot and cold. Small heater and big air conditioner in this area.

[Bill Bulloch]

R-19 in the walls....R-38 in the ceiling and a Lennox 75,000 btu NG heater. Works well.

What tears this fat boy up is the 110ºF temps we get in the summer time. Our humidity is extemely low but I sweat so much that my glasses are constantly being soiled by the sweat and I can't see to work.


I aint got no stinking instulation in my shop. My shop is in the garage and down here they do not instulate non-living areas when they build houses. The average temp here this time of the year is 52 degrees and most of the time the shop is comfortable, but 13 degrees is another story. I like the garage shop most of the time, because all I have do is open the door and I am there. That is convenient, especially when I decide to piddle around with a project late at night. I don't like it sometimes, though, because of the trouble I get from the wife for tracking that stinking sawdust in to her house.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Bill,

I have a lovely wife who could have retired but continues working today to pay for my standalone shop. She doesn't like sawdust in the house either.

As you are finding out....no insulation...no heat....I couldn't work in my shop 5 months out of the year.

[Greg Just]

The one plus, if there is one in the winter, you can't spend much time outside so you have extra time to spend in the shop. Mine is in the basement with an egress window so I do get some natural light. I'll never get used to the cold, but only learn to tolerate it.

[Robert Parrish]

Bill, I have my shop in a stand alone 3 1/2 car garage that has 10' high drywall ceilings. I insulated the attic and both doors mainly for the air conditioning but it has come in handy this past 2 weeks. I installed an electric heater last week and it works well (65). My wife just brought our dogs in and they were covered with sleet! I live in SW Florida were our normal temperature this time of the year is 72. Tonight we are going down to 26 so I guess I'll run my pool pump all night. So much for global warming!

[Steve Schlumpf]

I'd love to have a stand-alone shop but in my location it would be difficult to justify. I would have to snowblow just to get to it in the winter - that's both to get there and then again to get back to the house sometimes! Plus the additional electrical bill I could do without - but the idea of having a Man-Shop would be great!

You guys with wives who do not appreciate sawdust/shavings brought into the house - now know why my shop looks as clean as it does!

[Brian Brown]

In the immortal words of Jeff Dunham's Walter "We're a heaaaaaardy people". I would call you a light weight :D, but I can't deal with your heat and humidity, so I guess we are even.

[Ron Lynch]

Unattached, unheated one and a half car garage, no insulation, no shop time 'til March, unthrilled.

[Joseph M Lary]

its 6* and feels pretty good form the -40 temps

[Allen Neighbors]

I have a detached 20x40 shop that I built in 91 or 92. It is insulated, but that's wasted, because I got lazy, and didn't close in the eaves. Gets down to the outside air temp, if the wind is blowing. I have a pot-bellied stove, and a double burner infrared butane heater, and still haven't been in my shop more than 15 minutes at a time for two weeks.
I keep saying that, "... come spring, I'm gonna close in those eaves." But then... come spring, I'd rather be turning. Such is the life, when your 69, and lazy. :)

[Larry Marley]

Wow,
I just open the garage door to set some warm air and sunlight in...

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Hey Marley,

We don't have earthquakes or Santa Annas and such.....:rolleyes:

[Dick Strauss]

I have an uninsulated and unheated garage shop here. The only saving grace is that the garage door seals to prevent wind intrusion.

[Matt Ranum]

Hey Marley,

We don't have earthquakes or Santa Annas and such.....:rolleyes:

Geez that reminds me of when I used to drive truck and heading south on I-15 heading down into LA and having a big truck get flipped over in front of me from those santa annas winds.:eek::eek::eek:

[Larry Marley]

Hey Marley,

We don't have earthquakes or Santa Annas and such.....:rolleyes:

Yep, the four seasons...
wind, fire, mudslide, and earthquake.

[Kenneth Hertzog]

I was telling the wife of this post

She said its going to be a 3 dog night here. :D
just to keep warm.

the 30 x 50 shop is insulated
heated with either a wood coal boiler
( does both house and garage )
or an oil furnace

ken

[John Beaver]

Wow,
I just open the garage door to set some warm air and sunlight in...

Marley, you beat me to it.

I was doing some flat work today, so I put a table up in the driveway so I could work outside in my shorts and t-shirt.

[Michael Schapansky]

I'm used to frigid and frosty 40s or 50s in the winter here in Central Tx. This morning I woke up to 12 degrees and it got worse from there. We ended up at 9. I'm sure that's tee shirt weather for a lot of you guys but for this
California raised Texas transplant 9 is way too close to absolute zero where all motion stops. I went to feed the goats and their water tank had 3 inches of ice covering it. It took a long time to break through with a shovel. Anticipating cold weather (forecast was for 18) I put a tub in the barn figuring it's warmer in there and it wouldn't freeze. Wrong. Only had about an inch of ice so I broke through that easily.
Both chicken's waterers were frozen solid. That necessitated a trip to the house because all the outdoor spigots were hopeless.
The fun didn't stop there either. Our plumbing has easily withstood 20 degree lows but the 9 degrees today did it in. Insulated copper burst in 3 spots so I got to enjoy myself sweating copper all afternoon. To think I could have been cleaning up the shop instead.

[Fred Perreault]

Here on Cape Cod, it is humid and coolish in the summer, and humid and coldish in the winter. My free standing 24'x32'x9' shop has 6" framed walls, insulation on walls, floor and ceiling, and yellow pine flooring over a 4' crawl space. For heat I have a 50,000 BTU natural gas wall heater that gets air from outside. On the ceiling I have 4 rows of three 8' high performance flourescent lights. That's 96' of lighting. I turn on the heat in the AM at 20-25 degree outside temp (..F..) and after running for a couple of cycles, the lights keep the place 50-55 dgrees all day.
Not only do I get great lighting, but a heat benefit as well.
have a good Winter, all
Fred

[Dick Sowa]

No matter where you are, it seems you learn to cope with normal highs and lows. It's when it goes way beyond that range that things go haywire. I have a well insulated shop with a portable electric that keeps it above freezing...maybe 39-42 or so. Then fire up a kerosene heater to get it toasty when I want to work in it. Yeah, it takes time to heat, but I dress for cold, so it's no big deal. Like others have said...yard work is done for the year, so I can spend more quality time with my tools :)

[Allen Neighbors]

I'm used to frigid and frosty 40s or 50s in the winter here in Central Tx. This morning I woke up to 12 degrees and it got worse from there. We ended up at 9. I'm sure that's tee shirt weather for a lot of you guys but for this
California raised Texas transplant 9 is way too close to absolute zero where all motion stops. I went to feed the goats and their water tank had 3 inches of ice covering it. It took a long time to break through with a shovel. Anticipating cold weather (forecast was for 18) I put a tub in the barn figuring it's warmer in there and it wouldn't freeze. Wrong. Only had about an inch of ice so I broke through that easily.
Both chicken's waterers were frozen solid. That necessitated a trip to the house because all the outdoor spigots were hopeless.
The fun didn't stop there either. Our plumbing has easily withstood 20 degree lows but the 9 degrees today did it in. Insulated copper burst in 3 spots so I got to enjoy myself sweating copper all afternoon. To think I could have been cleaning up the shop instead.

Michael, your post made me laugh. Not at your misery... but the way you laid it out. I have that same sort of weather here. It was 6 this morning, but I don't have to feed and water livestock. But when I read your post, I had to laugh to keep from crying. I'm so tired of cutting firewood, already, and winter just got here. I have a lot of cured wood in my woodyard, and have to cut more about every two days. I've already burned about two cords. I'm getting to the age that my butt runs out of gas along with my chainsaw.

[Richard Madison]

Only got down to 14 here last night (19 predicted tonight) but managed to freeze water lines to two commodes. Fortunately they thawed by about noon. Meanwhile the shop remained at a cozy 68 (where it was set) to keep the glue joints and shop cat comfortable. No water lines there to worry about.

[Bill Bulloch]

No matter where you are, it seems you learn to cope with normal highs and lows. It's when it goes way beyond that range that things go haywire. I have a well insulated shop with a portable electric that keeps it above freezing...maybe 39-42 or so. Then fire up a kerosene heater to get it toasty when I want to work in it. Yeah, it takes time to heat, but I dress for cold, so it's no big deal. Like others have said...yard work is done for the year, so I can spend more quality time with my tools :)

You are right. I lived in Newfoundland for three years -- coped. Then, I moved to Nebraska and lived there for 12 years -- coped, until on New Years Day 1974, I was watchng Nebraska and Texas in the Cotton Bowl. It was 17 below outside in Omaha and had been for two weeks. In Dallas, the people in the stands were wearing short sleeve shirts ---Determined: in Feb I moved to San Antonio. I have been here in Georgia since 1979, and this type weather does not fall on us very often, so I guess I'll just have to cope with it. (But, I do not have to like it.)

[Bernie Weishapl]

24 X 40 shop with R-28 in the walls and R-38 in the ceiling. My 54,000 btu heater runs about twice a day at 68. The A/C is 10,000 btu. Runs 3 or 4 times a day at 76 deg.

[Tony Greenway]

Hey Bill, it was 5 degrees at my place this morning with a blanket of snow covering everything, and I'm just 130 miles north of you. My shop is a 40x75 insulated building with a LP hanging furnace. I turn my heat down to 50 at night, that way, my equipment doesn't get freezing cold and it only takes about 15 minutes to bring the building to a toasty 60 - 62. Now summer time is a different story. No AC will help you to sweat away all those extra winter pounds.

[Curt Fuller]

I turn in an unheated and un-airconditioned garage. But I also work outside everyday so I get used to the cold plus I have all the cold weather clothes for spending the day out in it. Insulated coveralls and some warm Sorel boots are my winter turning attire. It's the 95-105 degree dog days of summer that get the best of me. It's not as cold here as some places but it's only gotten up to freezing a time or two in the last month or so.

[Jon Lanier]

R-19 in the walls....R-38 in the ceiling and a Lennox 75,000 btu NG heater. Works well.

What tears this fat boy up is the 110ºF temps we get in the summer time. Our humidity is extemely low but I sweat so much that my glasses are constantly being soiled by the sweat and I can't see to work.

I wear headbands. Go to the local sporting goods store and buy a few. Oh... make sure you wash them every once in a while. That keeps the sweat off my shop glass'.

[Jon Lanier]

Bill,

I was thinking you probably won't have that weather very long. It's God's way of telling you to do something else for a week or so. ;)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I wear headbands. Go to the local sporting goods store and buy a few. Oh... make sure you wash them every once in a while. That keeps the sweat off my shop glass'.

John,

I have 3 sweat bands but they fill up too fast too often.

26 years ago, a family friend hooked me up with a young local logger to elk hunt. He and I were tough then. After hunting for 3 days in the steep mountains togther, he told me he'd never seen anyone sweat the way I did.

[Michael Gibbons]

It was crispy cold this morning-I think some nose hairs broke of like icicles:eek:. Bill, you might want to insulate your shop-might help keep it cool in the summer if you air condition it.

[dennis kranz]

I just came in a few minutes ago. Had to wear a long sleve shirt tonight. Have no heating other than then light bulbs. Temps going down tomorrow maybe 68 or 69.
Dennis

[Eric Kosanovich]

i have a free standing shop 12 by 16 with a pot bellie stove and a small fan in back of it. tonite its 17 out side and i can get it to 85 in about an hour. i use sawdust in the stove, 1st i put a 2" PVC pipe in it then pack the sawdust in the stove take out the pvc and light it ...burns about an hour or so. work vary nicely

[Jeff Nicol]

I bet you all are hoping for some of the fabled global warming right now in the deep south! I feel real bad for all the citrus growers in Florida and elsewhere. You can here the price of orange juice going up!

Here in the midwest your skin gets thick and you grow a warm fur coat in the winter, not quite as thick as Steve does in the UP but close! My bride would turn me into a eunuch if I had a shop in the house with a perfectly good garage 80' from the house! She likes clean and not messy, but the garage is heated with wood and love for the wood itself! But last night, I did not get out and fill the woodstove before I went to bed. We had the whole family over for pizza and to meet our new grandson. It was lots of fun seeing the great grand parents holding him and reminicing. It is zero outside right now so the shop should be about 40 I hope, if the insulation did its job!

Stay warm,

Jeff

[John McCaskill]

I aint got no stinking instulation in my shop. My shop is in the garage and down here they do not instulate non-living areas when they build houses. The average temp here this time of the year is 52 degrees and most of the time the shop is comfortable, but 13 degrees is another story. I like the garage shop most of the time, because all I have do is open the door and I am there. That is convenient, especially when I decide to piddle around with a project late at night. I don't like it sometimes, though, because of the trouble I get from the wife for tracking that stinking sawdust in to her house.

I have AC and a couple of 1500W electric heaters, but not much insulation. At least it's drywalled. I figure losing a week or at most two of shop time a year when the temp drops below 32F is a small bother that I can live with. The AC though, is an absolute necessity here in the summertime. And it's a blessing to work without sweat when the outdoor temp is 100F.

[John McCaskill]

Bill,

I was thinking you probably won't have that weather very long. It's God's way of telling you to do something else for a week or so. ;)

Good point!

[Kim Ford]

It was twelve below here on Saturday with no wind.

My shop is an old milk house from the turn of the century. 14 x 22. When I finished it off I used about 20 cans of spray foam to seal it up well, and then put R-13 in the walls and R-19 in the ceiling. I set the theromstat at 50 degrees and leave it there for the winter. When I turn on the lights to actually work they usually bring the temp up to about 60 degrees. Really quite comfortable for around here.

[David Hostetler]

I'm cold sure. But I am NOT complaining. This beats the tar out of the coastal Texas summers where I can't go into the shop for more than 30 seconds without breaking a sweat just standing there...

This cold snap has given me a golden opportunity to get into the attic and shove a bunch of R-30 fiberglass over in my ceiling joists... If I weren't using the decked space on top of that, I would roll out another layer of R30. What works against the cold, should work against the heat too!

[Willard Foster]

I have a 20' x 20' stand alone shop west of Minneapolis (well out of bullet range). It's well insulated and is heated by a wood stove. When it was 20 degrees below zero, it took about 3 hours to get comfortable.

Winter time also means no yard work, more shop time. Another bonus is my wife is very busy making quilts in her sewing room. Meaning, she doesn't complain that I don't spend enough time in the house with her.

Although I hate winter, I do enjoy working in my nice warm shop and looking out the windows when the big fluffy snowflakes are falling.

Bill

[Greg Just]

[QUOTE=Willard Foster;1314452] west of Minneapolis (well out of bullet range).


Williard - I'm about 15 miles north of Minneapolis and it is 35 here today. It is amazing how warm that feels after -20 last week. I got outside today and took down the Christmas lights. Now it's to the basement and to the shop.

[Rick Gibson]

Basement shop. 25' x 25' heated along with the rest of the house. Have an outside door and 3 windows so get plenty of light and when the weather is nice outside they get opened. Days in the summer when it's 80 plus outside I have seen the shop in the mid 60's. The basement stays cool enough that in the summer we live down here and don't need the central air.