Attached garage workspace heating & cooling
 

My brother in law and I have started a new business making computer gaming peripherals. Some of this stuff we're making is out of his garage for the time being. We're going to be painting and baking (running an oven) out there. So, we need to keep the temperature in a workable range. It doesn't have to be super warm or anything, but it also can't be super cold. The paint we're using isn't super picky either thankfully. However, its been in the upper 80s lately here, and it obviously gets pretty darn cold in the winter usually getting down below zero fahrenheit for a few days a year.

My question for you guys is how to best heat and cool this space. His house has a natural gas furnace as well as normal central air conditioning. We started by thinking we would install a heat pump out there. However, I'm now wondering if we don't just tie into the furnace ducting and add another zone to his garage? This could be manual for now. Automatic would be a lot nicer but I'm not sure what that would all entail. He also does have a window and we could just put a window unit out there. The super cheap alternative is open the door to the house and run a box fan to circulate air.

So, I am looking for more suggestions and ideas on how we can do this. If it takes off I don't know how long we'll be in the garage, so we'd rather not speand a fortune on the system. I also have no idea how large of a unit to get if we do go with a window or mini-split.

Mini split sounds like good way to go.

You do not want to tie in to the main system and have the paint fumes dust put through the whole house.

Hah, I hadn't even really thought about fumes. We aren't painting huge amounts of surface area so that shouldn't be a problem. However, smelling this stuff is not a fun event, so not circulating it through the house is probably a great idea.

Short term, quickie cheap: 220 window AC unit off marketplace or craigslist

Longer term, not too much: natural gas forced air garage heater plus mentioned window unit

Long term, somewhat not cheap: mini split

Is the water heater (presumably natural gas) in the garage? Might want to consider connecting a radiator (designed to withstand the water pressure) and circulating pump to it as a hot water fed space heater.

If the humidity is not really high, an evaporative cooler is worth considering.

Great ideas guys, thanks!

The water heater is in the basement, and humidity is horrible here in Wisconsin.

I'm pretty sure we're going to go with a mini split at this point. Its relatively quick and easy. Its a pretty standard 2 car garage, 2x4 insulated walls. I was thinking a 12k btu unit would do a good job for heating and cooling. Its a work space, not a living space. Thoughts?