Thread: Ben's Garage
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Old 10-30-16, 12:24 PM   #4
bennelson
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: SE Wisconsin
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Here's some more info on what I'm planning.

The garage will be 27' x 29'. Unfortunately, the county won't let me build more than 18' high, so that limits my roof angle and upstairs storage space.

I'm planning on hydronic heat in the concrete slab. I haven't decided for sure the exact details of what to heat with. I'm leaning towards an electric micro-boiler. That could be set on a timer to use "off-peak" electricity for heating.
I would cast 1/2 PEX in the concrete during the pour. 2" of foam insulation around and under the slab.

The roof will have solar panels over a standing seam metal roof. I should be able to fit 21 panels (3 rows of 7 panels each) in the 250-280 watt size on the due-south facing half of the roof, and make a roughly 5KW PV system. I'm planning on using Enphase micro inverters for simplicity and nice monitoring.

The garage will also have power for electric car charging.

Walls will be traditional "stick-building" as it's affordable and easy to do myself. Fiberglass insulation with a little foam on the outside of the sheathing.

Here's a still image of the plans as they are right now. Solar in the image is NOT to scale, only there to give a rough idea. Details of concrete slab is still to be determined. I need a slab design that holds up to my weird ground-water movement, but can also be insulated so it can be heated.

I'm located near Milwaukee, WI. The point of heating is to have a workspace that's comfortable to work in in the winter. That means it does NOT have to be heated to 70 degrees. I mostly want to work without wearing long underwear and a bulky coat. 50 degrees in a garage is pretty luxurious when it's 10 degrees out otherwise.

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Last edited by bennelson; 10-30-16 at 12:33 PM.. Reason: larger image
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