# Heating and insulation



## Marcj009 (6 May 2020)

Good evening to you all 

Basically I've just purchased a house and it comes with a detached garage made of concrete.The walls have been boarded with a gap between them i think and the walls themselves are solid concrete.

I'm going to build a large model railway in the garage and want to be able to use it all year round.
I'm thinking of adding some heating in the garage and insulation to the ceiling.The supports the hold the flat roof at 65mm in depth and was just wondering the following.

1.If I was to add roof insulation would I need to leave an air gap? I'm 6 feet 6 so head room very much premium in here 

2.What thinkness of insutaltion should I use for the garage

3. What the best and cheapest way of heating the garage?The garage is 19 feet by 8 feet.

I know this probably a incredibly common question and want to get it right first time so can enjoy my hobbie all year round 

Thank you all in advance and I look forward to reading your replies 

Marc


----------



## Rorschach (7 May 2020)

Before you do anything you need to sort out the door, insulation and heating will matter not if you have garage door, that needs to be sealed up.

After that you need to think how warm does it need to be to keep the railway in good order? My thoughts would be that damp is your main enemy and a dehumidifier (desiccant type) will keep it dry and add a little warmth, then use an electric heater when you are going to go out there and use it.


----------



## lurker (7 May 2020)

When you say concrete is it one of those precast garages?

Is the roof pitched?


----------



## Marcj009 (7 May 2020)

In reply to both of your messages I'm going to build a stud wall and either completely removed the garage door and replace with a stud wall or keep the garage and then have an stud wall on the inside of the garage which will be fully insulated and would ideally like to keep the garage at around 18°c.

The actual construction of the garage is concrete slabs stacked on top of each other between upright supports with a channel for them to sit in.If that makes sense


----------



## kevinlightfoot (7 May 2020)

I would stud it out all the way around putting insulation between the studs and panel it out with OSB.You can buy electric panel radiators which would keep you and the railway warm,model railway is very expensive I have on myself so get it right or the cold and damp will ruin it,you really need to keep a fairly constant temperature for you railway to work properly so unless you spend a lot of money to improve your garage it really isn't a suitable building. Sorry :roll:


----------



## DBT85 (9 May 2020)

I suppose what one defines as a lot of money for their hobby.

To stud all the walls and put 50mm PIR in and the same in the roof wouldn't cost the earth. 

5.8x2.4m and assuming say 2.1m high, you'd need 48m2 of insulation or say 17 sheets. Thats £350 for brand new sheets. If you're not in a rush and want to save a little you could get it for maybe half that in spares or seconds or whatever. Sure there still timber costs and the time to do it but the insulation will be the expensive part. That and dealing with the heat/moisture.

Its a nice sized space for a railway and if its THAT big of a hobby it's certainly doable.

Is the garage actually safe from the elements at the moment? is it a metal roof?


----------



## Marcj009 (13 May 2020)

DBT85":9583izal said:


> I suppose what one defines as a lot of money for their hobby.
> 
> To stud all the walls and put 50mm PIR in and the same in the roof wouldn't cost the earth.
> 
> ...



So the walls already have been studded out however as far as I'm aware theres no insulation between the wood and the concrete sections themselves.
The roof is made out of some type of black plastic and has only recently been done
I'm considering raising the roof by 30cm and and change the roof joists as there not the greatest.The garage appears to be water tight.At the moment it just holding all the rubbish from wen we moved house but once it's been cleared going to investigate a little further.Im considering my option at the moment


----------

