I'm trying to decide what types of heaters to use during the winter season. Also what can I use for a divider for half of use of the garage. We also have very cold cement floor. Any help would be appreciated. -Jose Zapata
RE: Creating Livable Space In The Garage In The Winter
By txdesignerd (Guest Post)
I've converted my parents 3-car garage into a living space while I'm finishing up school and to section off the storage corner, i mounted 1/2 inch electrical conduit from the ceiling using hooks w/ toggle bolts ($2 each for 10 ft. lengths of conduit and super sturdy). Then I found a 6-pack of full sized white sheets at the local price club and they were made w/ hems on both ends that are open ended and big enough to slide the conduit through like a curtain rod so I didn't even have to sew anything. The conduit hangs about 1 1/2 inches from the ceiling and at that height the full length sheet puddles a little on the floor but not so much that it looks sloppy. The conduit is awesome also if you want to hang art from picture hanging wire and hooks attached to the rod. I curtained off 2 corners of the garage for a total cost of $50 including all the hooks, sheets and conduit and it looks awesome, very loft like and not at all garage-y any more!
I don't know of any kind of stand-alone heater that is safe to use indoors except space heaters. I hear they can be quite expensive to operate, though I don't really know what "quite expensive" means. An electric blanket or mattress cover may be a more economical choice in the long run, since you're heating only the bed, not the whole uninsulated garage. They can be pricey up front, but don't cost that much to operate. Don't buy them used unless you know they're only a few years old; old ones (~10 years) can be fire hazards.
As for the floor, this isn't the classiest solution, but definitely cheap. Find a carpet store and check in back. They may have discarded old carpet near their dumpster. Some of it will be dirty and gross; some of it will be generally fine. Run duct tape around the edges to keep it from unraveling (they make it in several colors now, including transparent). Insta-rug.
For a divider, if all you want is a privacy screen, check thrift stores for old sheets. They'll be dirt cheap. If you've got a sewing machine, you can sew one edge over to create a sort of tube along the edge; a number of safety pins can also work. Run a clothes line or something like it through the tube and tie it off so it makes a curtain. For better privacy, sew or pin the edges of adjacent sheets to each other.
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