How to Keep Your Garage Warm Enough During Winter

Alberta winters can be harsh and unforgiving, which is why it is crucial to keep your home warm and comfortable. While you probably have the living areas covered, you’ll need to make sure your garage stays warm to keep your vehicle at an ideal temperature and ensure you don’t lose your other items to the frigid cold.

Fortunately, there are many ways you could heat your garage. Here’s what you need to know about keeping your garage warm and the best way to go about it:

Identify Your Heating Needs

The first thing to do to heat your garage is to identify your heating needs. You’ll have to determine how hard your heater must work to warm the space and keep it at a stable temperature throughout the winter months. To do this, you can ask yourself a few questions, such as how cold the winters are in your neighbourhood, the square footage of your garage, how much insulation you have, and how warm you want your garage to be.

It is also essential to calculate how many British thermal units or BTUs your garage heater needs to generate. A BTU is the heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree of Fahrenheit. To calculate how many BTUs you need to heat your garage, measure the length and width of your garage’s interior in feet. Multiply the figures to arrive at the space’s total square footage. Divide the number by 200 and, if your garage is adequately insulated, multiply this number by 6,000. If your garage doesn’t have sufficient insulation, multiply it by 9,000 instead. The number is the BTU output you need from your garage heater.

Insulate Your Garage

Your garage must be sufficiently insulated to help you save money on heating and cooling costs, preventing the heat generated by other devices from escaping. Once your garage is insulated correctly, you’ll have fewer maintenance costs to worry about.

Be sure to insulate your garage windows, door, and weather stripping, including the pedestrian doors. You can cover your windows with transparent, plastic shrink film. If you spot any holes or cracks in your garage’s foundation, use expanding foam insulation to seal them, as cold air quickly enters these crevices, causing your heating bill to skyrocket. You can also put parking mats to absorb moisture your vehicle might emit when in the garage.

Additionally, if your walls aren’t covered by drywall, you’ll need to add insulation to them. Otherwise, they’ll allow cold air in and warm air to escape, making it more expensive and difficult to heat your garage. 

The Benefits of a Heated Garage

A freezing, inhospitable garage is the last thing any homeowner would want in the dead of winter, mainly if it hosts valuable supplies. It will also be almost impossible to start your car when it’s been exposed to sub-zero temperatures, and it will take a lot of time to heat up, potentially making you late for work. 

That’s why heating your garage during the winter is essential, as it prevents you from encountering these problems that will stress you out. Your car will stay warm and be ready to go when you need it, and your pipes won’t freeze, preventing them from bursting and flooding the space. A heated garage also helps control the heat in surrounding areas, particularly the room above it, helping you save on your energy bill.

Conclusion

A warm garage is essential during chilly winters, as it can help you lower your heating and air conditioning bills, help you stay comfortable, and prevent other housekeeping issues associated with winter. By getting yourself a garage heater during the winter, you can keep your winter worries to a minimum.

Legacy Heating is an HVAC contractor in Edmonton that can help you with all your heating, air conditioning, and furnace maintenance and repair needs. We specialize in HVAC systems for residential new home construction and installation and replacement of various products like thermostats, humidifiers, unit heaters, and more. Contact us today for a free quote!