People in cold country

[KC]

I had planned on largely giving up woodworking when we retire to Nebraska in a couple years.  Basement is too small for anything 'power', and a screwdriver is plenty enough hand tool for me.  
 

But now I'm having second and third thoughts.  I'm gonna have to have a new garage put up anyway, so I think I'm going to go to a  3-car and wall off a dedicated area.  I'm not worried about being able to heat the area up when I'm in it, but am a little concerned that if I don't keep it somewhere stable, I'll be fighting the extreme temperature cycle with rust and such. 


Words of wisdom?

[fredhargis]

Well, I'm in NW Ohio and so do not get quite as severe a winter as you might in Nebraska, but I don't think you'll have any unusual problems. If it's an attached garage, it gets easier, they seem (to me) to hold the heat from the attached house slightly and if it's detached (my last 3 shops) keeping it heated to 50˚ when you aren't in there takes care of things. You need to do that anyway to keep things from freezing. The spring is a different story around here. I find I need a dehumidifier at times to keep the moisture under control. Other than that, just a good tool maintenance program (wax, or whatever you use to protect against rust) keeps you good to go.

[R Clark]

"Nebraska...honestly, it's not for everybody."  Truth from the state's official tourism slogan.  You can look it up, but I digress.

You didn't say what part of the state you're moving to, but the eastern 1/3rd is the more humid portion of the state. 

Been living in the Omaha area for 16+ years this time around, and we're settled in, essentially forever.  Even though it can be very humid in this region during the summer, I think you'll find that the humidity is generally low in the cold part of the year. 

Before we moved out to our acreage, my shop was shared space in a two-car garage that was unheated and uninsulated.  My only source of heat in the winter was either a kerosene stove or small propane bottles fueling a hot-dog style heater.  Unvented, fuel-burning heat will cause moisture issues.  The water vapor by-product of the combustion process can wreak havoc.  If we had stayed in that house, I was going to tear down the drywall in the garage and insulate the space and add a vented heating unit.

My current shop is in a separate building that I keep heated, at least minimally to 40-45 degrees when not in use.  When I'm out there, I will typically run the heat up to 60-65 degrees.  I don't have significant rust issues.  I wax the tables on my machines 2-3 times per year.  The minor rust I have on hand tools I'll attribute to my own negligence combined with not being able to spend as much time using them as I'd like.

The current shop is heated with a 100K BTU propane furnace mounted on the ceiling.  Combustion air and exhaust all travel to/from exterior of the building.

I think you'll be fine if you can keep a base temp in the workspace of around 45 degrees, as long as you aren't exhausting lots of moisture directly into the workspace.

Good luck!  Hope your move goes well.  Honestly, my sarcasm in the first line doesn't mean I hate Nebraska.  This is a good area to live in, and when we moved, we stayed close in Iowa since our jobs are here, as are one of our kids.  We just chose to live in Iowa for a number of non-woodworking related reasons.

[KC]

"Nebraska...honestly, it's not for everybody."  Truth from the state's official tourism slogan.  You can look it up, but I digress.

You didn't say what part of the state you're moving to, but the eastern 1/3rd is the more humid portion of the state. 

Been living in the Omaha area for 16+ years this time around, and we're settled in, essentially forever.  Even though it can be very humid in this region during the summer, I think you'll find that the humidity is generally low in the cold part of the year. 

Before we moved out to our acreage, my shop was shared space in a two-car garage that was unheated and uninsulated.  My only source of heat in the winter was either a kerosene stove or small propane bottles fueling a hot-dog style heater.  Unvented, fuel-burning heat will cause moisture issues.  The water vapor by-product of the combustion process can wreak havoc.  If we had stayed in that house, I was going to tear down the drywall in the garage and insulate the space and add a vented heating unit.

My current shop is in a separate building that I keep heated, at least minimally to 40-45 degrees when not in use.  When I'm out there, I will typically run the heat up to 60-65 degrees.  I don't have significant rust issues.  I wax the tables on my machines 2-3 times per year.  The minor rust I have on hand tools I'll attribute to my own negligence combined with not being able to spend as much time using them as I'd like.

The current shop is heated with a 100K BTU propane furnace mounted on the ceiling.  Combustion air and exhaust all travel to/from exterior of the building.

I think you'll be fine if you can keep a base temp in the workspace of around 45 degrees, as long as you aren't exhausting lots of moisture directly into the workspace.

Good luck!  Hope your move goes well.  Honestly, my sarcasm in the first line doesn't mean I hate Nebraska.  This is a good area to live in, and when we moved, we stayed close in Iowa since our jobs are here, as are one of our kids.  We just chose to live in Iowa for a number of non-woodworking related reasons.

Thanks, neighbor. 
 


We'll be in Nebraska City, and will go before retirement if I can get a job at Offutt (which I'll start seriously looking for in a few months).  I've had a Farenheat wall unit in two previous shop spaces, both larger than what I'd be walling off in NC, and that's probably what I'll do again.  The thermostat did a good job holding whatever I asked for, and I'll be insulating way better up there than I did here in Texas.

[DaveR1]

I'm in Minnesota and use our two-car garage as my shop. The cars live outside year round. I have a Hot Dawg heater in the shop and a thermostat intended for outbuildings and greenhouses. When I'm not working out there I keep it set for 40-45°. Bump it up to 60 when I'm working out there and it's fine. No problems with rust at all.

[Admiral]

"Nebraska...honestly, it's not for everybody."  Truth from the state's official tourism slogan.  You can look it up, but I digress.

Well, for work about 15 years ago I spend three weeks in Lincoln (on the company dime, stayed in the Cornhusker Hotel, nice place), and had the opportunity to drive around the environs, met some folks, and it was a really nice place, felt like home to a guy from NJ..... :-)

Perhaps it has changed over the years, but I don't think so.

[R Clark]

Well, for work about 15 years ago I spend three weeks in Lincoln (on the company dime, stayed in the Cornhusker Hotel, nice place), and had the opportunity to drive around the environs, met some folks, and it was a really nice place, felt like home to a guy from NJ..... :-)

Perhaps it has changed over the years, but I don't think so.

The service decided they wanted me to move again, back to D.C.  I had a better idea: retire from the service and stay here.

Did 4 years in N.J., too.  Still have friends from that time.  But move back there?  Nah...Midwest is more my speed.

KC:  I'll send you a PM tonight.

And, yeah, Nebraska Tourism really did pay a firm to come up with that silly slogan.

[Splinter Puller]

I just keep my shop heated.  I super insulated so the heating cost is low.  I keep it at 60 degrees and step it up on the weekends if I am going to be in the shop often.  I have floor heat so its dry and quiet.

[Admiral]

The service decided they wanted me to move again, back to D.C.  I had a better idea: retire from the service and stay here.

Did 4 years in N.J., too.  Still have friends from that time.  But move back there?  Nah...Midwest is more my speed.
 

Parts of NJ are actually pretty rural; I live a mile from a buffalo farm...... not to mention dairy, and horse farms.  But I get it, and I do like the Midwest.

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

I'm not sure that southern Maryland really counts as "cold country", but winters reach into the teens and single digits in late January and into February. That's plenty cold for me.

I have a three car garage. I walled off one bay for my wife to park her car in (it has the door to the house in it). The other two bays are solely dedicated to my shop. I'm finishing insulating and hanging drywall in the coming weeks. I have a 7500W (33amp) electric, forced-air heater that brings it up to a workable 55* in short order. 55* is an easy temperature for me to ww in because I can comfortably wear a tight long sleeve under a looser short sleeve, and the activity of ww'ing keeps me warm. I don't think that temperature delta is enough to cause any problems.

My shop is 24x24 with a 12' ceiling.