Richard Evans wrote:
I live in North Carolina where winters are mild. Rarely are there long
stretches of below freezing temperatures. My shop is in an unheated
garage, a hundred feet from the house. It fell into disuse a number of
years ago, and when I revived it last Spring I threw out all the latex
paint, Elmer's glue, etc. on the assumption that, at some time, it had
been frozen. I've been restocking, and now that Fall is here I'm
thinking of ways to keep the new stuff from freezing.

Simply store stuff in an old refrigerator? An ice chest? Build an
insulated cabinet with a temperature-controlled heat lamp?

Or maybe not worry about it. I haven't actually seen anything frozen,
but then, when I wasn't using the shop, I didn't go out there for
months at a time, so wouldn't have noticed.

Moving the stuff into the house wouldn't be convenient because of the
distance to the garage.


Hi Richard,

I live in a climate where -35 is not unheard of in January. My shop is
heated when I'm there, but not when it's left vacant.

I have an old plywood cabinet/bench setup that has a section closed off
with doors. I took some Styrofoam SM and lined the inside of the
section, including the doors. I drilled a hole in the side and inserted
a piece of heat tape, available around here in nearly any hardware
store. Not sure if it's available in the Carolinas.

The heat tape is thermostatically controlled, and keeps my chemicals
just above freezing. The heat output isn't enough for me to worry about
fire, but you could also string it on insulated stands.

This was the simplest and cheapest way to ensure that I got no freezing
in that area.

Tanus