amed garage/studio 9' wall with a gambrel roof. I'm building into a
hillside and the building won't be square (40' x 28' x 50' on the long side
& whatever across the front-hill, long story involves the wife & her
garden.....) on the hill end so I'm interested in how you handle that with
icf forms.

As far as the heat source is concerned I'm thinking about a coal fired
boiler(auto stoker) it would easily heat the shop and also offset the house
load too, but if that doesn't pan out a large water heater and a couple of
solar panels would do the shop nicely.

If you can arrange some south facing glass etc, it always helps.

If you are going to make money in this space, think seriously about a
well designed solar and then an oil fired or nat gas backup. Coal just
sounds like tinkering to me. Yeah, maybe cheap, but if you are bored,
get a woodstove, at least it smells nice. Wood can be free. Pallets are
awesome sources of heat.

That's the ticket, some nice big solar arrays, tell the wife she can
plant flowers around them. An oil boiler for the peak hours, and a
woodstove for when you ought to be working and feel like burning ****.