On Tue, 28 Jun 2005 10:21:13 -0500, Hax Planx wrote:

My ancient detached shop/garage has an uninsulated roof and now that
temps are parked in the 90's with full sunshine most days, the heat
radiating from the roof turns it into an oven. Things inside (like
projects) get warm to the touch and the ambient temperature soars to
about 105°(40.6°C). I've had to move all glues and solvents and
anything else that might be temperature sensitive into the house. As
you can imagine, it makes things like brushing shellac difficult. Any
ideas for a cheap remedy just for the radiating heat problem? I know I
could insulate the roof, but that isn't the direction I want to go with
this space. Before winter sets in, I want to frame about half of the
inside of the building into a room for the wood shop and insulate that,
but I didn't want to do it now. The building is about a 1000 sq/ft and
the roof is over 12' high at the peak, so that isn't very practical
anyway. I was thinking along the lines of maybe using a reflective
coating for the roof or tacking down tarps to cut down on the heat
absorbing properties of the black shingles. Does this sound practical
at all?

I'm working in an uninsulated 2 car garage with a dark colored roof.. average
temp in central Ca. in summer is about 102, so I feel your pain..

A few things that I've done to make it tolerable:

I hung one of those round floor fans from the roof beams.. blows hot air out of
ceiling area and out garage door..

Cheap portable evaporative cooler.. (only works in low humidity areas).. it's up
against the only window, blowing out... doubles as an air filter and picks up a
LOT of dust..

I keep a LARGE travel mug handy with about a quart of ice water.. refilled often
to prevent dehydration...

Wireless thermometer... this will sound funny, but it helps.. lol
The main unit is on the work bench, the remote is on the patio, which is covered
but has afternoon sun...
It's amazing what a mental thing it is, to see that it's 1 degree cooler in the
shop than on the patio..

It would be nice to have a larger, cooler shop, but it's all i have and I work
in it year round..


mac

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