One of the downsides of my new home workshop is that it has no ventilation, unless I open the garage door. Although this is usually not a problem, I keep seeing little chipmunks scampering across the door opening, and have an occasional visiting wasp. I use a wall mounted fan to get some air flow, which helps a little. I'd love to start work by 7AM to take advantage of the early morning coolness, but I'm in a cul-de-sac of a condo, and 8AM is about the earliest I can start.
If any of you have dealt with a similar situation and have come up with some solutions, I'd love to hear them. Meanwhile, it's still better than working in air conditioned comfort in a noisy shop with poorly maintained tools.
Carole; I live in Tucson AZ and work in my garage as well. One thing that I did that really helped was to insulate my garage door. It's a foam product comes in sheet 1 1/2" thickness and it installs very easy. The door use to feel like a fry pan now it's cool to the touch. But after about 2:00 pm I have to give up. I also do some word carving so I don't have any equipment putting out heat when I carve. But the winters are really great as it stays cool all day. The insulation also cuts down on any noise.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what kind of door you have but if you can open the door about a foot and install a framed screen across the openning that could keep out the rodents and wasps. Before I insulated I did that to keep out the lizsrds. Bees never were a problem.
Doug
Carole, I do understand. My shop here in Hawaii is all open on the front 20' wide X 20'. We don't many problems with bugs, but I have birds that fly into the shop looking for left over dog food for my shop dogs. For coolness, I have a box fan on the floor pointing out (this also helps the dogs on very hot days, an I have a stand up fan to help cool myself. I have a couple box fans in the windows that blow out and these seem to help. I am getting ready to double the size of my shop and will add more windows...but then I don't have to worry about neighbors hearing the noise...nearest one is 1/2 mile away.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Doug and Larry, for your suggestions. At least I don't have to worry about lizards. And I'll have to look into keeping the garage door open a bit. We have no windows in the garage, but we do have a wall-mounted fan that's part of the heater we intend to use in the winter, and that helps a bit.
ReplyDeleteTry a swamp cooler or evaporative cooler. I live in Louisiana. Current temperature is around a 100. With my swamp cooler, shop temp is about 85.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to your new book.
Thanks, James
I ment to add that I love your wooden bowls book. I won a copy of it at the Texas Scroll Saw Picnic. Before that I had not considered making a bowl with my scroll saw. Now I'm trying to work my way through the book.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jim