I had posted a topic in the Nscale forum but thought it might be more appropriate posted here. I am building a layout in my garage. It is not currently climate controlled. As I live in Texas, the summer's can get pretty hot and the garage can get even hotter!! What have others with similar layouts done to make their spaces more comfortable? Some background on my garage.... It is a two car garage attached to the house with a north facing garage door (south wall attached to the house). The two other walls are brick. There is no vegetation on the west wall to block the afternoon sun. The interior of the garage is completely finished with sheetrock (walls and ceiling). The ceiling is 8 ft. I have one door that goes into the house and the garge door. No other doors or windows. I still need to park two cars in the garage. I am going to insulate the ceiling (from the attic) and install styrofoam insulation on the garage door (it's metal). What else can I do? ------------------ Mike Drzycimski Arlington, TX The Southview Lines
It's obvious you need some kind of air exchange system as a garage can become an oven without airflow of some kind. Could be fan driven. Is your home air conditioned? If it is you could run a pipe into the garage to help cool it down. If not, how about one of those smaller window airconditioners? I wish I had that problem. Can't use my garage for anything other than the car because of freezing in the winter and it is a furnace in the summer. Luckily I have a basement to locate my railroad ------------------ Robin member #35 Proud to be a foundation member of NARA , #2 Maberly and Tayside [This message has been edited by Robin Matthysen (edited 29 January 2001).]
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Robin Matthysen: Is your home air conditioned? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I saw that you were in Canada, but this had me rolling on the floor. For future reference: House in Texas = Air Conditioning. I don't think they make houses in Texas without air-conditioning. There's got to be a law against it. And if not, there should be. (all in good fun)
I would try to blow some insulation into the side walls too. Or an alternitive would be to use 2 or 4 inch thick styrofoam on the interior walls. It might be cheaper to get a large windo unit than to run a duct from the house. Also the airconditioner in the house might be maxed out or close to it, and you wouldn't want the Road Forman pi--ed off at you during the heat....HTH.....Mike
So if it is the law in Texas to have air conditioning is it also the law that houses there should have a basement too??? I lived in hot hot South Africa without air conditioning but as I have never been to Texas, I didn't know. Only presumed so. Very few houses in South Africa have basements, only wine cellars. Maybe it's the same in Texas. Set me straight will ya. ------------------ Robin member #35 Proud to be a foundation member of NARA , #2 Maberly and Tayside
What's a basement? Unfortunately, where I live, If they tried to dig a basement it would be more like a swimming pool. I am right off of Galveston Bay- the water table is quite high.
Ahhh. My memories of model railroading while living near the Gulf Coast. As a former resident of the Sticky Heat of Baton Rouge, LA. I can attest that in the Gulf Coast, there are NO Basments and EVERY House/Apartment has AC, REALLY LARGE UNITS! In my last apartment, the AC unit could of cooled off a large house here in Illinois. The Furnace was a different story, wouldn't heat a bathroom here, but that's why we have fireplaces in the south. We lit it only when it got down below 45F, which wasn't very often. Due to the lack of basements in the GC, it helped me get into N-Scale and modular railroading (N-Trak). It's made me so HAPPY! Thank You to the DEEP SOUTH! ------------------ Brent Tidaback, Member #234 BNSF Railfan-to-the Max and a N-Scaler to boot! Ship it on the Route of The Roadrunners! The Aransas Odessa & Western, a division of the BNSF
I have thought about a portable A/C unit but I have no windows in the garage to install it in and the walls that are exposed to the outside are all brick (ground to soffits). I am thinking about installing some sort of exhaust fan to move the hot air into the attic and gapping the garage door to allow fresh air to flow in. Watash, are you out there?? I know that you have a few ideas since you live practically down the road from me. ------------------ Mike Drzycimski Arlington, TX The Southview Lines
Hey Mike! I'm from Garland and know how you feel.You have a couple of options.An attic fan would work nicely..but have everything nailed down b/c if it's like mine it'll suck your back teeth out unless you have a couple of open windows.Also a pair of ceiling fans (cheapest solution) would do wonders to keep air cirulating and only cost literally pennys per month to operate full time.Also Sears sells stand alone air conditioning units that do not need a window just an exhaust port (much like a dryer vent) and that could be duct'd into the attic instead of through a wall.As far as getting 2"-4" styrofoam to insulate..they don't sell it down here..the thickest I've seen is 3/4". Ceiling fans will probably be your best bet but even then it'll get to around 100+ in there in our typical DFW area. Good luck, Gene ------------------ Cisco & Northeastern Ry.Co. is spoken here!
A big "DUH!" to myself...you wouldn't need to run a duct to the attic.What you would want is even easier..you want cool air to re-enter your A/C unit,therfore no duct would be needed at all.Geez ,see what happens when I get lost in thought or distracted from a post,shheeessshhh! Gene ------------------ Cisco & Northeastern Ry.Co. is spoken here!
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Robin Matthysen: So if it is the law in Texas to have air conditioning is it also the law that houses there should have a basement too??? I lived in hot hot South Africa without air conditioning but as I have never been to Texas, I didn't know. Only presumed so. Very few houses in South Africa have basements, only wine cellars. Maybe it's the same in Texas. Set me straight will ya. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Most houses being built in Texas are nowadays built on concrete slabs. The older homes with crawlspaces (especially out in the country) are built on bois d' arc stumps (pronounced board-ark). The house could crumble and fall, but the bois d' arc stumps will still remain. FYI, another name for bois d'arc is horseapple trees. There's a rumor in Texas that if you try to dig a basement in some parts, you'll either hit oil or water Their idea of a basement is a storm cellar out back, or a garage (or enclosed carport) by the house. Former resident of Paris (Texas, that is) for 10 1/2 years....... ------------------ Southeast....Southwest.. Ship IT on the Frisco! Bob T. Member # 362 http://hometown.aol.com/slsf1630/myhomepage/profile.html
We have very similar hot weather here in Australia. Here is what I'm installing on my roof to remove hot air from my roof cavity. This roof ventilator removes all the hot air from the ceiling therefore preventing the ceiling from transferring heat from the roof cavity back into the rooms. Pepole who I know who have them claim there is a drastic reduction in heat and also reduction of moisture in the house during winter. ------------------ Regards Paul #1-Moderator & Member number 50 SPAD Investigator #1 ICQ 61198217 http://users.bigpond.net.au/railroad2000
Hey Paul, I have those rotary vents on my roof, but they are not nearly as well built as the one you show. Your's looks like a Rolls Royce, compared to our Model "T" Ford. Ours are now made in china, so everything is sheet metal, got a plastic bearing, no fan, no vanes, just rotates, rattles and squeeks. They call them "Turbines" here. I still have a layout out in my workshop, and no problems with it yet. Shop is not insulated, so I don't run except when weather is nice. It is 6.5 feet, by 11.0 feet, no track problems. Mdrzycimski, remember if you put a refrigeration type cooler in your garage, the exhaust from the evaporator coil is hot HOT! It needs to be out side, or vented out. Don't even think about a "swamp Cooler" here. too much humidity, they work great in the desert. You do not want a fan, or flow of air out over your tracks, or the dust will collect so fast, you will never run well, if at all. Hot air rises, so have flow along floor where the air can pickup some of the cool from the concrete, gently waft up toward the ceiling, then blow it into the attic with a turbine or two up there A guy who kept doggs in his garage, cut a hole in, (I think) the lower right corner of his metal garage door, and mounted a louvered vent grill over it, with louvers pointing down,(rain dripped outside). He mounted an airconditioner just inside, (but where the door could roll up OK), and the hot air was blowen out through the grille. He mounted a short hood to act as a duct. It went up when the door was raised. Dogs were happy. It is not supposed to be portable, but you could mount it on wheels, and pull it to one side to put a car in, and pull it back in place to run trains. Beyond that, I haven't the foggiest!! ------------------ Watash #982 "See you in the Pit" [This message has been edited by watash (edited 31 January 2001).]
OK, we have reviewed the problems of a hot-weather area.. What about the cold?? It gets downwards of 20-30 beow here, AMBIENT. Not to mention the wind chill factor, sometimes colder than 70 below! :yikes: What problems will I have in a basement layout in North Dakota? I live in town now, but in May, I'm moving in to a base house, where I'm stationed. They are heated, and the furnaces are in the basement. The walls are concrete blocks. Will I have any problems? Humidity? Lack thereof?
*points above the the :yikes:* Well, I guess that isn't valid. Darn. It's 40 below+, in that wind outside now!!
HamiAdda You're just talking about a typical winter in Canada... don't worry about it. Just use something that isn't affect by all the wild temperature fluctuations, either Foam or MDF. I have used MDF. Just think of the Canadians who live North of you with a lay out...lol.
Its not as cold as North Dakota where I live now here in Georgetown Ontario. We lived in Saskatoon for 9 years and that is well north of the US border. My basement had insulation on the top 4 feet of the wall. Not needed below that because that is below the frost line. Heat was from a forced air gas unit and it had ducts into the basement as well as the rest of the house. I coulsd have the basement as warm and dry as the rest of the house so no problems for a layout. My house here is similar. I keep the layout area temperature about 65 degrees. Ground water is high here so we have a sump pump in a well that goes down about four feet below the basement floor. It is amazing how much water gets pumped out. Outside the water freezes and we have ice stretching from the house to the road. Spring is coming thank goodness.
Hey campers, Not all of Colorado is forested- where I live in the Grand Valley, it's a desert climate (so far, we've had 3/4" of precipita- tion, and that's normal). Houses here are cooled by evaporative coolers (or swamp coolers, as Watash call 'em- both terms are correct). My biggest problem is dust, so before operating sessions, the tracks get a good cleaning. As for heat, the temp can get up to 100 degrees (about 38deg. C), but the swamp cooler keeps things comfortable.
MDF= medium density fiberboard. Its as strong as plywood, but doesent expand or contract like plywood does. Its a furnature grade product,if youve ever seen This Old House you know that Norm likes it for its stability. HemiAda2d...HMMM bet youre a Mopar nut? ....Mike [ 13 February 2001: Message edited by: Mike C ]
