How Should I Heat a New Room Above a Garage?

One Answer

1. Nigel Griffiths says:

   24th October 2022 at 2:32 pm

   Going back to basics, the cheapest way to heat anything is not to need heating – i.e. ensuring that the building is highly insulated and airtight. Next, use free heat from the sun, i.e. large windows on the southern elevation – if doing this, beware of overheating.

   If you still need space heating, the next cheapest way (in use) is to burn waste – be this waste biomass (eg a wood burning stove), or use waste heat from any form of process heating.

   Failing that, the cheapest heat at present is gas, and that’s not likely to change any time soon. Presumably there is a heating system in the house attached to the garage. If so, simply extend this. Doing anything else would require extra expense!

   The next most expensive to run (and very expensive to install) is some form of heat pump. The most expensive of all in-use would be electrical resistance heating. This is often dressed up as something else but essentially any form of resistance heating just transfers electrical energy directly into heat. The reason that this is used so often is that it’s the cheapest to install – but it’s punitive to operate.

   Nigel Griffiths (Build It sustainability expert)

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