DrBoost said:
I do like the idea of tree cover, but I'm afraid I'll be worm food by the time a tree I've planted is tall enough.
True! OTOH the guy that planted my oak isn't using it anymore but I'm still happy he decided to plant it.
Unfortunately it looks like the best place to plant something is on your neighbor's property. That southern exposure will get most of the sun during the day, with the western side getting hammered as well. I think having a shade tree to the east of the of the south-east corner of the shed would certainly help, but you'd have to worry about making sure the entrance is clear as well.
I love trees but it looks like you have some AC and insulation in your future =P
This thread has me again thinking about cooling my garage. I'm in central VA. The garage is a 3.5-car frame structure with a shingle roof and no insulation whatsoever and no ceiling. Can't imagine much benefit to cooling without adding insulation, but insulation materials I've priced are expensive. Mostly, I just don't use the building in the hottest part of the summer and bring portable jobs into the attached, which has A/C. I find myself with a spare window unit, so might use as a spot cooler this summer.
I recall a summer in central Florida a few years back. I think the daytime highs averaged about 106, and the sun was relentless. I will count my blessings. 
DrBoost said:
I really want to avoid A/C, but I don't think I can do that. I like the diy mini split though.
Here's my shop. As you can see, it's maybe 10' from the fence on the west side. There are trees, but no significant shade until the sun is low enough to not make much of a difference, if any. I do like the idea of tree cover, but I'm afraid I'll be worm food by the time a tree I've planted is tall enough.
My apologies if you already have one foot in the grave, but I thought I'd mention that a couple of native tulip poplars that I transplanted away from the house where the squirrels or the wind planted them have grown to be 40 or 50 feet tall in the 17 years since my son was born. As fast-growing trees go, these are pretty decent and provide good shade. Unfortunately, I didn't plant these where they would do me much good, but I suspect my neighbor enjoys the afternoon shade that his dining room receives.
In reply to 1988RedT2 :
No worries LOL. I'll be 50 in a few months so the thought of planting a tree that won't give any meaningful shade for 10 years isn't as important as something in the next 5. That being said, I have this huge (by my standards) yard and would like to put some large trees on it.
Insulate it heavily, then install a Mitsubishi, Daikin, or Fujitsu mini-split A/C
Do you have a ridge vent in the garage? It looks like there may be one there.
In reply to Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) :
I don't think so. I'll have to look in the am when I go out there again.
If not, a ridge vent will probably lower temps quite a bit.
Yeah, no vent. I went out there this afternoon, 2 pm. The outside temp is somewhere in the upper 80s. The inside of the shop is 100. Gotta do something! I think some ventilation is the first order of business.
Buuuuut, if I add A/C (looks very likely at this point) won't a ridge vent let precious, expensive, cooled air escape? I know hot air rises, but seems like I'll be fighting a losing battle to some extent.
Thanks all, for your input.
In reply to DrBoost :
Sorry, I thought you didn't want to add AC. I guess it may let a bit of paid for air out, but I'm not an HVAC expert.
I didn't used to have a ridge vent on my house, and the attic would be 120 or so. Adding the ridge vent just made it a few degrees hotter than ambient in the summer.
I am in southern maryland, my shop is about 1000sqft and I have a heat pump and air handler hanging from the ceiling. I hear you on not wanting to run it all the time, but its not all or nothing. If I am not going to be out there I set the thermostat to just keep it under 80* or so, or the heat in the winter to keep it over 50* I have been out there more lately, so I have it set to 78* and can bump it down further if I will be out there more. I also have a plasma tv and have been running a bounce house for my 3yo a lot (yes, I have space in my shop cleared for an indoor in airconditioning bounce house where he can watch music videos on a plasma tv...)
Highest bill I have had was $60-$65 for a month (I think I was using the welder a lot then, before kids), normal is $30-$45, but the bill ihas a floor amount of like $25 or $30 a month as it has its own meter and billing.
I'm not even in florida, but I would never go back. Just setting it to 80-85* to take the humidity out is a big deal.
If you really want to do minimal budget, for florida I would still seal it up some and run a dehumidifier out here to make it bearable and save your stuff from rusting.
It was hot as it could be and extremely humid this morning around 9:30am. I turned on my mini split, set it to 70 and 20' later the garage was nice and cold. I changed the oil in my wife's car along with a broken headlight. I just finished and now I set it back to 82 and go on with my life.
Get a mini split.
You can MacGyver a ghetto pseudo air conditioner out of a box fan, metal tubing, an ice chest and fish pond/aquarium pump. ZIp tie the tubing to the box fan and circulate ice water through it from the ice chest. A couple frozen milk jugs to make the water in the bottom of the ice chest stay cold a long time. It makes it more tolerable to be in a sweltering hot shop if there is cold air blowing on you.
Swamp cooler in Florida, ha
When I was in TX I had an attached garage. I scavenged a huge squirrel cage fan from a central air system, ran a 220v line through the attic, and mounted the fan to the side of my shelves. It would darn near rip the bandana off my head if I walked in front of it.
It didn't really do much, but fortunately I'm a hot weather person. I don't mind 100 degrees as long as I'm not baking in the sun and as long as the humidity isn't oppressive. One summer we had a stretch of 104 days that hit at least 104 degrees (the 104.3 radio station made a contest out of it where callers could win money for guessing how many days). That was too much for me. I would work early in the morning and I was done by 10am.
Of course, now I live in PA, so I can't really do much between November and April because I'm a complete wuss when it's cold.
My 2.5 car garage is finished - paneled ceiling and drywall walls, but uninsulated. Have a DIY mini-split and it does a fine job of keeping it comfortable enough to work in winter and summer. Doesn't do a great job below about 20F, but I can deal with 55 degrees in the middle of winter. On the worst days of summer I'm not a dirty greasy dripping ball of sweat anymore. 80 degrees and reduced humidity is just fine with me.
Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) said:
In reply to DrBoost :
Sorry, I thought you didn't want to add AC. I guess it may let a bit of paid for air out, but I'm not an HVAC expert.
I don't, but I think the handwriting is on the (hot) wall. I think I need to add AC to remove humidity to save my tools from rusting.
Yes, that's almost certainly necessary.
You may want to panel and make a vented air gap for your roof to insulate from the roof being heated my the sun if I am understanding your posts correctly. It's what the attic in your house does. It's supposed to breathe in at the bottom of the roof and out at the ridge, though you can do other vents (easier to cut in to an existing roof that doesn't have a ridge vent)
