suggest to her an alternative....move the master bedroom to the garage. then use her responses as your own

Add a mini-split AC system as a simple cost-efficient fix. Otherwise get a portable AC system and just enough space to exhaust it somewhere where nobody will notice.

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I used to live in Houston and I think the answer is.... Kind of.
I think it will be very hard to keep the actual temp at 73 in the summer. Unless you want to spend a good deal on an AC bill. Also you would be cooling it 24 hours a day, to use it for a limited amount of time. (I don't think a portable would cool it fast enough and might struggle to do so at all)
I think what you really need to be after is airflow. My paincave is poorly insulated in Seattle and I will sweat my ass off when the room temp is 39 degrees.
I think if you black out the windows, and get 3 good fans (2 front and 1 behind) you can have a good spot. Plus in the words of a great movie...SO MUCH ROOM FOR ACTIVITIES!
Also heat training is supposed to help simulate altitude training, so you would have that as a benefit.

Wall mount ductless split would handle it easy. You could do a portable unit and exhaust the heat to the attic space. You also need to get rid of the condensate from the unit. That could be pumped outside. If it's going to end up being a permanent space, I'd go with the ductless unit.

Maybe think about the environmental impact aswell? Americans waste so much energy with AC.

Since it is insulated....Add ducts from your existing house ac system into the garage. Kinda depends on the capacity of your existing system, though. Bonus is that your garage becomes heated /cooled like the rest of the house...ish.

Also there are such things as through the wall ac units. Just like window units, but in a regular wall instead of a window. Put that though a wall that isn't visible from the street. A 1.5-2 ton unit would be about right for a typical 3 car garage.

Do both? Small ducts to use some house cooling, supplement with a smaller through wall ac unit.

 

I live just a little Southwest of downtown Houston with a detached garage. Most summer mornings the air temperature inside the garage is 90 or higher. I just suck it up and deal with it. I have a large pedestal fan that I aim at myself, not that that makes it any better.

I used to work 7 to 4 and lived in a town home near Memorial Park. My workout area was the attic. Want to talk about hot! 4:30PM in the attic in the summer. Surprised I did not kill myself.

Have you tried a small portable room air condition such as this:

https://www.homedepot.com/...-LP0817WSR/300422892

We have one as a back up unit at work and it works well.

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Once, I was fast. But I got over it.

Adding 600 sq ft of uninsulated space to your existing AC system is not going to work.

I would start by making a decision as to whether you can live with a garage that doesn't have opening garage doors. If that is the case then you can make up a light weight wall structure that has 3.5 inches of foam insulation and cover the door openings entirely from the inside. The insulation panels that fit into the existing roll up doors are not very effective and they do nothing to stop the air leakage. Your new inside wall should be designed to keep out any air infiltration.

Next address the ceiling. If there's no insulation up there then you can get some blown in. The walls are a bit problematic if they are wood studs with interior drywall. You'll have to demo the drywall, insulate and put up new drywall. If the walls are bare block you can use 1" ridged foam insulation, 1" furring strips where needed and drywall over it.

Your floor can be coated by a garage floor company, make sure they do a moisture level test before they coat it or it can be a problem later. Now you can address the AC system. the mini splits are a bit expensive to put in but they are very efficient and super quiet.

Treat it like a real room - on par with the rest of the house and don't settle for a bunch of unpainted walls. For more ideas and info than you can possibly process go to the Garage Journal forum. Some truly amazing people and spaces over there. Full disclosure: I used to own a garage renovation business doing floors, storage etc.

https://www.garagejournal.com/

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"They know f_ck-all over at Slowtwitch"
- Lionel Sanders

Yep, lost the battle last summer as needed to use the home office more often and the smell was more gymnasium than office. I live in The Woodlands and just tried to get up early, crack the garage door open, use a fan. Yep, hot and humid and the sweat is rough on the bike but is what it is - and makes the outdoor rides in July/August a little more bearable. Now, granted 2-2.5 hours is probably the longest rides I did as most were TrainerRoad 1-1.5 hour workouts. Not too horrible is what I tell myself but please post your solution and results for a friend :).

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I miss you "Sports Night"

X2 on the ductless mini split. Make sure the space is well insulated and sealed. Also get a few cheap box fans.

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Whenever I'm about to do something, I think, "Would an idiot do that?" And if they would, I do not do that thing.

Suck it up, buttercup!

I'm in The Woodlands and my trainer is and always will be in the garage without an a/c. Instead, I have a Wahoo Headwind on the floor in front of me, a wall mount fan with a remote switch mounted on the wall behind me, and a standup fan in front of me at face level. All of those combined with keeping the main door and the door to the backyard open and I'm able to ride 365 days a year. One thing I do during the summer months that really helps out is when I leave to take the dog for a walk in the mornings (anywhere from 30-60 mins) I leave the main door open and turn on all the fans which allows a lot of the heat the built up overnight to escape.

EDIT: many years ago I considered doing an a/c in the garage but quickly realized it was way to expensive and learned to tolerate the heat.

Um. Perhaps you didn't read the OP?



Perhaps he would need to add insulation to the ceiling...yes. He didn't specify if that was insulated like the walls. Another layer of insulation on the garage doors, or real insulated garage doors would also help.

Where in Texas. I’m in West Texas so it’s much less humid than the coast. I was able to handle the garage temps so long as I had a fan right on me. Sweat something fierce though.

Real life contractor here.....big big difference between a garage door with insulation on it, and a framed in insulated wall in front of the garage door.
My advice to the OP would be if he doesnt want to frame a wall in front of the door, would be to seal up everything as good as he possibly can, save up and buy the ductless mini split. you wont regret it! heck if you are handy or have some friends or family who are, you can probably get it done for 1500-2000. read online, there are lots of options there.

That or go the more mickey mouse route and cut in a hole in a wall that isnt visible from your street and install a window/wall air conditioning unit. those can pump out some surprisingly cool air if they are set up right.

If you point the airflow from a portable AC directly towards you I think you can cool down decently without having to cool down the entire room. What helps me greatly is a reusable therapy gel pack placed on my back. The cycling bib and the aero position keeps it from falling and cool down my core significantly.

I wouldn't (and wasn't) suggesting that an insulated garage door was equal to an insulated stud wall. That would be silly. Even a 2" thick layer only has an r-value of 10ish (assuming you could cover every square inch... Which you can't). The bigger issue is still that the door obviously isn't anywhere near as well sealed as a properly built wall. Nevertheless, a good insulated door can still get the job done well enough.

The point I was making to fuller, was that the OP already has insulated walls.

I don't really think the OP needs to get down to 73F. It's more about airflow. I'd spend more money on a truly industrial fan. I think 80F would be fine with 36" industrial fan.

Spend a summer in Houston and see if you still say that.

I’m in Austin and went from guest room to garage 3 summers ago

I do all my training before 10am (most before 6am) so I avoid most of the heat. But it’s still >75 most days in the summer

I open the garage a bit, 3 high powered fans, 2 water bottles (for an hour workout) and I just deal with it. Actually i like it. Much prefer to ride in the summer w fans on, then the winter where I’m freezing / sweating w no fans

My tip is to seal / paint the garage floor. That made a world of difference in making the garage feel “clean” vs the dusty cement floor

We had ductless units in the middle east -- they are quiet and can be very effective. I would suggest you look into insulated garage doors without windows (paint them a light color) as a way to better insulate the garage.

we have the same essential setup in our southeast texas garage / workout area. i can have a window unit, but would rather not as to not look like too much of a white trash residence.

so, this was the cheapest alternative...

https://www.homedepot.com/...-LP1017WSR/300422891

this isnt the exact model, but you get the idea. it works fairly well and you can turn the unit to face different directions, or place a fan in the air flow to redirect it.

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80/20 Endurance Ambassador

As others have mentioned a mini split unit will work well. Those things cool things down quickly.

I'm not in TX, and my garage stays nice year round with rare exceptions.

I do recall, however, one weeklong heatwave, where my garage actually got up to 85ish. Not even TX hot, but that's a lot hotter than it normally is for when I do workouts.

I aimed a Lasko blower fan on MAX setting at myself, and a second round floor fan also at me. That Lasko blower is typically so powerful on low that year-round I pretty much never use it on past the lowest "1" setting.

I do recall on that hot day though, that the max Lasko setting and the 2nd fan were not enough! I was sweating so much it was ridiculous, and I already sweat enough to make 3 foot puddles in the dead of winter with a fan! Made me realize how important room temp is to cooling - I can go max effort with a super wimpy fan if the garage is <60, but once it's over 80, it feels like nothing will save me.

It's only about room temp, if you don't have enough airflow. I sweat like crazy on my front porch when it's below freezing. Even without a jersey.

Evaporative cooling is much more effective than convection and conduction. Think about how nice an 80* day is riding outside. That's glorious! I don't start to notice air temp on the road until it gets above 95* or so.

But, bring it inside with only minimal airflow at 70*, and it's miserable pools of sweat.

That's why I recommended the 36" industrial. That's big enough to create a wind column the same size as the rider. This fan pushes 11,000+ cfm or roughly at 15 mph.

If youre going to move to the garage, take advantage of the surroundings and get a truly large fan that simply isn't an option inside the house.

The other thing not mentioned is humidity. How humid is your area? You want to get that humidity down. I think splits do ok with this.