Wanting to turn my garage into my training space but I’m a huge sissy in the colder weather.
I’ve insulated my garage doors but I’m fairly certain the cold comes from the floor pulling all of the heat out of the air and pushing into the ground outside the house.
Does anybody have any advice on a covering that would help? Keep the air from losing heat?
Heavy rubber matting, like you see in the gym. It’ll help some, but unless your walls and ceiling are insulted and you’re actively heating the garage it’ll only help a little.
^^^ This, it all depends on how far you want to take it. Rubber mats will certainly help but only so far. An LP or Kerosene torpedo heater in your garage would work, or a natural gas furnace piped in the garage is nice as well. there are a lot of options but depending on how insulated the walls and ceiling are will depend on how well it holds its temp. The cheapest solution, move inside or toughen up.
The previous posters had good advice, rubber/foam mats can do wonders.
That said, after a brief warm up, I find indoor training spaces to get real hot real quick with any solid amount of exercise (unless you live in fairbanks, alaska). Why not just start your training (like on your indoor bike trainer) really layered up and then as you generate heat, then just start peeling off layers?
If I could keep it 50-55, that would be great. I just can’t seem to get warm when it’s 20 degrees in there.
Two walls and the ceiling are insulated. You can physically feel a difference in the air from 6 feet off the ground to the ground.
I’m thinking some heavy rubber matts sound good. I’ll give that a shot with a little heater and go from there.
Do you have an insulated garage door? How are the gaps at the bottom, top, and sides of the garage door?
I insulated the doors themselves. There are slight gaps but the temperature / air flow there feels minimal compared to the chill of the floor. I feel like the floor is the low hanging fruit, but I certainly could be wrong! Wouldn’t be the first time 
Heavy rubber matting, like you see in the gym. It’ll help some, but unless your walls and ceiling are insulted and you’re actively heating the garage it’ll only help a little.
This^^
Some cheap rugs or carpet on top of the matting will help too
I insulated the doors themselves. There are slight gaps but the temperature / air flow there feels minimal compared to the chill of the floor. I feel like the floor is the low hanging fruit, but I certainly could be wrong! Wouldn’t be the first time
Well, doing this right is attacking all the little things at the same time. Do the floor, but go around the garage door and fill all the gaps with stuff like this. The benefit vs cost for this will be very high:
What kind of outdoor temps do you get in the winter when you want to train in your garage?
Depends how old your property is / the building laws in your country. We only had the building act come in 91, so alot of places before that don’t have plastic under the concrete - which leads to rising damp.
You could prime the concrete up then seal it with a 2 pot mix, this negates & also reduces temp loss. Then put your rubber mats over the top. I went to a gym who were re-furb’n & bought there’s cheap, they were 10mm thick very high density, 1.2 x 800, a real prick to move but made a big difference once laid.
SB.
New construction less than 1 year. I’m sure there is a vapor barrier. I’d assume so. I like the idea of a paint/seal then matts. Then get the doors sealed up.
It can get single digits but that’s rate. Average is 20-30 over the winter. The real struggle is the garage side of our house gets minimal sun exposure so it never warms up.
Plus side, it never gets too hot in the summer. Even though I’d be cool with that.
I dont know what your budget is or where you are located, but if you want rubber flooring check out rubberflooringinc. they are pretty reasonable. otherwise a poormans way to do a platform would be to buy 2 sheets of OSB/Plywood, then a piece of 1.5" rigid insulation board (usually pink or blue). that would give you a 4x8ft platform and then you could get a space heater and you should be able to do all of that for a couple hundred bucks including the heater
Maybe use horse stall mats?
I haven’t tried them myself, but it seemed like a good idea when I heard it.
Paul
Wanting to turn my garage into my training space but I’m a huge sissy in the colder weather.
I’ve insulated my garage doors but I’m fairly certain the cold comes from the floor pulling all of the heat out of the air and pushing into the ground outside the house.
Does anybody have any advice on a covering that would help? Keep the air from losing heat?
If you want to make your garage more comfortable you have to do some planning and fix things in the order it will make most difference; and firstly, make sure you don’t create a mold factory in the process.
I did a lot of this stuff in our previous place and it made a substantial difference.
When we built our current house, I had hydronic heating installed in the floor slab for both the basement and garage (where hot water pipes are placed in the floor prior to the slab being poured). The garage walls are 2x6 with R20 insulation, and the doors are internally insulated to R12. It’s whatever temperature I want it to be inside and the floor provides the heat.
So I should have specified a few things
I know heat rises but I also know heat moves from cold to hot objects. Our bedroom will be slightly colder that other upstairs rooms. My assumption is the warm air from the top of the garage is moving into the colder slab. That’s what makes me think the floor would be a good start. But it also think it would be good to make sure the case doors are tightly sealed.
So I should have specified a few things
I know heat rises but I also know heat moves from cold to hot objects. Our bedroom will be slightly colder that other upstairs rooms. My assumption is the warm air from the top of the garage is moving into the colder slab. That’s what makes me think the floor would be a good start. But it also think it would be good to make sure the case doors are tightly sealed.
Heat energy moves from hot to cold, not the other way around - although the net effect will still be that your bedroom is colder because it’s above an unheated space (likely with inadequate insulation between the two spaces). Tackling the uninsulated wall, along with door gaps, will be your best bet. Doing the floor is only effective if you do the entire floor; and if you do, you have to manage the moisture or you will create big problems.
New construction less than 1 year. I’m sure there is a vapor barrier. I’d assume so. I like the idea of a paint/seal then matts. Then get the doors sealed up.
It can get single digits but that’s rate. Average is 20-30 over the winter. The real struggle is the garage side of our house gets minimal sun exposure so it never warms up.
Plus side, it never gets too hot in the summer. Even though I’d be cool with that.
Vapor Barrier under the garage concrete slab? Nope, highly unlikely. Not even on the outside of the foundation either. Usually only placed inside if a basement gets framed & finished. Then it goes on top of the studs, which doesn’t work that well and risks trapping moisture inside the wall… but that’s how it’s typically done. Most all new construction, even semi-custom floor plans are still built to minimum code. Code doesn’t require a vapor barrier outside the typical building envelope. Most homeowners don’t care, because all that;'s important is hardwood floors, check box features and pretty countertops. Back on topic…
Best would to have used foam board under the slab before it was poured. Costs very little… but even $300 in foam is $300 less the builder makes. Insulating the slab and foundation exterior should be a code requirement, but it’s not. Sopme folks do ICF construction, but that’s still an up charge.
Best solution for your current situation if you don’t mind losing headroom is to glue foam board to the floor, tape the seams and you’re mostly vapor tight without plastic. Then place plywood over that, then your flooring.
However rubber mats are the best temporary solution (in case you sell the home). Next best is installing carpeting with the best pad you can get.
For heating and cooling the space, best option is a mini split unit. “Tapping” into you existing HVAC isn’t “legal” if you even intend to use it as a garage in the future.
if you’re not using a fan, and dressed right, you can create a microclimate on your skin no matter how cold it gets in there.
that’s what DSW is saying.
I insulated the doors themselves. There are slight gaps but the temperature / air flow there feels minimal compared to the chill of the floor. I feel like the floor is the low hanging fruit, but I certainly could be wrong! Wouldn’t be the first time
thinking about doing the same in my garage… how do you manage the moisture under gym quality hard rubber floor rolls glued to the concrete?
So I should have specified a few things
I know heat rises but I also know heat moves from cold to hot objects. Our bedroom will be slightly colder that other upstairs rooms. My assumption is the warm air from the top of the garage is moving into the colder slab. That’s what makes me think the floor would be a good start. But it also think it would be good to make sure the case doors are tightly sealed.
Heat energy moves from hot to cold, not the other way around - although the net effect will still be that your bedroom is colder because it’s above an unheated space (likely with inadequate insulation between the two spaces). Tackling the uninsulated wall, along with door gaps, will be your best bet. Doing the floor is only effective if you do the entire floor; and if you do, you have to manage the moisture or you will create big problems.