# Zip Wall for Shop Heat Containment?



## SailplaneDriver (Jan 18, 2020)

I have a small portion of our unheated three car garage set up as my shop. I live in the Seattle area and we get some cold spells. The garage stays above freezing but it is not plesant working in the 40s F. I have a radiant heater that swivels back and forth which works well enough when it's not too cold. It can't keep up when it's in the 20s outside.

I was thinking about barriering off the shop portion using a Zip Wall or something similar so I could use a heater and contain the heat in the area I'm working in instead of the whole garage. Zip wall puts up a plastic sheet from floor to ceiling and is primarily intended for dust containment. I was wondering if any of you have experience using it to keep in heat.


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## MikeG (Jan 18, 2020)

I've been using one for several years and it works great keeping the heat in the shop and not heating up the rest of the garage.

MikeG
Colorado Springs, Colorado


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## kwoodhands (Jan 20, 2020)

SailplaneDriver said:


> I have a small portion of our unheated three car garage set up as my shop. I live in the Seattle area and we get some cold spells. The garage stays above freezing but it is not plesant working in the 40s F. I have a radiant heater that swivels back and forth which works well enough when it's not too cold. It can't keep up when it's in the 20s outside.
> 
> I was thinking about barriering off the shop portion using a Zip Wall or something similar so I could use a heater and contain the heat in the area I'm working in instead of the whole garage. Zip wall puts up a plastic sheet from floor to ceiling and is primarily intended for dust containment. I was wondering if any of you have experience using it to keep in heat.



I built a 8'-0" x 12'-0" enclosure that was removable for a customer. This was a pantry in his garage. 
I screwed 1/4" plywood on each side of 3-1/2" metal studs 2'-0" on center. The studs had fiberglass insulation taped to the studs.  The long side has  three  4'-0"  panels , short side has two 30" panels and a 3-0 door. 
Other sides are outside walls that were insulated and sheet rocked when the house was  built.
Each panel has two angle clips screwed to the top and bottom of each panel. Cats cut in where necessary between joists to anchor the clips. Bottom clips screwed into plastic anchors on the floor. Ceiling was insulated in the room and 1/4" plywood screwed to the joists.  Plenty of shelf space on  the outside  walls. More free standing shelves attached to the studs . He heats the room with an oil filled electric heater when necessary. 
He keeps the pantry 45° when it is very cold outside. I built this 20 years ago ,I don't think he ever removed the panels. His idea was to take the room down in the spring and early summer. 
The zip wall is better than heating the entire garage. 
mike


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## SailplaneDriver (Jan 21, 2020)

Warmed up a bit so I'm gonna put this on the shelf until the next snow. Now if I only had in-slab heating to keep my feet from getting so cold.


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## Brian Rupnow (Jan 21, 2020)

My office is at grade level with a cement floor, and I get miserably cold feet in the winter.--I bought a heated rubber mat that plugs into 110 volt wiring and has resistor wires molded into it. I can't remember where I bought it now, but it works great. Probably a web search will let you find a supplier.---Brian


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## SailplaneDriver (Jan 22, 2020)

Brian, that't a great idea. How do you think it would work in a shop environment with metal chip?


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## Brian Rupnow (Jan 22, 2020)

I think it would work fine. There are no exposed wires to short out. My office is right beside my machine shop, and the mat I have sees it's fair share of chips and I've never had a problem.
https://www.globalindustrial.ca/p/f...MIx4Wsuu6X5wIVh4bACh2W3wuMEAQYAiABEgLKC_D_BwE


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## ignator (Jan 23, 2020)

SailplaneDriver said:


> I have a small portion of our unheated three car garage set up as my shop. I live in the Seattle area and we get some cold spells. The garage stays above freezing but it is not plesant working in the 40s F. I have a radiant heater that swivels back and forth which works well enough when it's not too cold. It can't keep up when it's in the 20s outside.
> 
> I was thinking about barriering off the shop portion using a Zip Wall or something similar so I could use a heater and contain the heat in the area I'm working in instead of the whole garage. Zip wall puts up a plastic sheet from floor to ceiling and is primarily intended for dust containment. I was wondering if any of you have experience using it to keep in heat.


I've been heating part of my workshop for many years now with plastic sheeting. It does keep most of the heat in the space. My shop is 30x40 with 11 foot ceiling. So I installed the plastic wall to make a 30x12 foot space. It's much colder here in Iowa, I use a 3KW radiant heater up at the ceiling. And keep the space around 65F. The electric bill is pretty big for 4 months of the year, as it's on 24/7. I have a 240V base board thermostat to control the heater.


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## Steven Tarr (Mar 14, 2020)

My shop is a old single car, cinder block garage. For the first couple of winters I dragged in garage space heater. Warmed the space OK, but the friggin' machines were so cold that working with them was not pleasant. And, of course, gloves are a No No. Last summer I added rigid foam insulation and paneled the ceiling and added R30 insulation. Did not go nuts with sealing up everything as I still needed some ventilation to use the propane heater.  This last winter, we had many days of highs in the low 20s and some in the single digit range, but with me in the shop almost daily, the place never got below 40'. More importantly, the machines were not that cold to touch. For me the big issue was the temperature of the machines.


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