Underfloor heating OK for car storage??

PATJOE

Hi,

Building my house at the moment and garage is attached to the house so I had thought of finishing it off like any other room in the house, same under floor heating and screed but someone mentioned UFH is bad for storing a car???

Anyone any experience with this?

kadman

Stable environment is probably ok. Maybe where the issue might e during the cold months is,

cold air meeting warm metal, if the heat is on and off during the cold hours.

Condensation then is a possibility. maybe with a dehumidifier running??

seamus

Can't see any issue with UFH. A car stored outside or in a normal garage will undergo far more heating and cooling over time than one in a garage maintained at a stable temperature.

I would say condensation is the main concern, a garage with UFH could become extremely humid at times, you would want the place well ventilated or make a point of running a dehumidifier on wet days.

galwaytt

I have UFH in mine for several years, and the garage is very, very well insulated.

Frankly, after 7 years, it's never even come on once. I could park my car in it now, and come back in 6 or 7 hours and the bonnet would still be warm.

Bear in mind you only need to keep it at about 15 degrees, not 20 like the rest of the house. Also, I'd use path mix concrete at 100mm thickness instead of sand/cement floor screed in a garage. I use trolley jacks etc on mine without an issue. You should use a dense insulation under, I would recommend 300 or 400kPa density XPS at 100mm - 125mm thickness.

Now, the issue as pointed out is ventilation. There is no problem when everything is dry, but if you drive in a wet car, that's the issue. You need ventilation. I was relying on natural ventilation..........but as I've noticed, it's not enough. I will be fitting a small bathroom extract fan to the wall one of the days, maybe with a run-on timer.

One other tip: my garage is tiled, and walls painted, just like the house. With a well insulated, sealed, garage, with insulated sectional doors, the run off water from a wet car on a wet day just.............sits there............so, apart from ventilation from moisture point of view, if you're tiling your floor (and it's brilliant btw), then either put an actual gulley in the room (middle), or fall the floors to the door (even a tiny bit would do). Otherwise, as I say, you're just building a lake :pac::pac:

https://photos.smugmug.com/Other/Misc-pics/i-mwcBMNm/0/O/garage2_1.jpg

savagethegoat

I think it's probably only the tyres that might be compromised, if you are storing the car for any period of time you should raise it on axle stands, and the UFH won't be an issue then.