How can i keep my garage below 78 degrees at all times? I live in Florida and i need to keep my garage cool.?

Question

I live in Florida and I need to store food products in my garage. I need to keep my garage cool as I plan on storing food products in my garage. I need to keep the temperature in the garage at a steady 78 degrees. Is it more feasible to run the cooling from my exisiting central air or to get an independent system for the garage? Will I need to sheetrock around the walls inside the garage and or to add insulation??? any help will be greatly appreciated...

Answer 1

What you need is a dedicated system for your garage. It is no use trying to tap into your central system as you have differing needs in both areas and cannot hope to maintain temperatures at your desired set point in the garage.
Secondly you will also need to ensure you are insulated in the walls and the ceiling, just putting sheetrock around the walls will help but nowhere as well as fitting insulation in the cavity as well. You will save in running costs of the machine over time.
I know this is more money to install but if you do it right in the first place you will be alleviating future headaches and saving money in the long run.
Hope this helps

Answer 2

Kismet pretty much had the right answer but I would add that to help keep the garage cooler, I would recommend adding 20 inches of blown insulation in the attic area of the garage as well as the insulation in the walls and sheetrock everything....2 x 4 walls are good but 2 x 6 would be even better at insulating---just have to add 2 inch strips to the existing 2 x 4 studs and insulate accordingly. You may also want to consider a powered attic vent for the garage attic to help lower cooling costs. And do buy a separate a/c unit for the garage.

Answer 3

(1) The exterior walls and the roof should be white, or as light a color as you can get. (2) You should install a ceiling of gyproc. (2) The walls and the ceiling should be insulated as much as possible, and painted white. (3) Any windows should have exterior shutters on them (white), closed during the day, no matter which direction they face. (Heat comes from the sky as well as from direct sunlight) (4) You should have an eaves exhaust fan and a vent at the other end to remove hot air from the attic space. (5) You should have a room air conditioner installed in the north wall if possible, east wall if not.
(6) You should have a way of using the attic exhaust fan to pull cool night air into the garage itself, then up through the ceiling into the attic and then out.