: Hi Douglas,
: Insulate. Right now if you can.
: If by "stick built" you mean a wood frame construction
: with an external (and internal?) skin, you can fit insulation
: there quite easily between the framing. Do the roof space first.
: Heat rises.

Douglas, I agree that you first need to insulate. I live in an area that goes from -35c in the winter to +33c in the summer. I have a heated and cooled 24 x 26 double car garage with a 10' ceiling that doubles as a work shop.

We use fiberglass insulation in the walls and ceiling. I like fiberglass as it can get wet, dry out and still retain its R value. I have 2 x4 walls so I used the 4" bats in the walls. In the attic I have 16" of blown in fiberglass. Everyone will tell you that 16" is overkill. They're wrong and it's not....

You have to have a vapor barrier. The barrier goes on the inside of the insulation of the area to be heated. We use 6mm as it will withstand some abuse when installing. When we install a vapor barrier we calk, with black tar in a tube, around all the edges. That includes the floor, windows and doors. We tape every seam and hole using tuck tape. We pull off every electrical box and wrap them with poly. Reinstall the box and then seal the edges to the sheet of poly on the wall. The objective is to have absolutely NO LEAKS in the vapor barrier. If we have a leak it will let moist air get in contact with cold outside walls, condense and potentially mold....mold is bad.... Once you have the insulation in and the vapor barrier on, line the inside with 1/2" or 3/4" OSB or some similar wood product. (You can nail stuff to this...)

The reason I say all the above is because if you do a great job of insulating your workspace, heating is really easy. Depending on size, but a properly insulated work area can be easily and cheaply heated with a small electric heater.

Spend the time, effort and money on properly insulating and lining your shop and you'll never regret it.....:)

I love my shop. So much so that my kids and wife are asking when I'm moving into the garage permanently..... One of these days I'm going to build my first kayak......:)

From sunny southern Manitoba,
Bill