Home Gym setup in the Garage?

[sribond]

I am located in GTA/Ontario/Canada.
Currently have my small Bench press/SQuat set up in my basement but thinking to move it to my Garage (260 sq.ft). Is it a good idea atleast till October before Winter begins? any Pros and Cons should I consider?
Regarding flooring, its currently concrete & i am anyway planning Epoxy flooring in a few days then I will put some thick Rubber mats.

[MajorTendonitis]

As long as the garage is heated and insulated,I’d go the garage route . I only have 7’ ceilings in my basement (old pos house) , so having a 10’ ceiling in the garage would have been awesome.

[sribond]

As long as the garage is heated and insulated,I’d go the garage route . I only have 7’ ceilings in my basement (old pos house) , so having a 10’ ceiling in the garage would have been awesome.

My Garage is not properly insulated i guess. I mean i just replaced the door to better insulated one but in Winter, i only see a difference of around 4 to 7 Celcius between outside and Garage.
But then i guess not bad to keep in Summer atleast and then move back to basement in Winter?

[MajorTendonitis]

My Garage is not properly insulated i guess. I mean i just replaced the door to better insulated one but in Winter, i only see a difference of around 4 to 7 Celcius between outside and Garage.
But then i guess not bad to keep in Summer atleast and then move back to basement in Winter?

Well how much area do you have in your basement,and how tall are the ceilings?
Most houses are 8’ , so that works for most lat machines and power racks

[sribond]

Well how much area do you have in your basement,and how tall are the ceilings?
Most houses are 8’ , so that works for most lat machines and power racks

Basement - i am given only a small Bench area and other part is being utilized as Home theatre , etc. and basement ceiling is only 7.5 ft.
Garage - 260 sq.ft single car size but huge enough for a small gym.. I only need to find a place for my Bench press/Squat because i have my other Cable complete Inspire fitness machine in my bedroom which has Lat, etc.
My only concern here is temperature in Canada goes 2 extremes ..so not properly insulated...but should be OK for summer...

[grapegorilla]

Basement is more comfortable but I kept running into “shared space” issues and celing was 7’. I moved to garage. Insulated, dedicated space. No more conflicting usage. Get a space heater and a big fan.

[sribond]

I had my home gym in my garage for years and finally just moved it to the basement last October.

Non insulated, concrete floor. Hated it. Too hot in the summer and too cold the rest of the year. I did have a little cheap space heater for it though. Worked OK.

I much prefer having the basement setup versus the garage setup. Like night and day difference.

Interesting....
I ve below specific clarifications/concerns. Much appreciated if someone can share their thoughts which can help me decide correct path..
1)Dumb question: Usually our garages are not leveled Flat floor meaning little sliding downloads so that water gets out to outside easily. So in this case, how do you guys manage to put bench and squat rack? Aren't they leveled flat?
2)Assuming that as someone suggested, i buy some good handy Heater fan while working out in Garage, keeping those barbells, swiss bar, bench, etc. wont die gradually if left in hot summer or cold winter i mean over the period of time? Anyway i am sure i am not going to keep any machines or cable machine out there just those barbells and weight planes, rack mainly and hence my question...

[paulinkansas]

I use a propane fired torp-edo heater in my garage in winter. Can bring it from about 20 degs F to 50 degs in about 20 minutes.

[sribond]

I forgot about the sloped floor. Yes I hated it. I had to put plates under the foot end of my bench for it to be flat and doing deadlifts the bar would always roll around; it was annoying.

Yeah..that was my very 1st concern. Then do you know how others have managed to set up the flooring levelled in Garagy gym? I see lot of reviews/forums saying Garage Gym reviews but always wonder how they do the leveling there

[CookieDoughBrah]

I live in Norway, and my garage is not insulated. So during winter, I dress warm and have a patio heater hooked up in the ceiling. Helps a bit, but still cold. I can live with that though. Regarding flooring, I laid down 2 inch floor joists with floorboards on top. Then I covered the entire area in rubber tiles / gym flooring. That way, all my equipment is elevated a few inches off the ground to prevent water damage. You never know. I'm really happy with my setup.

[dragon360]

Had a garage gym for years also in the GTA. Non insulated as well. I placed 1.5" foam all over the concrete flooring and then laid my rubber mats down on top. Just to help with the chill from the concrete. In the winter warmed up inside prior to a workout, dressed very warmly, used heat rub on certain joints to help stay warm and took out a warm beverage to sip on (tea or coffee). Did this for years. Some nights in the winter kept the garage door open. Coldest workout with door open was -15 or 20C.

Long johns or some form of long underwear a must!

[PTzFree]

My garage gym is a PITTB during the winter - not gonna lie. A small space heater helps a lot, though.
However, the trade off is that there's nothing better than opening the doors in the spring/summer and getting a good sweat on in fresh open air.

Also, as a piece of advice - not sure what stores y'all have in Canada, but whatever store would sell horse-stall mats or farm equipment is where you buy your flooring from. You'll save a ton of money in flooring simply because it's not "gym equipment". Here in the states we have Tractor Supply Company, it's like $50 for 4'x6' stall mats.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...t?cm_vc=-10005

[sribond]

Had a garage gym for years also in the GTA. Non insulated as well. I placed 1.5" foam all over the concrete flooring and then laid my rubber mats down on top. Just to help with the chill from the concrete. In the winter warmed up inside prior to a workout, dressed very warmly, used heat rub on certain joints to help stay warm and took out a warm beverage to sip on (tea or coffee). Did this for years. Some nights in the winter kept the garage door open. Coldest workout with door open was -15 or 20C.

Long johns or some form of long underwear a must!

My Garage size is 260 sq.ft & planning to do Epoxy coating on top of old concrete. So when you put those foam/mats, i guess floor is not flat leveled? Is this ok to just keep my Bench/rack on the vertical direction instead of horizontal so then atleast whole bench is little downwards i think.....

[dragon360]

I set most things towards the door. No levelling issues really with anything.

[gottalottastick]

Rubber matts are a must

[sera310]

Interesting....
I ve below specific clarifications/concerns. Much appreciated if someone can share their thoughts which can help me decide correct path..
1)Dumb question: Usually our garages are not leveled Flat floor meaning little sliding downloads so that water gets out to outside easily. So in this case, how do you guys manage to put bench and squat rack? Aren't they leveled flat?
2)Assuming that as someone suggested, i buy some good handy Heater fan while working out in Garage, keeping those barbells, swiss bar, bench, etc. wont die gradually if left in hot summer or cold winter i mean over the period of time? Anyway i am sure i am not going to keep any machines or cable machine out there just those barbells and weight planes, rack mainly and hence my question...

I put Rogue's shims under my rack to level it out, mainly because it bugged me to see the bar sloping in the rack. I don't notice it while I am lifting, but if it bothers you, there are plenty of resources on the internet & especially YouTube about how to build a levelled lifting platform.

[BulkMore]

I put Rogue's shims under my rack to level it out, mainly because it bugged me to see the bar sloping in the rack. I don't notice it while I am lifting, but if it bothers you, there are plenty of resources on the internet & especially YouTube about how to build a levelled lifting platform.

Of course Rogue makes shims. Definitely wouldnt want to use any other type of shim.

[sribond]

I put Rogue's shims under my rack to level it out, mainly because it bugged me to see the bar sloping in the rack. I don't notice it while I am lifting, but if it bothers you, there are plenty of resources on the internet & especially YouTube about how to build a levelled lifting platform.

thanks for such a valuable inputs as i was thinking only way is to level the whole garage floor completely which is not at all possible in my case due to tight budget, etc.
Also wondering if those Rogue shims are specific/compatible to Rogue racks or any rack...

[radrd]

thanks for such a valuable inputs as i was thinking only way is to level the whole garage floor completely which is not at all possible in my case due to tight budget, etc.
Also wondering if those Rogue shims are specific/compatible to Rogue racks or any rack...

Garage floors are intentionally sloped for drainage. You don't want it level because water from your car could collect around the edges/walls.

[sera310]

thanks for such a valuable inputs as i was thinking only way is to level the whole garage floor completely which is not at all possible in my case due to tight budget, etc.
Also wondering if those Rogue shims are specific/compatible to Rogue racks or any rack...

I'm sure they'll fit any rack with a similar bolt pattern, or you could rig up something that would work. I bought them because I knew they'd work with my Rogue rack & I didn't want to bother trying to fab something up.

[PTzFree]

Garage floors are intentionally sloped for drainage. You don't want it level because water from your car could collect around the edges/walls.

Had to put about a half-inch worth of steel shims under mine too for this reason. No big deal. Taped them together, put them under the right support of the rack... dun, level bar.