johnny r

Fun project, great question.

Shoot for keeping it above freezing, anything above 32F is totally machine friendly. Dress warm and you are all set.

You can get garage door trimmings without inventing anything. local lumberyard can set you up with correct edge and botton seals meant for these doors.

insulating an old door not engineered to accept it is problem. Worst problem is air leaks so seals are best start. If its a hollow metal door with no back skin then you can rig some pink board insulation but its a tiny gain overall.

Insulating plywood inner faces of walls/ceiling is OK. Cover with staples up tyvek - white construction fibrous vapor barrier sheeting, it staples right up and keeps fiberglas and dust inside the cavity, and is about as good as white paint for illumination.

Not sure about adding heat, I dont have it myself in garage. Mine is unattached. If you dont like the cold in NH you are in wrong place. Car projects go on hold from christmas to mid march.

Whatever you do not cover with tyvek, paint white ecept for floor and bench.

Next step, good lighting, over a good bench.

I use 49 cent compact florescent screw in bulbs in surface mount fixtures, spaced about every 2 feet, 2 feet out from bench wall. Also one large florescent cieling fixture, 4$ each at local salvage shop, one over car roof, one in front of each car bay. CFT lights up in rafters too. Cheap as dirt $wise, takes some time to get set up. with everything on its about 400 wattts in my place and real bright.

Build a bench 2x times as large as you think you need, with 2x6 and 3/4 ply with a full length shelf underneath. Surface it with architectural carpet tiles from salvage place. Wiremold outlets along front edge, vice on one corner. Cut bench with 30 inward inward slant from planform view. Then run 16" deep shelves around perimeter 16" down from cieling. Put in floor to cieling shelves wherever you can, shot for max of 75% shelf space in use.

Then go to Costco and buy Stainlesss Steel rollaway toolboxes, I use 2 setups per garage, one for tools one for parts. I use the slant front ones that cost $400 usd all in each.

This sounds like a 12-1500 project for everything including SS rollaways. Take a good week of solid work. Plus a couple of chairs to sit in, I can fit adirondack style plastic lawn chair with beer can hole in one arm. and a cooler. And a small old receiver with speakers up on a shelf. Best room in house and the cheapest by fartor of about 20.