If you have a construction project you’re managing this winter, it’s crucial that you keep temperatures from plummeting.
Keeping your room at an appropriate temperature offers a myriad of benefits. It keeps your workers safe, and it allows your project to move along snag-free. In addition to being harmful to workers, cold temperatures weaken setting concrete, make joint compound brittle, and cause paint to take longer to dry. Find out more about the complications of a cold construction site.
Heating the space with a temporary heater doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. Our tips below will help you maximize the efficiency of your temporary heater during your cold weather construction job.
5 Tips for Getting the Most From Your Temporary Heater
Add Plastic Wrap or Plywood Over Windows: This is a simple and inexpensive way to help seal the heat inside the area in order to cut down on waste. Covering your windows can also help to keep moisture out of your construction site, and that’s important. Excess moisture can lead to swelling, mold, and longer drying times.
Restrict the Size of Your Working Space With Temporary Enclosures: Break your construction project into sections. This way, you can use temporary enclosures, allowing you to heat only the area where people are working.
Reduce Drafts as Much as Possible: When heating an area, the focus is on minimizing draft. You aren’t going to be able to make your building airtight, but there are ways to minimize draft and increase the efficiency of portable heaters.
Use Your Thermostat: Don’t just let your heater run! Most of the cost is in the fuel, so you want to minimize fuel consumption. The thermostat comes in handy here. Instead of playing a guessing game, you can set the thermostat to your desired temperature, and your unit will automatically shut off once the room reaches that temperature.
Use Fans: They aren’t just for hot weather! Fans are useful year-round. While they do create a cooling effect as sweat evaporates off skin, with a little technique, you can use them to heat a space as well.
In order to unlock the heating potential of your fan, you will need to set it to spin in the reverse direction. To warm a room, set the fan to move slowly in a counter-clockwise direction. This motion takes heat from close to the ceiling and pushes it back down to the bottom of the space. Check out our post about using fans to efficiently heat or cool a space.
We hope these tips help you keep your team safe and comfortable while your project moves forward on schedule. If you run into an issue with one of our products, head to our heater troubleshooting video series! These videos will guide you in correcting simple maintenance and usage issues commonly experienced with our units.