Well, it's getting cold and wet here in DC and I'm beginning to realize I've got a problem (I'm not known for thinking ahead). I've built my blacksmith shop in my single family home garage, and when the weather is like this, I find it very difficult to motivate myself to go out and work in the cold. But seeming I'm actually trying to get a blacksmith business off the ground, not working for the winter isn't an option.
I'm using a gas forge with no sort of external ventilation in the garage. So I just keep the garage door open. But now that it's getting cold, I've been shutting it partially - and haven't died yet. :) But as it gets colder, that's not going to work - and it sucks having to wait hours for the heat of the forge to warm up the garage.
The wife won't allow me to actually close off the garage and convert it to a closed shop - she believes she's going to get her car back in there this winter! :) But I could keep it closed most the time and add some electric heating to take the chill out - like in the 50's. But I have to figure out how to use the gas forge without filling the garage, (or worse - the house) with deadly gasses.
Have any of you found solutions for making a garage a nice place to work when it's cold outside (and cold in the garage)? Have you added some type of heater? What do you do with your gas forge in the winter?
Have you found a way to deal with the exhaust gasses of a gas forge in a closed shop? Would a small ventilation fan like for a bathroom provide enough air circulation to solve the problem (assuming there was some path for fresh outside air to get into the garage)? Anyone have a clue about this?
BTW, the garage is part of my two story house and though there is no living space above the garage, its attic space does connect to the attic of the house.
I do already have a CO monitor in the garage as one safety measure and it has not yet gone off while I've been using the forge.