[elie2wins]

Ive got a 360 sq ft garage thatid like to turn into a more livable space if not air conditioned. Area is S. Florida so it gets hot and it gets humid. Here some facts about the space.

1. Garage is attached and insulated on 3 walls (rooms on two sides, home corridor on one)
2. One Jalousie style window
3. Roof is not insulated and attic/crawl space is 14 inches from ceiling to roof
4. There is a roof turbine above the garage but no clear intake vent
5. Garage door faces the north

Whats the best and least expensive way to cool this room? are they mutually exclusive? Theres a ceiling fan in the garage and a slab of plywood screwed into ceiling under or near the turbine which im wondering was the intake for that empty ceiling space. Is a portable ac a waste of money?

Window unit or Mini splits wont be allowed and an eyesore due to high visibility placement. thanks in advance

 

[joecaption]

If your not allowed to add an A/C there's not much you can do that's going to make a big change in temp.
Adding insulation in that attic, making sure there's soffit vents, replace the turbine vent with a powered vent or better yet a ridge vent would at least stop the ceiling from being like a radiant heater.
No way to install a mini split out back?
Adding a whole house fan would also add a lot of moving air and at least make it feel a little cooler.

 

[u2slow]

Is the ceiling high enough you can afford the space to build an insulated drop ceiling?

A mini-split seems like the right way to go. The outdoor unit can be placed anywhere... and has the potential to feed multiple indoor units. I dislike these standalone AC units use a dryer duct, but that may be your cheapest route.

 

[elie2wins]

Is the ceiling high enough you can afford the space to build an insulated drop ceiling?

A mini-split seems like the right way to go. The outdoor unit can be placed anywhere... and has the potential to feed multiple indoor units. I dislike these standalone AC units use a dryer duct, but that may be your cheapest route.

I forgot to mention that this is a flat roof. In terms of ventilating the garage roof which is framed off completely from the rest of the house roofing, i think ill see about replacing the turbine with the fan

 

[joecaption]

Posting a few pictures in your first post or mentioning that before would have been a great help.

 

[elie2wins]

well i just did some digging and if i understand this correctly, ventilating attic spaces in humid areas like SoFlo isnt good as itll introduce moisture. I took a look around my neighborhood and where i once saw soffit vents there are none along with turbines now as homeowners have had their roofs redone

I may just assign myself the task of enclosing off the area i want in my garage and go about cooling with a small portable. While i would want to cool the entire garage, i only cared as i need a big enough office space now that i work from home alot more