I don't know what your local building codes are but it's usually pretty easy to pick used furnaces on craiglist or your equivalent. it might be illegal to put a used furnace so you might want to check... or not check depending on your situation.

If electric is what you are looking for, a mini split unit is a good choice. these require mounting through the wall. don't know if a single solar panel would be enough to power it though.

Insulate the garage as much as possible. Play mostly when the weather is favorable so you don't have to heat it as much. I don't think solar is the way to go with this. It would only make sense to start over from scratch, build the garage into the side of a hill that faces south, and use passive solar to help keep it warm.

I have R-19 in the walls, R-38 in the ceiling, dual pane windows and an insulated garage door.
A small electric heater on low keeps it toasty warm down into the 20's, if it goes into the teens then I have to kick it up a notch.
Summer is not a problem, I live in the mountains and 80 is a heatwave but I have a fan to move the air if it gets too hot.
This would probably work for you if the loft has a door to keep the heat in with the pins and let it rise when you are in the loft.
My garage is small, 20X20 though so your mileage may vary.

Eric

Drano,

having lived in Ontario for most of my life & worked in the building industry I can tell you that a little will go a long way. I see that you are going to be insulating and that's great! Just remember to also install a vapour barrier too. I would also do the following:

- caulk all around the windows & doors to seal up all those cracks/gaps around the framing.

- Install weather stripping all around the building, including the door(s), windows and the sides and the bottom of the garage door.

- Insulate your garage door, if it isn't already. I assume that you have a regular garage door that is just steel or wood. Either way, the R value is horrible. If it's steel, it should have channels that you can pre-cut rigid insulation to fit & slide it in. If it's wood, it won't have these channels, so you would have to use something like liquid nails to fasten the insulation to the door. You can also get those Garage Door Insulation Kits, but I think those are only good for the steel door type and I would not recommend that if you are always opening and closing your garage door. The batt insulation is really heavy and it will be a lot harder to open and close your door.... plus on the negative side since the insulation is heavy they will eventually fall out of the channels when your door is open. If the door is closed all the time, it's not a bad option. If you really want to go all out you can buy a new insulated garage door, but that's pretty pricey!

- As far as heating is concerned, you have a few options. You can install a wood burning stove, but it would require some sort of exhaust (either side or roof). Problem is there would be a lot of dust/soot, not that great if you are putting pins in. Second option would be to install a ceiling mounted heating device, although those can be expensive. I think your best bet, would be one of those AC/Heating units you mentioned in your post... they have a temperature setting on them now so you don't have to worry about remembering to turn them on/off. If you make sure that everything is insulated & all the cracks and gaps are sealed/caulked the unit won't need to work that hard (especially with such a small space) that you can easily keep that place around 17-20 degrees C all year round.

Nice thing is that you don't need a building permit to do all these upgrades. Hope that helps!

*Edit: I forgot to mention that you can always use spray foam to seal up any gaps too. Just remember not to seal up those weep holes on the exterior brick! (The bottom course has gaps between the brick to allow for water drainage). That is of course assuming that the exterior facade is brick.

I agree with above for prepping garage for max insulation. Just did this with my pole barn 24x32x12 with insulation on walls, garage door, ceiling and go with a split unit. They're easy to install and don't take up much space. They're usually fairly affordable too.

Contact rob craig from the silverball podcast. He has a workshop (detatched from the house). Granted it's not canada weather, it does get cold in illinois. He uses 220v hotel heaters (PTAC). Your looking at between $500-$2000 for one of those, but they are meant to be efficient.

"try to convince my wife to take over the basement"? C'mon man, step-up. Try this: "basement mine, ughh. Pinball, ugh.... Go in basement, ugh... No more talk, ugh.".

Great info. I'm needing to do this to my garage as well as I've run out of basement room! Now, to find a contractor who will help me out on the cheap....

We put this in my dads two stall garage, works great, range in price depending on size 899 to 1199

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_SPM5019849001P

It does the heating and cooling! Plus install on these is a breeze. Price is only at the price of an 80's pin but a must if you are switching to a garage. If you opt not to cool, I would invest in a dehumidifier.

depending on the size of your garage. i know of an all concrete (no insulation) 2 car garage that is 16 feet high that uses a little 30$ space heater. keeps it above 40 degrees. thats the redneck way if you want it done cheap

Oh yeah they make combo units, some even with a dehumidifier... which wouldn't be a bad thing especially in southern Ontario where it gets humid as hell.

something like this may work for you, I know people use something similar for their ice fishing huts

http://cozywinters.com/shop/smallroom-heater-ac.html?utm_source=base&utm_medium=cse&utm_campaign=merchantadv&zmam=61752597&zmas=1&zmac=2&zmap=smallroom-heater-ac&gclid=CKvmr8PLta4CFYEBRQodgmSQpA

FWIW, I use fomular sheets cut to fit the garage door opening from the outside(mine is wood)with plastic on the front of the foamular and roll in insulation stapled to the door behind the foamular, of course, you cannot open the garage door all winter, but it does work. -20 deg and the door is warm to the touch from the inside. Will love to see pics when you are done with the conversion of the garage

Glad to help! Before you buy a unit just make sure to check the BTUs. I don't know how big your garage is, but somewhere between 50-55 BTUs per sqaure foot should be alright for you.