Two-bit Guru | How to Heat a Cold Room | Me, sitting in my cold den before I created a small space to heat.

When I was a kid we had a 6-foot square ice fishing shack made out of the same insulation board that was used as sheathing on new houses in those days. We left the shack out on the frozen river all winter long.

Sawdust covered the ice as a floor. There was a little oil-burning stove along one wall. When we fired up the stove, the place got toasty warm, even on the coldest of days, because the space was so small. That ice fishing shack was a good lesson in how to heat a cold room.

Since I cut off furnace heat to my den to save money on heating bills, it has been quite uncomfortable sitting at the computer keyboard in there. The lowest temperature I’ve noted so far was 46° Fahrenheit when it was about 15° outside.

I could keep warm by using a small space heater on the floor near my feet, but the space heater wouldn’t heat the whole den and at 1500 watts of power, it would be using up electricity like crazy, at least by my standards.

I got the bright idea to create a small space like the old ice fishing shack, that I could efficiently heat.

I happen to have a four-foot high stack of folded remnants from the making of theater curtains, heavy black velvet cloth perfect for making an enclosed space. Here’s how to make it:

Two-bit Guru | How to Heat a Cold Room | The enclosed space inside the larger den.

The enclosed space is built in a corner of the den with two curtained walls and the back of a bookshelf. The space measures 7 feet by 7 feet.

Two-bit Guru | How to Heat a Cold Room | The curtain rods and a piece of cardboard on top of the bookshelf.

Here’s the space without the curtained walls. The curtain rods are made from 1/2” EMT (lightweight) electrical conduit. The cardboard piece on top of the bookshelf blocks off that space as shown. It’s just wedged in place.

Two-bit Guru | How to Heat a Cold Room | A shot of the cardboard and the bookshelf from the other side.

Here’s another shot of the cardboard insert shown from the other side.

Two-bit Guru | How to Heat a Cold Room | The components needed to make the curtain rod.

A close-up of the conduit is shown here, with a conduit hanger bracket, and the 90 degree elbow.

Two-bit Guru | How to Heat a Cold Room | A hanger bracket mounted to the ceiling.

A hanger bracket mounts to the ceiling using a drywall anchor. A second bracket will be screwed into the other anchor.

Two-bit Guru | How to Heat a Cold Room | The completed corner mounting.

The completed corner mounting, with the 90-degree elbow and both hanger brackets mounted to the ceiling.

Two-bit Guru | How to Heat a Cold Room | The hanger bracket for one of the ends of the curtain rod.

The other ends of the conduit curtain rods are attached to hanger brackets. This photo shows the bracket attached to the ceiling adjacent to the wall.

Two-bit Guru | How to Heat a Cold Room | The hanger bracket near the bookshelf.

The conduit end near the bookshelf is attached to another ceiling-mounted hanger bracket.

Two-bit Guru | How to Heat a Cold Room | The interior of the finished room.

This is the interior of the finished room. The tops of the curtains were draped over the rods and secured with safety pins. The corner vertical gap is held closed with binder clips.

So far, I’ve gotten the temperature as high as 63° Fahrenheit, using a 250 watt infrared lamp intermittently. With the computer and a 75 watt incandescent lamp on, the temperature tends to reach the mid 50’s. Of course, temperatures in the small room are somewhat dependent on the outdoor temperature.

Two-bit Guru | How to Heat a Cold Room | Tahiti, not exactly.

OK, it’s really not that warm but I can dream, can’t I?