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I'm looking for your opinions. We moved into a brand new house recently. In the garage is this great wall I have been looking at. I'm thinking a shelf type layout 30 inches wide X 17 feet long in HO. I was thinking an OSB base with 2 inches of foam on top. I'm in North Carolina. This space is an unconditioned space. No heat, no air conditioning. Good space or bad space ?
I would think the temp and humidity changes might wreak havoc with the track work and electrical may suffer as well. A space like that would be unthinkable up here in the Great White North (Koo Ookookoo Koo Ookookoo for the hosers in the house!) but you may get away with it in Ho or a larger scale?
Any space you can put trains is "good" space.........but you are looking at some possible issues with your garage space. As Rico said, humidity and temperature extremes can cause problems.....and in a garage that also serves as a garage (yes, some people still put cars in the garage) you'll get a lot of dust also. Obviously the more controlled your enviroment the better, but none of your possible issues are insurmountable....people build model railroads in the backyard, which has even more problems. You just need to remember that your track will need to be cleaned more often (lots of long tunnels are probably a bad thing), avoid building materials (and modeling materials) that absorb moisture easily, you may have some expansion issues (make sure to leave expansion gaps in your rails) and use sturdy scenery (an air gun will remove dust, but also scenery if it isn't anchored well). In other words it might take a little extra planning to get a good USABLE layout, but if it's the only space you've got, it's certainly doable.
My layout is in 1/2 of my garage. If that's all you got, like me, that's what you use. Dust is a biggie. If you can keep the car out, do it. Also, with humidity, if you use OSB, it would be best to seal it some way (paint, polyurethane).
A layout in a garage is annoying to do correctly but definitely possible.
probably up here in MA that wouldn't work, but probably would be okay in NC
and the size sounds pretty good
I, though not the most experienced modeler, would say to go for it
or bad space 
?
