Paints, varnishes, glues, etc have been ruined by the constant -5-degree temps we had this year. It’s probably cost me £100

So do I….

1) Make an insulated container to keep them all in?

2) Put a cheap wall heater in my shed with a separate thermostat to keep the temp above… say 2-degrees?

3) Move them all into the loft which will be far less accessible, but afaik doesn’t freeze.

Or another suggestion?
My workshop shed has power and a consumer unit.
There is no room in the house.

yes heat them

but insulate the location also

What about sticking them in a coolbox if you have one handy? Unlikly to be called into use during winter anyway so if you have one it will only be taking up room.

Insulate the shed, small heater in there to keep it just above, will make it nice to work in too

Stick a greenhouse heater in there, they’re only ~60W usually but that should be enough to keep it above freezing unless it’s really draughty, particularly if you put it on the shelf under the paints.

I’d have to undo a lot of work to insulate the shed. All my shelving goes right to the outside wall.
I’ll consider it, but to be honest it’s not likely.

Don’t have a coolbox, but I could make a celotex-lined box pretty easily. I don’t know how many days of sub-zero it would last for without some kind of heat though.

Obvious solution is obvious, but can you store them anywhere that won’t freeze? Understairs cupboard/back of kitchen cupboard, that sort of thing?

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No room in the house – just the loft, which while cold, I don’t think freezes (due to heat rising from the house).
It’s a pain to get to, but then use of these products is reasonably rare (except wood glue). Might be the best compromise.

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Maybe in the loft with an old sleeping bag/duvet over them then.

If you don’t want to heat/insulate the whole shed make / buy a box big enough to contain all the materials you want to protect and  get one of the flexible heating elements you can buy for protecting the outlets of condenser boilers and run that around the inside

maccruiskeen – I quite like this idea. Are they safe to leave unattended and do you think it’s ok in a tight space with paints/flammable liquids/etc?

maccruiskeen – I quite like this idea. Are they safe to leave unattended and do you think it’s ok in a tight space with paints/flammable liquids/etc?

I can make no promises! – they provide a very low level of heat though and are left permanently installed and running in their intended application

You could install a thermostat inside so that if cuts off at anything more than a few degrees above zero. you can get ones that plug into a 13amp socket so run and extension into you box so the thermostat is plugged into that and controls the heat element

a household electric blanket would do the same job too

Dont bother making a box, there’s always people trying to get rid of old fridge freezers

Are they safe to leave unattended and do you think it’s ok in a tight space with paints/flammable liquids/etc?

It depends partly on the flammability of the liquids. Highly flammable liquids will produce flammable vapours at lower temperatures, and if the containers are in a confined space with little or no ventilation, then there might be a risk of a flammable concentration of vapour developing as a result of a leak or a not very tight fitting lid etc., which could then be ignited. Highly flammable liquids would include thinners, and possibly some paints and glues.

The issue with electrical heating – or other electrical apparatus – and flammable vapours is mainly the potential for a spark (the surface temperature of the heating element can sometimes also be an issue, but I doubt it’s relevant here for the sort of trace heating to which maccruiskeen is referring). The point at which sparks occur in electrical circuits is the switch, so it might be OK if you positioned the switch for your trace heating element outside the box (this is how bulk flammable liquids storerooms are usually arranged: the electrical components inside are of a very expensive type that will not ignite flammable vapours due to their design or special enclosure, but the switches for the lighting circuit are positioned outside the room to allow ordinary cheap light switches to be used). That still leaves the risk of things like damage to the circuit resulting in a spark, something to which a trace heating element might be vulnerable if it was not protected against knocks and impacts.

You could install a thermostat inside so that if cuts off at anything more than a few degrees above zero

Since a thermostat is a switch, I would not do that for the reasons described above.

Frankly, it sounds more trouble than it’s worth: you have to build the container and install the heater, you have to remember to switch it on in winter when it gets cold, you have to remember to switch it off when not needed. If the heater develops a fault it might not be apparent until you find your paints and glues are again ruined.

Dont bother making a box, there’s always people trying to get rid of old fridge freezers

That sounds like a much better idea. It’s possible you might not even need any form of heating. You could put a cheap thermometer inside it, maybe even the type that records high and low temperatures, and see if the temperature inside it the freezer was falling too low in the event of a prolonged cold spell. In an emergency, you could heat it temporarily by sticking a brick or two in your oven after cooking a meal, and then transferring the warm/hot brick to the freezer.

Thanks very much for the thoughts. I guess I’ve got a few months to come up with something.
Points taken about the sparks/switch slowster.

An insulated box sounds like a good initial plan. I don’t have room for a specific fridge/freezer. It will have to be a custom deep drawer in my Ikea Ivar shelving. Or perhaps just an insulated shelf with an insulated lift-out door. All doable though.