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Old 09-14-16, 07:35 PM   #4
GaryGary
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stevehull View Post
DE
I should have been more specific . . .

The floors are not on grade but above a crawl space so that is not an issue. The floor is not a heated floor but a radiant one with a floor temp of no more than 72-73 F, The home heating will likely be ~ 40% ducted warm air and 60% radiant, so the floors are only about 1/2 of the heat BTU load.

I have been in several passive homes, but have not been in them on a winter morning at 6 AM.

Just materials; PEX, pumps, manifolds, valves, water heater, etc is close to $8K.

This is a lot of $ for a warm floor . . . perhaps a good pair of wool shearing slippers?

Sounds like you are happy with the electric radiant?


Steve
Hi,
It seems like the most expensive and labor intensive part of your floor is the concrete.

We use pex with alum heat dispersion plates air stapled to the subfloor over a conditioned crawl space. Insulation is placed in the joist spaces under the pex tubes. This is cheap and easy and it works -- labor is minimal.
Some pictures here: A Simple DIY Solar Space and Water Heating System

Mostly on this page: $2000 Solar Space + Water Heating -- Radiant Floor Design
The cheap Harbor Freight air stapler made this go very fast.

For us, this is the only form of heat in this part of the house -- whether it would be worth it if you already have a heating system and are adding the floor just to be able to walk on warm floor I'm not sure -- for me walking on warm floors is not really that big a deal, but I know some like it a lot.
I can say that a floor heated to 72F is not going to feel like a toasty warm floor.

Gary
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