Quote:
Originally Posted by workaholic
...hope this worked.
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Well, if you're starting from scratch, and you're doing a concrete pad and masonry walls, there are other interesting possibilities...
If your doing a slab over gravel, you've already got the hardest and most expensive part of a radiant floor in the works.
The addition of PEX heating tubing would be a minor expense that would yield major comfort and efficiency.
And also, if you're going with masonry walls, you have significant thermal mass that could be put to good use.
To exploit this approach, you'd need to recognize that the foundation as you have it pictured is a major heat sink directly connected to the earth (the mother of all heat sinks).
You would want to thermally isolate your foundation from the earth (not a huge increase in cost).
To thermally isolate your foundation from the earth (the gravel bed gets you part way there) you'd use some rigid foam and you'd want to make sure that there was a good vapor barrier under the slab (maybe under the gravel).
Then you could put your insulation on the outside of the thermal mass (three
inches of rigid foam would be pretty nice.
There you'd have a comfortable, efficient, quiet radiant floor and your walls would provide additional moderation of temperature swings, helping to keep the house cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
Think about it... just a few changes and it would be a very different house, and much easier & cheaper to heat & cool.
Best,
-AC