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Old 08-13-11, 08:10 AM   #31
Daox
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As promised, I got some pictures.

Here is a circle of pictures of the office. Yep, its a horrible mess as we're still moving things out. Obviously the wall with the door is the outside wall that will be thickened.













This is the wonderfulness that we will be fixing as we go along.









Here we have a sample of the bamboo flooring. As you can see it is an engineered board and it is prefinished. Its also about 9/16" thick.











This is the stack of flooring I have in the sunroom right now. It is 100% FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified. I'm going to have to read up a bit more about what that exactly means.




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Old 08-13-11, 10:43 AM   #32
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Quote:
Originally Posted by S-F View Post
Is it for mostly in floor radiant or does it also cover baseboards?
They are a radiant floor outfit.

There's a company called Slant Fin that does floors & radiators. They used to give away a dandy little program that did it all. I think they still give away a spreadsheet version that does the same thing.

Both of these companies assume higher feed temp water (fossil fueled), but can be tweaked to the low end.

I don't know of an American company yet that specifically goes after the low temperature radiant heating market.

Upinor used to have a free program, but no more.

Taco has design software that might work for you.

Here's a computer tool resource page.

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Old 08-16-11, 09:01 PM   #33
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Hey Daox, have you continued to troll craigslist? I was just browsing the local one and saw two new entries for board insulation in the past week. Your climate is probably a little harder in the winter than ours so I imagine people have been using this stuff there for years so there must be a market for recycled materials. It comes off the roofs of warehouses and is great because it's 1/4' thicker and isn't foil faced. And it relatively cheap.
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Old 08-16-11, 09:15 PM   #34
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Yeah, I've been searching here and there and still no dice.
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Old 08-27-11, 08:26 PM   #35
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We started with the actual work today. We started by removing the old trim. Then we moved on to taking out the ceiling. It was quick and easy, just drywall.







Lastly, we pulled up the carpet which was quite a mess. The foam was fairly well stuck to the wood. I assume this is a factor of time and moisture. We scraped it as best we could but there is still a layer of foam here and there. I don't think it'll be a problem since we'll be putting everything over the top of it and it doesn't stick up much at all.





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Old 08-27-11, 08:30 PM   #36
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So, this is how the floor looks now. I'm debating taking a random orbit sander to it just to smooth things over. Some of the carpet foam pulled the wood right up and there are splinters that need to be dealt with.

One question I will pose to those out there. What is the best way to deal with the drywall and carpet?

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Old 08-27-11, 09:14 PM   #37
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Oh Snap! I have been wondering about this project!
Nice work.

About the padding, it's probably a good idea to get it up. Just my opinion. You'd probably be fine leaving it there though. If you use an adhesive for the floor you'd certainly want to get it up. A heat gun, a putty knife and a cold beverage would take it up with no damage to the subfloor. Sanding can get really messy. The kind of mess that's hard to clean up because it gets in every little crevasse that you will never know about. But on that note, you'll be doing drywall so... you're screwed like that any how.

About getting rid of the demo waste, I have found that for small jobs it's cheaper to get a junk removal guy to take it away. They might even give you a break if you help them load it up. Dumpster rental is usually for a week or so and is pretty expensive. If you only need it for one hour it makes no sense. That's what I've always done for my personal renovations.

Nice work!

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Old 08-28-11, 01:18 PM   #38
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I have a truck so carpet goes to the dump(the only option for disposal here) and drywall goes to a recycling center which is also the only option here. If bringing in a dumpster or one of those junk removal companies they'd force two loads since they are doing the same thing in the end.

For more creative uses I've heard of people using the carpet as a liner pad for ponds and drywall can be broken up and mixed into gardens but that's assuming it's pure. No paint, no filler with strange additives... I wouldn't do it with used stuff and I doubt it's worth the hassle if it was brand new
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Old 08-28-11, 10:20 PM   #39
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Default Regarding Hydronic Pump Selection...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Daox View Post
I'll be adding hydronic heat to the floor...
Daox,

I don't know if you have done hydronic heating before, or if you have gone through the steps to size and select the proper pump...

The reason I mention it is that the process of selecting a pump for a hydronic floor is essentially identical to selecting a pump for a GSHP loop field.

I have discovered that the way you construct the piping for the loop field (and radiant floor) has a great deal to do with the power that the pump is required to have, and thus the cost of running it over time.

I really wish I had known all this before I put in my loop field.

I found that this document published by Taco is very clear, very useful.

I have also discovered that the various pump manufacturers are now making 'smart', variable speed pumps, that have the ability to monitor their own output and to self-adjust for maximum efficiency (they use permanent magnet motors and use a variable frequency scheme to adjust speed). Additionally, they are able to use the most effective phase angle for startup, and to feather it out to a different phase angle for steady operation.

This Gundfos pump is one example of that type of pump.

These smart pumps are more expensive initially, but will be cheaper in the long term.

Lastly, if you choose your materials and components carefully, you can avoid the extra expense of a bronze or stainless pump.

Good luck on your project...

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Old 08-29-11, 07:44 AM   #40
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I'm still debating how exactly I'm going to do this all. I'm all for any input you guys can give.

The solar hot water panels will be a drain back system. This means that the tank will be open to the atmosphere. I was originally thinking of running the floors right off the solar water tank, no heat exchanger. Remember, I'll also have a boiler in the mix here as backup for the solar. So, I'm guessing it'll need to have a stainless heat exchanger and the pumps will need to be bronze or stainless as well.

The other option would be a closed loop / low pressure system for the hydronic heat. It would use a heat exchanger in the solar hot water tank to pickup heat. Using that and oxygen barrier PEX tubing would allow me to avoid the bronze/stainless components.

Yet another option would be to run the boiler on a tiny loop just to heat the solar tank should the temperature drop too low. This would allow me to ensure the boiler never short cycles, but I don't like the idea of keeping the water at X temperature. I'd rather it just vary as the solar provides heat, and just use the boiler when absolutely necessary.

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Last edited by Daox; 08-29-11 at 08:18 AM..
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