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iron
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iron
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PostMon Dec 22, 2014 9:15 pm 
anyone in the puget sound area have radiant heat floors (preferably hydronic)? what is your evaluation of how they perform, costs, maintenance, upfront costs, etc? currently looking at remodeling the new house to include radiant floors. there are lots of articles for pros and cons online, so i'm hoping to get some feedback from local folks.

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mike
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PostMon Dec 22, 2014 9:29 pm 
Remodeling a bath. Add electric under the new tile. Piece 'o cake. Rest of the house hydro is a BIG deal. Probably more expensive than if new construction. Otherwise the option is to pour 1½" lightweight concrete throughout or attach to the underside of floor if you have access. Both options suck for various reasons which I won't get into. Have you been in a house with warm floors? Some people don't like the feeling. Some love it. Response time is very slow. Can't just crank the heat. Might consider supplemental source.

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iron
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PostMon Dec 22, 2014 9:40 pm 
we would be doing the whole house, so electric wouldn't work. we both enjoy warm floors quite a bit. we are planning to remodel both bath floors + the entire living room (going to hardwood in the living room). so, half of the flooring on the main floor will be torn up to begin with. the basement has prefinished flooring, so that will be easy to pull up and put back down.

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mike
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PostMon Dec 22, 2014 9:51 pm 
So you understand that you'll have to get a new furnace/boiler (which can do your hot water too) and route all the water lines throughout the house on 1 foot centers to each individual zone. You'll need a manifold to distribute to each zone. You need to run the low voltage for a thermostat for each zone. All this has to be hidden either under the floor or in concrete. A heated hardwood floor presents its own problems. You really should get a heat calc done to balance the zones and figure out the total load. This is a BIG and EXPENSIVE job.

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mike
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PostMon Dec 22, 2014 9:57 pm 
Another big thing. Are you on a slab or joists with crawl space? Remember that a pretty large amount of the heat from the water lines goes down as well as up into the living space. You need LOTS of insulation under the warm floor. I have seen people retro fit in-floor heat over a poorly insulated slab or crawl space and their heating bills are huge. Average ground temps here are 50°. You don't want to try to warm that up.

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iron
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PostMon Dec 22, 2014 10:07 pm 
house has a basement and then a main floor. main floor is joist supported above the basement and above the garage. understood on the new boiler and all that. the water heater is 2006 model, so not new, not old. i think we would have the following zones: kitchen/living room/hallway/shared bath master bed + bath other 2 beds basement not sure about the 1ft on center thing. you're talking about on top of the subfloor, correct?

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kite
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PostTue Dec 23, 2014 9:25 am 
I had an older bosch hydronic system for a few years in my last place. It was efficient just not convenient. Worked well in the cold parts of the winter, just ended up with the house to warm more often than not. Part of the problem with it was slab on grade construction so it stored lots of residual heat and would take some time to cool down after the outside temp changed.

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JPH
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PostTue Dec 23, 2014 9:26 am 
I put heated floors (electric wire) under the tiles in the bathroom when I remodeled. Warm tiles are amazing, but definitely not sufficient to heat the space - we have a wall heater too. It might be different with a whole house of heated floors, but I don't think they are enough to really heat a house - especially if you don't have really good windows/doors/insulation.

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mike
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PostTue Dec 23, 2014 11:47 am 
PM'd

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wolffie
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PostTue Dec 23, 2014 12:29 pm 
Sis and bro-in-law did theirs with hot water from the water heater. Not the only heat source; they have a pellet stove too. Saw a house with a small stone or tile area in the main kitchen work area, electrically heated; just a small space and it felt really great in bare feet. If your house -- like mine -- is older and not adequately bolted to the foundation, I'd do a seismic retrofit before anything else. Nothing but gravity and friction holds my frame to the foundation. A modest investment could save the whole thing. They teach classes. It's not beyond the capability of a good DIY-er. Seattle Earthquake Home Retrofit This is an interesting book: Full Rip 9.0

Some people have better things to do with their lives than walking the dog. Some don't.
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Stefan
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PostTue Dec 23, 2014 3:36 pm 
We knew a friend who had radiant floors. He would have gladly helped you... He is now on to other things....

Art is an adventure.
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Badger
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PostFri Dec 26, 2014 6:56 pm 
Heated Socks
Heated Socks
clown.gif

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