Let there be heat
One of the reasons that we decided to switch to radiant last year was because we didn’t want to blow all the old dust and grim out of our heat ducting. Ironic that by trying to avoid that we ended up with a mess three times the size, and no heat starting into Dec. in Utah. When our house finally dropped to 50 at night with our little radiant oil heater on high, I finally sold out and hooked up the old furnace. By this time we had managed to install our boiler panel, and boiler, and get it all hooked up to our indirect water heater. All we needed was to run our pex tubing. For the front room where I had put in a new subfloor, it was actually quite easy and enjoyable. We cut sections of 3/4″ plywood 9″ wide, and arranged them around the room so that the tubing could lay under the finished floor without getting squished. (If that doesn’t make sense, look at the pics) On top of that we will install our finished floor.
We planned on changing the layout of our home with a new addition, so we didn’t want to install a bamboo floor until we were done moving walls. That and the fact that we had spent all our money on the radiant heat led us to look for a more affordable temporary solution. A local hardwood dealer MacBeths Hardwood has a damaged pile where all their imperfect and damaged sheets go. We managed to buy 20 or so sheets of 3/4″ plywood for $8 a sheet. It was a mix of oak, red oak, birch, etc. We cut the sheets into 4 x 4 squares and arranged them alternating grain. It turned out costing about $0.50 a square foot. Very inexpensive and it looked great too. We didn’t end up sealing it, sense we plan to switch them out eventually, but the end result was very effective. With the front room done, all that was left was the crawl space. It turned out to be a complete horror. Around 75% of the space was only accessible by crawling army style and stapling pipe up while laying on my back in the dirt. There were sections where the spaces were so tight my chest was literally wedged between the floor joist and the dirt as I tried to staple as far as I could reach. I am not generally a closterphobic person, but I admit I got freaked out a little several times.
Two weeks before Christmas all our hard work paid off. Our house was finally fully heated. We cranked it up to the low 70’s for a day, just because we could. The floors truly were wonderful. I walked around barefoot all the time. Along with heating our house, the boiler also heated a 50 gallon indirect hot water heater, so our showers never get cold. All in all it took us just over two months from the first day I ripped up the floor on a whim. The radiant heat and domestic hot water cost came in somewhere around $4,000 when it was all said and done, plus the cost of the new subfloor and leveling plus all the other little bits I forgot about the grand total was probably under $5,000. While it was a way bigger hassle than I had anticipated, in hindsight it was all worth it. Radiant heat was something we both really wanted, and it felt good to know that if we were tenacious enough we could achieve our goals.
Our scarce furniture in a pile. Heat reflecting shields help make the radiant heating more efficient with wood floors. Notice the 9″ sleepers that the heat shields sit in, then the tubing sits on the heat shields.
A shot of part of the floor all finished.
This is the small hole that leads to the crawl space. It was real fun pulling hot water heaters in and out of this, not to mention the 200 pound panel.
50 gallon indirect hot water heater.
Tubing below subfloor. These still need heat shields and then insulation to be efficient.
A tangled intersection. It’s obvious I’m no professional.
The most spacious part of the crawl space. I can almost be on my hands and knees.
Pex stapled up. Notice how little space there really is.
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11 Responses to “Let there be heat”
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This is great stuff and congrats on doing it yourself. I have a basic question, how do u know how to do this stuff?
I read a lot online, and the rest is kinda trial and error. I ask a lot of questions whenever I go places too. That was one of the things that convinced me to buy everything local. It gave me a real person I could call who could walk me through the things I didn’t know.
Trial and error with your one and only house takes some serious stones! I’m getting nervous just thinking about replacing our old thermostats with digital units. And I imagine your $5k in expenses has added far more than that in value, not to mention how freaking cool it is that you’ve got radiant heat.
I continuously think you are the most genius, and determined I have met. Constantly amazed, I didn’t see this in action, though Jon did, after reading this description, I am floored (no pun intended)… Congratulations. When we come over, I will treasure every bit of your heating from now on!
Radiant heat is fantastic. We had radiant (though not under floor) heat in the house I lived in from age 4 to 8. It was in a part of Colorado that got really cold in winter, but I never noticed it. The house was always evenly heated and pleasant. If I ever build or buy a house in a place that dips below 50°F during the winter it will have radiant under floor heating. Having warm feet on bare surfaces would be lovely. Your wife must be very patient.
Great, creative idea on the flooring. Necessity…mother of invention and all that. Please keep documenting the process for the sake of all of us who read and appreciate but don’t often comment.
The more I read about your demolishing/rebuilding, the more kinship I feel towards you and your wife. Definitely, we have the same DIY spirit, affinity for simple, clean design and understanding wives… This blog is really an inspiration for when we finally make our way back to the States and own our own small space again…
mfojas, go to hear there are others like me out there. Nice pics on your flicker site. Where are you living now?
What kind of plywood did you use for the sleepers? I am going to do the same sort of thing in my house. I notice one company has a system that uses birch plywood, and they specify this is supreme for fastener holding for the plank wood flooring I will put on top. Birch is expensive for something that is going to be hidden. I can’t seem to find out if other (less expensive plywood types would) be acceptable.
MatD, I didn’t use anything special for the sleepers, mostly just cheap old pine plywood from homedepot. I don’t see that it should matter much. If you are stuck on birch for some reason, check your local specialty plywood dealer. Ours Mac Beath usually has piles of reject/damaged plywood that is plenty good for sleepers. I got all mine for $8 a sheet.
What a great story and thanks for the pictures – makes all the difference. I think your plywood ‘finished’ floor is fantastic. Kudos to you for joining the spiders in your crawlspace! I’ve had 2500′ of PEX sitting in my garage for about 8 months, waiting to be installed underfloor in this very same manner. I hired an expert to do the heat loss calculations for me and the system design – I do the rest. He suggested OSB (oriented strand-board) for the sleepers which is cheaper than plywood. Since my subfloor (concrete) has no moisture problems, I think it will work fine especially since the finished floor will probably be glued down onto the sleepers instead of nailed. If anyone is considering a new radiant system, give serious consideration to using a hot water heater since most boilers are overkill with today’s tighter-built homes (NB: this is a controversial subject among plumbing professionals – lots of territory to protect). Apparently oversized boilers “short-cycle” when they’re under-used which significantly shortens their lifespan. I’ve even seen systems here in Seattle that have two water heaters: one for potable (sinks, showers) and another for heating. A few new townhomes here are going even one better with on-demand heaters to heat water for both uses (incredibly space-efficient).