Radiant floor tube installation © Ecohome
Here is ourDIY video of how to lay down tubing for our radiant floorin the Edelweiss House. We have a 10 zone system, allowing floor temperatures in each room to be controlled independently. HePex tubing was provided by Uponor, who also use building plans to give customers a zone plan to follow making the install quick and easy, also ensuring the right length of run for each zone to ensure balanced heat throughout the house.
The mostcost-effectivesystem to deliverin-floor radiant heat would in your case depend on how big it is, and more importantly, if there is already a structure there. Are you modifying an existing structure or building a new one? Either way it doesn’t hurt to check withLegalett这可以帮助你避免一些关于许可的麻烦，因为他们提供盖章的工程文件和安装指南。Having that in-hand may help you jump through hoops with the city when you are trying to get approval.
And it can make a lot of sense for infill lots, backyard coach houses or studios for a few reasons – as a raft slab Legalett only requires you to excavate about 6 inches or so, just enough to removed the organic matter. So it doesn’t harm the root system of any nearby trees. And because there is no footing and frost wall and you aren’t digging down very deep, it often eliminates the need to under-pin any nearby structures for safety.
As for how much rebar needs to be in a slab, that depends on the weight of the building that will sit on it, but that is something for an engineer to determine. And lastly, about the ‘perimeter’ touching the ground, I’m not sure I fully understand so re-ask me the question with greater detail if I’m not following correctly, but – you’d definitely need to insulate the slab underneath and on the vertical exposed surface. Whether or not a perimeter skirt of insulation is required, and how much, is again up to an engineer.
A heated building in a climate like Toronto often doesn’t really need a skirt to prevent frost heave, but typically a designer or engineer that doesn’t specialize in soils will insist on one regardless. It can be an unnecessary cost, but it does no harm and it may be what is needed simply for them to be willing to stamp drawings.
For theory only and not to be used for your design withough the approval of an engineer - often if a building is sitting on bedrock or if it has enough clean 3/4" stone around it (no organic materials and no fines), frost would be unable to form, so no skirt would be needed.
You may have seen that we recently installed a Legalett air-heated floor, below is a link to an installation video as well as a few other resources on slabs.
Good question, but a tough one, so I’ll start with the easy part first - When powered by electricity there would be virtually no difference in operational cost between those two systems. Any form of electric resistance heat generation (heated floors, furnaces, hair dryers, kettles, baseboard heaters etc.) would cost the same on a ‘BTU per watt’ scale.
Keep in mind that a boiler for a hydronic floor can be powered by either electricity or gas, so any difference in operational cost would be determined by your local gas and electricity rates. Quebec electricity rates are among the lowest, while Ontario rates are among the highest, for that reason very few people are currently installing electric heat sources in Ontario, but it is the most common heat source in Quebec. An Ontario resident installing a radiant floor would probably choose hydronic with a gas boiler.
As for install cost, you may find electric wire systems to be a bit cheaper, but get a quote for each to be sure. If you are planning on doing it yourself, watch some DIY videos and see which you find to be easier, here is our video of a hydronic tube installation, it is really quite easy but gets a little more complicated hooking up a manifold and boiler.
Heated floors can be done with electric wires, hydronic tubes, but there is also one company that installsair-heated tubes in slab on grade foundations, powered either by electricity or gas. Radiant heat is a very comfortable heat, so as you choose the more affordable fuel source and the system is properly designed to heat the space and the install cost is affordable, you will probably be happy with the results.
One final thought we would share – be careful not to get talked into installing an insufficient amount of insulation below the slab. Don’t go with the base requirements of Building Code, we would recommend at least 6 inches below a heated slab in most parts of Canada, and even more in the colder regions. Read more on sub-slab insulation here.
Radiant heatcan be a completeheating solutionfor a home, but to do so successfully there are considerations. Anyradiant floorheating system (gas or electric,hydronicorradiant air heating tubes) would need to besizedfor theheat load, and so it would need to be designed by anHVAC professional.
To understand the concept of radiant heating and its limitations, I’d start with this page here about home heating and comfortable home design -
Designing Homes for Human Comfort
To be sure I understand your question, is this a new home build or a renovation project? If you are looking to install a hydronic radiant floor on top of a subfloor that sounds like you have a foundation, is that correct? Radiant floor heat (as you will learn from the article above) only heats single floors at a time, so if you have a basement you’ll need some heat down there.
We have it ingrained in our heads that ‘heat rises’, which is, in a word, wrong. ‘Warm air’ rises, but heat goes in any and all directions. With a forced-air heating system, some heat will find its way to the upper floors, but that’s not really the case with radiant heating, instead it gets cooler the further you are from the source. So, the temperature at knee level will be warmer than at your head level (not by much, but a bit).
So yes, radiant heat can heat an entire home when designed for it. And while a radiant system can provide the necessary heat for a home, it may require make-up heat on an HRV system to meet building code requirements depending on where you are. What is your climate zone or closest city /province / state?
How come you guys didn't raise the rebar off of the vapour barrier ??
How much did it cost for all that insulation ?
Hi Eric
We raise the mesh with a rake during the pour. You'd have to check with Roxul to get a price on insulation, but I suspect your question is actually about whether or not it's worth it, and the answer in our opinion is yes. Based on energy modelling, the R32 we have under the slab will be a money saver. There is a misconception that heat rises (it is actually hot air that rises), so we don't insulate basements anywhere near what we should be, and we pay dearly in heat loss because of it. This page explains that in a bit more detail. Regards.//www.esb-agile.com/guid...
can you tell me the price of the radiant heat system of this house?
Hi Tiffany,
To get an accurate number you'd need to have a professional quote, but to ballpark it, figure on around $6 dollars a square foot, though if you are building your own house and do some of the work yourself you can save a bit of money.