| The radiant floor system made me suffer. I really
wanted a radiant floor. Paying a consulting firm to analyze, design,
and install a system was astronomical. Just like the Architecture, I
would have to learn this myself. After many, many hours of
research, calls, and calculations, I Settled with a DIY site
on the web and decided to do it all myself. I used the
Radiantec
INC business. They were great help and support. So much work
and I couldn't make it work ! In the end it was a
pressure relief valve that was stuck closed which created the problem, but they told me give it few taps with a hammer. Presto, it
broke open and the system was working!!! Smack it with a
hammer - Go figgure. |
 The
map I made for the underfloor system was very complex as I had to run Pex
lines around or through Posts and Piers and had to pre-drill holes to pass
between joists and obstacles. All that and 4 loops had to come out
close to the same lengths. (275' each).I had to design this with
4 loops of equal length in an "Open System". Each loop had to start
and stop in equal distance. Each loop has it's own shut off. I
drew my Loop Map at least a thousand times I'm sure of it.
I was drawing loop maps while on vacation on the beaches
of Mexico. It really stole enormous amounts of time figuring it all
out. Was it worth it? Yes, it works, I did it for cheap and I
did it my way. |
 I
had to do the staple up under the floor between the joists. I chose to
buy the best aluminum heat shielding panels I could find. I used 1/2"
pex that snapped into a groove in the aluminum panels which made it all somewhat easier.
Fishing the pex through all the holes and sticking to my "Map" was not as
difficult as I'd imagined. GOOD, cause I spent ungodly hours
drawing/re-drawing that frekin' map! |
  My
design used staple up heavy duty aluminum foil on the bottom side of the
radiant floor system and needed 3/4" air space before the underfloor
insulation. Pictures show the foil in different stages and show
locator tape for loop shutoffs.Dave Grout helped on
the Radiant floor as well as several other phases of the project. |
| It seems I did the plumbing drain system just before this
radiant floor. So, I spent a considerable amount of time laying on my
back under this house! Days on end wearing kneepads and heavy
insulated clothing to crawl around under here. Hum, I see the spiders
really like it down there! I'm the webmaster - so I did what I could
to discourage the 8 leggers from hanging around. I want to be the
WebMaster around here! |
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