re: New Radiant Floor Over Old One

I visited the X-100 that had used the new Step WarmFloor laid on top of the current slab to replace failing pipes. I was told they were able to do it within some unbelievably small thickness (~1/2"). They had removed the old baseboards and flooring, skimcoated to smooth slab, applied the StepWarm, then added VCT tile. (I'll be interested in their experience this winter with comfort and costs of heating.)

1/2" seems little enough that you're mostly trimming the bottom of door and not really interfering with ceiling height. I know someone on the board did the work. When I moved into my home, they had cut the doors and moved baseboards to put in carpet with underlay. It really doesn't seem any worse than that.

Just sharing a few random thoughts. I'm actually thinking of moving out one of my master bedroom walls to create an alternative closet (and free up the current master closet for other uses). I'm going to investigate the STEP Warmfloor as an option for that--though it might not be practical for that small of space.

Did you already investigate and rule out the STEP product? I'd be interested in whatever you find.

Jake

Jake,

Yes, we have ruled out the Step Warm Floor. We aim to reduce our dependency on electricity as mush as possible and the Step product would lock us in to using electricity for heating for years to come. Thanks for the suggestion.

Gordon

Hey guys, Thought I would chime in here. I've racked my brain trying to think of a way to put radiant back where the steel failed. The best solution for getting it back the way it was would be to saw cut the slab and lay new copper pipe IN the slab. If you lay it on top you'l have a minimum finished floor of about 1 3/8 inches. The low voltage electric warm floor doesn't have enough output. I've proved it on paper and talked to the senior engineer of a local heating company and we came to the same conclusion. It won't have enough output to heat an eichler. Saw cutting would be messy and loud, but I'll bet with the right prep work it could be done within reason.

Aside from in slab or top slab your best choice is still baseboard. It's alot cheaper than the alternatives and doesn't require any other upgrading to work cleanly and efficiently (foam roof, dual pane windows, ect.).

.02,

Tom

I've considered saw cutting, but guessed it would be more labor intensive and more costly than just laying a new system over the top. Frankly, I don't mind loosing a little ceiling height (and I'm a tall guy) to have a new and efficient hydronic heating system in place. We already have the base boards (a la 70s) and hate them. Thanks for your .02.

Gordon

Here's another that I've been noodling around for a while that will keep most of the "Eichler" attributes.

In other parts of the country, they use floor board heaters. These are long water based heat exchangers running along the bottom of the wall, just on top of the floor. They replace the molding on the bottom of the wall to floor junction.

Water is piped to them and some have their own thermostat for each unit.

Uses a boiler similar/same to the in-slab system of Eichlers.

They come in a variety of lengths, BTU ratings, etc. Even colors. It's been a while since I've checked, but assume they are available out here on the West Coast. I was thinking of putting them along the bottom of the large picture window/walls by building a small "curb" along the bottom width.

As for the hot water runs to and back, that is the main issue. On top of the roof with insulation, along the beam with fake wood cover to make it look like it's part of the beam (hollow out-grove a 2x? and nail that over the piping, then fill/sand/paint/etc to match), along the wall/floor with custom molding, in the wall (this one is too intensive and costly), ???

Never got past the noodling stage, but thought I'd toss this into they frey as a potential option.