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Dana
Registered Users
Posts:15
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| 11/15/2001 8:13 AM |
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My installer has recommended a product call insul-deck for the subflooring. I will be going with radiant heating in the floors. Does anyone have any experience with this product? If so what are the costs vs wood? Thats a dirty word I know, but I had to ask. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Dana |
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365
Registered Users
Posts:36
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| 11/15/2001 9:23 AM |
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Hi Dana: A couple of questions first. Are you putting a basement in this house, a crawl space, or a concrete slab.? When you say radiant floor I assume you mean circulating liquid through tubes in the floor. I have had some people refer to radiant heat when they were meaning baseboard heating.
1. Basement: I may be wrong and someone can correct me if my number is high but I have done systems with foam as their base and the costs run about $4.00 per sq. foot installed or more not counting the heating system. I have done pandecked concrete three inch slab at less than that depending on the span and consequently the kind of structural joist work required.
Wood floor: with cement layment can be pretty reasonable in cost (not counting heating system) Basically this would consist of a ledger plate or top bearing joist system supporting the floor joists, plywood or similar floor deck over the joists
You would not require any special tools or transport of concrete or cement grout into the building, no structural steel or bracing.
Disadvantage would be insulation would need to be installed along with radiant barrier to prevent heat from going down into the basement or crawl space, as well as up into your heated spaces. This is where the cost comparison really takes place between foam/ concrete structure floor and insulated wood floors. I do know in a lot of areas of the country they require pressure treated lumber in crawl spaces. This will add some to the cost of wood subfloor and possibly depending on your opinion some ecological impact to the house through the use of PT wood.
In my opinion the cost of each system looks about like this:
1. Insulated foam floor highest cost for benifits derived when used in your application.
2. Concrete floor reasonable in cost but requires some special skills and equipment.
3. Wood subfloor and joists; reasonable cost easy to install and easy to fix if something goes wrong with the system. The main thing I do not like about wood is that it is bad news when around liquids and termites should they come in contact with each other over prolonged periods of time. I have personally installed everyone of these systems and this is what I have found to be my experience. Good luck with your project. |
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Dana
Registered Users
Posts:15
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| 11/15/2001 8:04 PM |
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I would like to go with radiant heat in the floor. The prices I am being quoted are outrageous. I like the sound of a concrete deck instead of wood for the subfloors. My installer is pushing me that way. Thanks for your input.
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ICF372
Registered Users
Posts:219
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| 11/15/2001 10:41 PM |
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Dana, have you checked out speed floor. If not you can view it at www.arit.com. Also we have a plug and go radiant floor heating system. You be able to heat with a water heater. This system is pretested and sized for icf construction, before it is shipped. And at a fair price.
Eldon Howe |
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Eldon Howe
Howe Construction
Total Concrete Homes provide positive cash flow , DAY ONE . |
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panelbuilt
Registered Users
Posts:52
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| 11/18/2001 1:32 PM |
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Radiant heating systems are not for the budget minded person. They are expensive to install and not the most cost effective to run.
They are possibly the best way to heat your home if your budget can afford it. The heat starts at your toes, travels up your spline and radiates around you.
The only reason a radiant heat system is expensive to have installed is that it is a
specialty trade and specialty trades tend to
charge what the market will bear and more.
If you have the ambition and ability there are
radiant heat systems out there that you can install yourself at a reasonable price. The tubing and control systems are fairly inexpensive, the boiler runs slightly higher than a standard heating system. Some companies will provide you with layout schematics for the installation just to sell and install the equipment or for a small fee. There are companies out there that market direct to the DO-IT-Yourelfer, with installer freindly systems.
If we aren't pouring a concrete slab to embed the tubing in, we pour light weight concrete over a subfloor system. It runs about $ 1.25 to $ 1.75 per sq. ft. depending on your square footage. You do require additional floor covering over the light weight concrete.
Some of our clients want the concrete floor for their finish floor. We pour a 2 to 3 inch
thick concrete over the subfloor system, using
a 7 sac sand mix. Afterwards you can cut any pattern into it that your imagination allows and stain it. You can make it look like marble, tile or linoleum.
I'll be visiting the arit.com site to check out speed floor. |
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