Construction Thoughts

[jackellis]

After reading about RussianWolf's hot water heater adventure, I thought it might be useful to share a few useful ideas we incorporated in our house. It sits on a slab.

1) Hot water for domestic use and heat are provided by a gas-fired boiler located in a closet on the ground floor (it's inside the house). There's a drain in the floor that leads outside in case something breaks. A separate drain carries away condensate from the (condensing) boiler.

2) Our laundry room is on the second floor. It also has a floor drain that leads outside in case something leaks. That drain includes a one-way valve called a Trapguard (www.trapguard.com) that eliminates the need for a wet trap or a trap primer.

I know this may be cost-prohibitive for most folks but after using it for a mere three days, I will swear by in-floor radiant heat. It's much more comfortable and we can keep the indoor temperatures 2-3 degrees lower without feeling cold. Where we have tile floors, it's nice to be able to comfortably walk around in bare feet when the outside temperature is 28 degrees.

See below for what out weekend weather looked like:

[crokett]

Better you than me on that snow. It was pushing 80 here on Saturday. It is raining and cooler today.

[jackellis]

Better you than me on that snow.

Not necessarily. There wasn't much and I had this to keep the chill at bay :

[bruce hylton]

I built my house on a slab and put water lines in the floor when I poured it. I have not been able to afford the furnace to do the heating yet.[it has only been 9 years] I use wall heaters to the tune of about 7000 watts for heat in winter and use no air conditioning for cooling. The slab with tile usually holds about 52 degrees. We like to keep the living area at about 75 degrees. I am well insulated, with very few windows. All electric including well and septic systems. I never have fewer than 4 lights burning 24/7, but only use enough water for 8-10 loads of laundry a week and as many or more showers plus a leaky toilet that I haven't had time to fix for the last couple of years. Very little yard and garden watering. I am averaging about $1200.00 per year for electricity total and cannot justify any more investment in heating and cooling systems unless they are really cheap. Short of going to some sort of solar system, I find it hard to get by much cheaper with 1280 feet of house and 3800 feet of unheated shop space, which also has water lines in the floor.[different circuits]