Tuesday they finished up leveling and compacting the barn area, finished up the grading for the driveway and spread my 20 yards of dirt down the north side for me (I need to grab a couple pics).
Tuesday night I hung some construction lights, laid down half of the 6mil vapor barrier and 500sq ft of mesh.
Wed night I had help. Three of us managed to get the rest of the vapor barrier and the other 1500sq ft of mesh down in about 90 mins. Then, after some careful double checking and measuring we laid down the first of 7 loops of tubing. It actually went a bit faster than I thought having never done it before. I still need to add a few more ties to it, but its basically set. Hoping to get the rest done in the next couple nights so I can pressure test this weekend.
well i suspect it is probably too late to add any at this point…
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cold never gets passed anything…warm goes to cold not the other way around.
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in a radiant system the heat will radiate equally in all directions. the edges are particularly important because they have the most exposure to the exterior. depending on your expected use of the building having or not having insulation may have a significant impact. some people don’t put it in because the ground will act as a heat sink and will also even out the temperature of the slab…which is important in a home setting where bare feet are typical. this assumes that the heat will be on more or less continuously.
if the space is used more infrequently then not having the insulation means you have to heat the ground everytime you want to increase the temperature in the space. since conduction is more efficient than radiation the ground is going to be sucking heat out of the slab. so if you say keep the space at 50 when you aren’t there then want it up to 70 when you are…not having the insulation is going to make a big difference in how long it will take to get the temperature up.
sounds like you are planning to keep it warm…so it might work out for you, but you can never go wrong with sub slab insulation on these systems. foamboard is a lot cheaper than fuel in the long run
Ya, the plan is to keep it fairly warm all the time. I MIGHT bump it up by a few degrees on weekends or if i have a big longterm project, but honestly Ill prob just leave it at a set temp all winter. Im typically out there every other night.
It took a bit longer than Id hoped, but all the tubing is down and connected to the manifold. Probably the worst part was twisting 1500+ wires with that stupid tool. I think next time Id just use zip ties.
I pressurized it yesterday afternoon around 4pm. As of 6pm tonight it hadnt dropped even a half a psi. In fact, it went up a touch due to the sun shining in on the tubing all afternoon.
Concrete is scheduled for first thing tuesday am. yay.
Tubing. Ill get some more pics, along with some overhead, tomorrow.
Manifolds. The extra pex to the left is for a slab temp sensor. I added a tube up front for one too. Im not sure Ill use it, but easier to put it in now!
Its 5" thick, 4kpsi. No thicker there, its just not really necessary with a 9k lb lift. They only require 4" of 3kpsi.
The extra pieces of rebar in that area should make it more than sufficient. The mason has a 18klb lift in his garage and he only went a couple inches thicker around the lift.
Just put the finishing touches on my lift today. Let me know if you want pointers / help. Good concrete curing weather. Conveyor trucks make it alot easier!
