Floor System – Radiant Heat
4 Seasons Geothermal is now well under way with the radiant heating system install. What likely adds up to a kilometer of IPEX Heatrite hot water tubes are stapled onto the freshly prepped floor. Prior to the install the Advantech floor deck was screwed down once more to ensure no future movement. Next, SDS, the concrete floor company, ground the floor before cleaning it and applying a thin set cement on all the seams for stability and sealing for leaks when the self leveling concrete is poured.
4 Seasons and their overqualified assistant Al Davies of Eco-Options, painstakingly follow a radiant plan prepared in advance by IPEX’s engineers and radiant system planners. The house will be split into logical zones based on a number of practical and climatic factors; in our case floor layout, situation of elevation changes and our expected use – all playing a factor in how we may wish to control the heat output for various areas of the house.
Within each zone, the system uses a manifold or controller to regulate the flow of hot water in the pipes. This control gives somewhat of a sub control – though manual – to each loop of tube that connects through the box. So, if in the case that a room receives more solar gain than expected compared to a cooler northern exposed area, we can tune the manifold to lower output to the loop.
A number of floor sensors and thermostats are also installed to be the eyes of the system and to accommodate future adaptive technologies we will install to run the interconnected mechanicals of the home.
Once the tubes are secured and sensors in their permanent locations, SDS will return to pour their first layer of cement – a mixture of gravel and Ardex – a synthetic gypsum and portland that is designed to withstand the rigors of sub-flooring while distributing heat evenly. Once this subsurface has cured – approximately a day or so, SDS will return to pour the cement topping, our final finished floor surface.
