GB wrote:
I'm in the process of getting quotes for hydronic radiant floor heating to
be added to my 1st floor of my 100 yr. old house. I live in NH and the
winters are cold and the woeful baseboards can not keep up.
I'm thinking heated floors would be a great addition for
comfort/convenience/efficiency/resale value.

My basement has full access and is cement floored. The floor joists are
accessible but are not all on 16" centers. The centers range from 13" to
22"! Damn old home builders! Makes insulating a little more difficult but
I'll manage. All of the exterior walls have blown-in insulation and all of
the windows are double hung, thermopane windows.

My oil-boiler is less than 20 years old and seems to be working fine (87%
efficiency according to last tune up).

Has anyone done this and regretted it? I'm sure it's expensive (probably
between $5k and $10k) but I'm really wanting to try this.

I would put up Reflectix insulation to reflect the heat back into the floor.
The latest technique seems to be hang the PEX tubing about 1" under the
subfloor, attached to the joists. Then insulate the hell out of it (R19) to
heat up the "pocket" of air between the joists and push it into the floor.

Then you set the thermostat to one temperature (68 or so) and leave it.
None of the turn-down-at-night-turn-up-in-morning scenario. Set it and
forget it.

I've been in a couple houses with this and I was instantly hooked! Warm
furniture, warm feet, generally a comfortable and cozy feeling.

With winter in New England last about 6 months (!) I figure I need to
upgrade to help be comfortable for half my life.

Thoughts/tips/tricks/caveats?

Thanks.




You will want to nail heat spreaders[ aluminum thingies] to the floor
and then pop the tube into them. I would not think you would want
suspended tube, very inefficient. If you are running it as a secondary
system, you really need to put a primary secondary system to lower the
water temp to the floor. Insulation below is of course a must.

go to heatinghelp.com 'the wall' and there are a lot of pros there who
know quite a bit.

If your house is well insulated, it shouldn't take much to heat it, so I
might look at what is going on there as well, not that radiant isn't great.