Radiant heat is labor intensive, but well worth the money. If you've
done your homework, you know that radiant floor heat only rises about 5
feet before really disapating, and it keeps the floors, such as floor
tiles in the bathroom very warm. It can be installed under the floor
joists or if you're remodeling the area between sub floors (putting
slats at 12" centers and looping the lines around them). Make sure the
installer uses the correct mixing valve, not the type that would be
used off a tankless water heater. The reason being is that the temp.
would still be to high. Radiant heat through the lines should only be
around 120 degrees, depending on the flooring you're going to have.
Your boilers typically run a water temp. of 180 degrees.

Just to throw in another option, how expensive is oil in your area?
One more thing, have one room isolated (during construction) that you
can get away from things (like the mess you're not going to want to
deal with after a day at work.

Good luck,
Patrick
On Nov 24, 6:17 am, wrote:
I'm looking for advice on heating my 100+ year old 3-flat (no tenants,
just me and my sister).

It is currently heated by cast iron gas space heaters, 1 or 2 units per
floor, approximately 35000 BTU per heater. The brick building, for the
most part, has no insulation. It has an unheated glorified crawl
space, 3-5 feet in height. New windows and doors, so leaking air is
not a problem.

I'm remodeling the place and my contractor has suggested lowering the
10 foot ceilings to install central heat. I don't want to do that, but
I'm at a loss for alternatives. I'd like to install radiant floor heat
on the first floor, and gas fireplaces or heaters on the other floors.
I really like my old space heaters, but my sister doesn't, and we
should probably replace them anyway. I have a newer space heater that
doesn't work as well, plus it's downright ugly. Direct vent gas
firelplaces are being considered, but that requires punching a hole in
the wall, which I'm not too keen on.

Vent-free gas heaters are out of the question, as the aggrevate my
respiratory problems. Likewise for any heating system with a fan.

I'm afraid to convert to electrical heat completely, as I have no idea
what it would cost. Ideally, I would love to have a dual fuel system
(gas/electric), to be able to take advantage of whichever fuel is
cheaper. I live in Chicago, and electric rates are due to rise around
20% soon.

What are my options? (I plan to stay in this building for another 8-10
years.)

Karen