[Strawbale] PEX, Concrete Slab, Fear of Death (by contractor)

[David Neeley]

Shody,

I would question the utility of a hydronic floor in a strawbale house to
begin with (or, for that matter, in any superinsulated structure).

There seems to be a general consensus that a three-string bale wall house
represents about R30 to R40 (depending on many factors and who was doing the
testing, it appears). If you couple this with superior insulation in the
attic (seeing that the roof structure is responsible for about 65% of the
heat gain or loss in a typical house) and decent windows and doors, the
house should hold temperatures very well--and the lag times of a hydronic
system would be difficult at best to deal with. Adding in the high cost of
the system, and I cannot think it would be a worthwhile investment.

David

On Dec 26, 2007 1:51 AM, Shody Ryon <qi4u at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
>
> There still can be hydronic heat in the floor with low
> thermal storage in the floor itself and a fast
> response time to temperature changes.
>
> Will others that are considering concrete floors
> reconsider and use the superior wood floor system,
> even below grade or is it just the 2 of us?