In-floor heating

[Bakerdog]

some friends have a newly built cabin with in-floor heat. it sure is nice.

we will be adding a basement of about 1100 sf. will have 1 BR 1 BA plus fam room space and storage, laundry. should we put the heating in the whole basement or just discrete parts? any thoughts re what to expect for cost to put in? we'll be pouring a new slab floor along with new walls and basically building from scratch down there.

if we don't heat the floor we'd probably carpet to make it cozy (cold here in winter). assuming we heat the floor, what types of surfaces would also be cozy but work well over heated floors? our friends have softwood floors, but that is main floor not basement. would pergo work? bamboo? what do you guys/gals think?

[roger g]

We were putting pipes in floors whetheer they they were going to be heated or not. The contractors felt it was a good selling feature and at the same time they did not supply the boiler. It is like roughing in a basement toilet . The hard part is done in case you want a bathroom in the basement in the future.
It's money well spent.


roger

[bkrahmer]

You can do pretty much any type of flooring over radiant heat. The less insulative the flooring, the better. Therefore, finished concrete is best, followed by tile, wood, then carpet. Carpet works just fine over radiant, but it takes a bit more heat. You would also want to use a pad designed for radiant in max of 3/8, and a thinner type of carpet to maximize the heat transmission.

I did the tubing for my basement myself. I got 1000 ft of oxygen barrier 1/2" PEX (only used about 800 ft in four loops for an 1100 ft2 basement) for $300 on ebay.

If you do it yourself, though, there are several design considerations that you should understand and follow, regarding zoning, loop length, etc. Here is a pretty good source of information: http://www.radiantdesigninstitute.com/