My Current Huge Project With Radiant In Floor Heating

europachris wrote:

coalkirk wrote:I could be wrong. I was once. Cost aside, I think aluminum is a better conductor than copper.

Twice now - Aluminum is #4 behind Silver, Copper, and Gold in that order. Aluminum is about 60% the conductivity of copper.

Damn, now I've been wrong twice! gotta love the forum for the depth of knowledge here. Thanks for the info.

If you ever need any kindling, that lathe strip is like gasoli ne!

Very Nice, Greg....
Thanks for the update and letting us follow along.....
I know someone that fussed with a prehung exterior door for about 5 hours trying to get it plumb and square, gave up and took it back to exchange for another which went in square in about 1 hour. I still think it was something he was doing, but he swears it was the door. All corners of the "bad" door checked out square before he took it back, so I still can't figure out what could have been wrong with it besides the installer.

That door was kickin' my butt untill I just gave in and made the door square, and said to hell with whatever the level was telling me. The door works well and looks good. And I'll leave it at that.

I'm surprised that nobody asked about the mix of the knotty-pine panelling with drywall above. This is the leftovers from my first major renovation project on this place. The old ceiling height in this room was 84", with a sagging old plaster ceiling covered with 1x4 furring and celotex 12" panels.. truely ugly. I removed the entire roof down to the walls, raised the walls with a 'knee-wall' about 18" high. I put cathedral [scissor] trusses up and added a master bath and walkin closet.. made myself a nice master suite. Now with the french doors opening onto the second level of the foyer, overlooking the entranceway and part of the livingroom, it is as good as it can get..

The knotty-pine is the old panelling in this room. It is 84" high.. I saved about 2/3 of the room's panelling, I removed it for the bathroom and walkin closet, but saved it for the bedroom area. I finished off the top of the panelling with a 10" maple shelf. I'll reinstall the shelf after the door is trimmed.

in the 1999 photo below you can see the old wall with the new knee-wall above, and the 12" Lam-beam I installed all the way back in 1999 in preparation to eventually putting in a french door in this wall.
This next 1999 photo is of the masterbedroom to be stripped bare. You can see the pine paneling ending at the ceiling joists.. those joists are 1x6's and each span of 21' is made up of AT LEAST 3 boards.. Nice construction huh??
Greg L

Yikes! Hope they used good nails!

I can only imagine what I will find if I ever dig into these walls ...

you gonna use Laminated beams and new trusses? Looks pretty scary.

My old garage, the guy used 2"x4" home made trusses, about 16'+ long on 24'' Centers (Approx. somewhere between 24 adn 30"), BUT, only had 1 transverse beam from the middle to the horizontal beam, with 1 nail in it !!!, as to say, the snow load wasn't calculated and it really sagged over the years!!

Nice idea on the scissor trusses to raise the ceiling (especially since you have the radiant floor heat). Very cool to reuse the knotty pine also. You now qualify as a "green" project since you limited the waste going to the landfill! What are the octagonal openings on the wall, windows to the outside?

They really splurged on the 1x6 construction, probably to get that extra deep insulation between the joists!!

where's the 100 ton coal bin ?

I should have emphasized that the last two photos were from 1999. These photos are from an OLD project.. the master bedroom has been 'finished' for about 10 years. [it took me awhile to finish it off]. The below photo is also from 1999.
Greg L

Again, this is OLD work.. and has been 'done' for over a decade..

The 100 ton coal bin is in the back, next to the coal boiler's building. I probably only holds 60-70 tons, if I push the coal up to to bottom of the roof trusses.
I'm not going to attach that photo here, it will derail the subject of the thread too much. GL

Lookin' good!

LsFarm wrote:I should have emphasized that the last two photos were from 1999. These photos are from an OLD project.. the master bedroom has been 'finished' for about 10 years. [it took me awhile to finish it off]. The below photo is also from 1999.

Roof six pic.jpg

Greg L

Again, this is OLD work.. and has been 'done' for over a decade..

The 100 ton coal bin is in the back, next to the coal boiler's building. I probably only holds 60-70 tons, if I push the coal up to to bottom of the roof trusses.
I'm not going to attach that photo here, it will derail the subject of the thread too much. GL

Not really it is part of the house property plus you only added the new section of bin not that long ago show it

The second floor drywall is up. !! Tomorrow I'll start on some of the main floor ceiling. I hope. Lots of things going on tomorrow.

Look at all the drywall dust in the air.. no wonder I'm sneezing and wheezing !! The false floor is still on the balcony. It will not be removed untill the drywall is finished and painted..

Greg L

Nice!

I can't do drywall work for any length of time for that reason .. too much dust! Would cost more than the project itself in medical bills for the asthma ...

I'm getting near to the time to build in the kitchen's island cabinets and serving bar/countertop. So I spent several hours today mocking up the end wall that will support the bartop/countertop.

I needed to get the height right for my bar-chairs. and I needed to make sure that the length and width that I had on paper would actually work and look good.

All in all I'm quite happy with the mockup and the size of the serving bar. I'll be able to serve six people at the bar, and have plenty of room for plates, serving platters and dishes etc. My previous island with a serving bar was too narrow, and there wasn't enough room to comfortably eat from the bar.. so it rarely got used. This island's bar will be my dining room for all but maybe Thanksgiving, Christmas and easter. The 'formal' dining room is in another part of the house.

Greg L

I guess you aren't sluffing off much lately. Things are looking very good, and your progress is excellent. I assume the coal usage is about the same in the construction phase, but you are heating more area with much better insulation.
I enjoy your updated photo's, and I hope all continues smoothly with this large endeavor. Greg, do you use an indirect hot water heater or the coil in the AA?
Don't get burned out, you are a busy guy!!!