fresh home build coming soon

[skyking]

Holes in the webs, some are drilled @2" but now I am getting some 1 3/8" bushings.
Viega part:





I'll still need bigger holes for returns and runs out to the loop locations.
for those locations I can arrange a few mouse ears like this around the periphery of the hole for multiple runs.

Here is a screencap of the BC Calc analysis of the joists on the far side of the beam from that perspective. I have drilled the 2" holes on the far end but not the near end.


The first floor will have ~11 loops going to a couple of remote manifolds.
When I started out I planned on home runs with 1/2" PEX.
After much research and consultation with radiant heat guys, now I am using 3/8".
The 1/2" you can get out to about 300' max and 250' practical loop length.
The 3/8" is really best at 200' or less.
Home runs to the equipment room burn up so much of the working length that remote manifolds make more sense.

 

[JTsyo]

Do they make electric floor heaters instead of water if you're gong full solar?

 

[skyking]

Do they make electric floor heaters instead of water if you're gong full solar?

They do, but I have not seen large scale installations that way. I have heat wire under our current home's bathroom tiles, for example.
It would be far less efficient though. Heat pumps are money savers.
Typical Coefficient of Performance (COP) is above 3.
That means 3x the heat you would get from direct resistance heating.
My inverter ground source heat pump can get up to a COP of 5 if I can manage my ground loop temperatures.

 

[skyking]

First loop is up!

Taking a break now, Daisy is helping.

 

[Sukhoi]

Ah I didn't realize the metal is a heat spreader

 

[skyking]

Ah I didn't realize the metal is a heat spreader

Yes, this image says it all. I have a product like those two on the right. It is not just a heat spreader. The heat is just fine traveling through the tube and back to the heat pump.
It does not just jump out of there to do your bidding
The tubing is hammered into the extrusion which EXTRACTS the heat out of the water. Without that tight grip they would not work like they do. This also keeps the tubing from moving around and making noise. It grows about 1% in length for every 50 degrees of heat rise. The extrusion contains it.
The images on the right are tight extrusions.

 

[Micrornd]

What type of insulation do you have planned for under the radiant? Mineral wool?

 

[skyking]

Probably fiberglass batts, R11 minimum.
We put 1,370 ft up this weekend. It was seven loops.
I made the main bath loop shorter at 175 ft because I pulled the service loop out of it for a towel warmer. I don't know how much load that's going to add but my gut instinct was to cut that one a little shorter.
That made that main bathroom area on its own loop which is handy for adjustment.

 

[skyking]

Maybe it's just the angle of the photo, but I don't see how you get the tubing to pass from bay to bay?

I drilled holes through the webs.

 

[skyking]

The floor loops are all up. This was the last one and by far the most complicated.
Advanced Festoonery 300 level class.



it starts like this. Do not cross the beams.
Then you populate each bay in turn and hammer the pipe in.

 

[skyking]

We had one more ground loop to do. We fit it in between another loop and the carport.


I moved this mountain of clay one more time.


To bench down and bring out the side sewer.


Twisted a knee with all the ups and downs and got my nephew to come out and get hands on training.

 

[evident]

Those last few pictures of that heating system is awesome.

 

[skyking]

He had run the machine before, but only dabbling a bit on flat ground. This was real work reaching out off the top of a loose pile delivering pea gravel.
I showed him how to grade the trench with the laser and rake, and then offered to get him in the seat ^ up there. You could almost hear the pucker in his voice " uh no thanks I'll pass".
We worked a while and I mentioned it again, and he decided to go for it. I got him up with me and explained all the physics of it, then got him in the seat.

getting instruction on dipping bedding from the dump truck.



He is very cautious and did just fine. How else can somebody get a chance to learn?
We got the line in and I called one of the inspectors with a question, and he said why don't I just come inspect it today? In and bought off in one day, and then I brought the 2" vent out on top of it at 0.2%


I was getting a gravity side sewer from the development next door, then they set the schedule back another year so now I will pump it to a nearby main, hence the need for a dedicated vent. I had planned for it.

I had brought it out from the slab and had it inspected JIC.

 

[skyking]

That side sewer is 12' below finish floor and was holding everything up. Today we finalized the loops into the basement using fernco's to seal them to the sleeves.


Drain pipe tied into footing drain and rocked.


So we could backfill the lower retaining wall and form up for the upper one. It lines up over that edge of the stucco.



Things are a bit awkward under the cantilever and around the big pipe, which is a required backwater valve, and that cleanout riser.

I will get two more boxes of that fine gravel and bring it up within a foot of grade as close to the retaining wall forms as I can, and finish backfilling that yuge side sewer gow in the ground.

 

[skyking]

Ready for north retaining wall and battery vault. I am using the leftover ICF blocks to form a niche in the retaining wall to house the battery(s).


The battery is UL9540 listed but I don't care. I am not putting the equivalent of a few quarts of gasoline in my basement.
I spoke with the PUD and developer and have figured out a way for power. I can trench 450' down an easement and bring the primary onto the corner of the lot, give them a little easement for the transformer and it will be 60' from the house.
I will have to move the corner of this pile to get to the trench line, it is about 250 cubic yards or 350 tons. It is great to be able to self perform all this.


I emailed the outside engineer for the cable company and got confirmation that my CATV will be the easiest Easy Button in history. I am tapping the sewer main 2 feet towards us from that manhole. Seriously.
My trench will be 4 feet from the cable pedestal and there are two open ports on the splitter.

 

[JTsyo]

When they are doing sewer, I imagine they will also be doing the water line?

 

[skyking]

When they are doing sewer, I imagine they will also be doing the water line?

I brought my own lines in from the west, 500' up the driveway. I installed a pair because of reasons.
When the excavator gets back on site I will dig up the water main and tap it and get that hooked up.
Here comes one of the 500' rolls of poly down the hill, along with 1.25" Sch 40 PVC conduit for any future fiber service from that direction, and that little black 3/4" poly for my own dark fiber to the gate. I swept the comm pipes up 3 times for handholds.




The sweeps are circled above. I am lazy and about 130' is all I want to pull at a time.
The developer wanted 3500 to bring water to my east line from the East. No thanks.
The two rolls of poly cost me ~$1100 and I was digging the trench anyway.

 

[skyking]

we poured the last of the retaining walls and also the vault/niche for the battery.

that will get a reinforced 4" EPS lid and door, and you can step on it from the upper level. I will finish it inside and out with the Dryvit stucco to match the basement.
I have a UL 9540 listed battery but I have no desire to have it under my roof.

The buck out is the spillway for the waterfall.

 

[skyking]

Archaeology week.
I had subgraded all the plumbing and conduit for a smooth finish.

I was done rolling scaffolding around and it was time to dig it up.
The tub box was easy to find and I located the rest of the bathroom group with tape measure and sledgehammer.

Equipment room wall with chock full of various things.

I almost forgot the Ufer ground.
The concrete collapses easily over the styrofoam sleeves.

 

[skyking]

I had laid out all this stuff with the wall stud layout from the perimeter string line.
The only stud off schedule is next to the ufer. I bent it up too far or not enough. Whatever.


I pre-painted 3/4 CDX and I'm lining the whole equipment room so I can hang gear anywhere I want.
Now that the wall is up i can bend the floor pex up and secure it, and pour back those two holes.
I had cut 2x2 sticks of Styrofoam and drilled a 1/2 hole in the end, and wired it down for the pour.

I had a roto hammer with 2 core bit and knocked 4 holes into the room, two for the battery vault and two for the sewer pump.

 

[MrSquished]

Really can't wait to see the final product.

I don't know much about construction, but would I be correct in thinking that other people in home construction are probably learning things from reading all these detailed posts?

 

[bbhaag]

The only thing this thread has taught me is I don't ever want to build a fucking house from the ground up. No offense to you @skyking I know a lot of people do it but it just looks like to much work.

 

[Greenman]

The only thing this thread has taught me is I don't ever want to build a fucking house from the ground up. No offense to you @skyking I know a lot of people do it but it just looks like to much work.

It's just work. With the right equipment it's not even all that hard. I did it every day for 47 years. The only bad part about it is accumulated damage. Bad knees and shoulders, a little arthritis, a few scars and some fingers that might not be all the same shape as when they started out.

 

[deadlyapp]

The only thing this thread has taught me is I don't ever want to build a fucking house from the ground up. No offense to you @skyking I know a lot of people do it but it just looks like to much work.

I'd also hazard a guess that what skyking is doing is a bit more than most home builds, purely because of the remoteness of the site and also the technology he's putting into it.

 

[BoomerD]

I'd also hazard a guess that what skyking is doing is a bit more than most home builds, purely because of the remoteness of the site and also the technology he's putting into it.

I don't think his building site is all that remote. Just a bit outside of town, but close enough. It's not like he's building out in the Alaskan wilderness.