Floors Ready for Radiant Action
Radiant floor will be heated with geothermal refrigerant that will transmit the heat from refrigerant to water. The heated water will travel about 300 feet before looping back the cooled off liquid.
Radiant floor will be heated with geothermal refrigerant that will transmit the heat from refrigerant to water. The heated water will travel about 300 feet before looping back the cooled off liquid.
Now that the roof is on, the biggest project to attack was the floor. The floor team had the space inside our perimeter beam foundation filled to a point where it was ready to be insulated in preparation for our radiant tubes to be installed. First we laid down house wrap over the entire surface to make sure we avoided punctures to our vapour barrier that followed the typar immediately. After that came the 2″ silver board insulation that will prevent heat provided from the radiant tubes from being lost to the ground. It involved lots of cuts to make it all fit around existing plumbing, electrical and interior walls as well as lots of tuck taping a different metallic bubble wrap insulation over all of the seams. The team also ingeniously made some gaskets for around the plumbing pipes to ensure there is minimal thermal bridging. All the intricate work will go a long way to make sure the building is a super efficient envelope.
Once the insulation was down, it was the radiant floor teams turn to get the tubes laid that will be the primary mechanical means of heating and cooling in the building. They will be the mode of delivery for the output of our geothermal system when all is said and done. The tubing has to be laid in a certain way to make sure there are no significant cold or hot spots on the floor which means many separate and shorter loops in a specific configuration. If you just did one large circuit, the water enclosed in the pipes would only really effect a small area of the floor before it returned to it’s starting temperature. Below you can see all of the different loops outgoing and return locations. Eventually a header will be installed over all of them that will allow the user to adjust the temperature by controlling how much water is actually flowing into each loop.
The “swtichboard”. Valves placed on the hots side will allow occupants to control what part of the floor they want heated. If occupants are not using one part of the space, they can turn it off.
MVGThe “swtichboard”. Valves placed on the hots side will allow occupants to control what part of the floor they want heated. If occupants are not using one part of the space, they can turn it off.
The “swtichboard”. Valves placed on the hots side will allow occupants to control what part of the floor they want heated. If occupants are not using one part of the space, they can turn it off.
Some other things going on around site were a few finishing touches on the metal roof such as the ridge cap which contains a vent to allow for ventalaion. The soffit team was hard at work installing in the high peak on the south side of the building. This is a slow process as the cuts are really precise and scaffolding had to be erected to facilitate the installation. Tongue and groove cedar was chosen as the material and let me be the first to tell you that it looks fantastic.
Away from the roof, the earthen plaster team was busy getting their slip pit up and running which will be necessary for the on site straw bale wall building next week. Each bale is dipped in the clay slip to allow for adhesion between the bales and the plaster that will cover them when completed. It is a dirty job but as you can see below, an enjoyable one.
The other big job for the week was mixing all of the lime plaster that will be used on the interior and exterior walls. The lime is mixed with water and left to soak in barrels until we are ready to use it. A bit of extra water is added to ensure that the lime accepts as much as it needs to be an optimal consistency for application. Another very messy job, not to mention hard on the arms due to the amount that we will actually use on the building.