Why ceiling vents? Its always been my understanding that ceiling vents are used in climates where ac is used more than heat. With duct work in the attic, all heat that is lost is gone. I guess it does make sense to blow heat down rather than up. I've just never seen vents in the ceiling around here. I need to get up with the hvac guys I know, but I haven't seen them in a few years. Hvac is about the only thing I don't know much about, so it has me stumped. I started another thread about it too
House plan help/input
- Thread starter tbrooks
- Start date
With our forced air system, the vents in the floor got warm, but not hot enough to keep us off them. obviously a young child has tender skin and would burn/hurt a lot more/easier. our AC was also part of it. the duct work was on our basement ceiling so upstairs floor heat
I just hope I can do it all. I can do or make anything I put my mind to, its a matter of budget. Things like that^^ won't cost me anything though. This change in heating system is gonna kill my budget, especially with doing the garage to house it. It will be good though, I can move the washer and dryer to the garage and free some floor space. This winter is killing me though. Mostly just had that rock job and its just been dragging on because we're lucky to get 20 hours a week with the weather. Got 8 hours goin on this weeks check 
We got tons of outside work, just don't have the weather for it. Got some inside work coming, subcontracting from a guy I know, but don't wanna work for lol. I'm gonna need 40 hour weeks at work, at home, and on selling between ebay and cl, and still gotta find family time. Softball season is just starting and I got 2 playing, one county and one school. I got a good stash of cash, but its gonna go fast. Between well, septic, footers and slab, heat system, and lumber and metal roofing, I'm gonna be over 10k just getting it dried in. Not to mention windows, and paying the mortgage. My friend the architect came by today and checked out the site. He brought up one change that will cost me a little and make a big difference, 10' ceilings in the addition (kit n lr). I like it and it will make tying in the garage roof easier. It will be a shed roof sloping away from the end of the house. The only thing that makes this feasible is that I will be doing all the work, and most of my lumber will be recycled. Definitely not gonna have time to get into flipping quads this year I wish I did, I could use the extra $$$
We got tons of outside work, just don't have the weather for it. Got some inside work coming, subcontracting from a guy I know, but don't wanna work for lol. I'm gonna need 40 hour weeks at work, at home, and on selling between ebay and cl, and still gotta find family time. Softball season is just starting and I got 2 playing, one county and one school. I got a good stash of cash, but its gonna go fast. Between well, septic, footers and slab, heat system, and lumber and metal roofing, I'm gonna be over 10k just getting it dried in. Not to mention windows, and paying the mortgage. My friend the architect came by today and checked out the site. He brought up one change that will cost me a little and make a big difference, 10' ceilings in the addition (kit n lr). I like it and it will make tying in the garage roof easier. It will be a shed roof sloping away from the end of the house. The only thing that makes this feasible is that I will be doing all the work, and most of my lumber will be recycled. Definitely not gonna have time to get into flipping quads this year I wish I did, I could use the extra $$$
I hear that on the time and $$$.The only way I was able to afford my second truck and my toys was side work
I'm at a loss now. I've been pouring over pages and pages of info on radiant floor heat. The problem is there is conflicting information everywhere. All the sites seem professional and legit and packed with info and logical reasons to back up their recommendations. But they don't match up. I learn by pooling info from multiple sources to come up with what works best for me, but idk what works for me with these. Anybody know of a good forum where I could ask for advice on this??
i know where you could get local good advice.
NOT THE INTERNET.
make some phone calls/ask your friends/contractors.
LOCALLY LOLYeah, but I live in redneck central. Granted I'm surrounded by multi-million dollar houses and country clubs, but everything is pretty backwards around here. For example most of my work is fixing mistakes from plumbers, electricians, and contractors, and I'm not licensed for any of those (don't get paid as much either for fixing their crap). The crap they pass on inspections of new construction makes me sick. Like this, this is what I worked on today, see the rotten joist, now look at the one behind it
Yeah half of its not there, thats part of why the shower failed. That was original construction, its ridiculous. Most the time when newer things like this heat system are done on houses up here, they bring in somebody from out of state. I do have a call in to a mechanical contractor I know, but haven't heard back yet.
Yeah half of its not there, thats part of why the shower failed. That was original construction, its ridiculous. Most the time when newer things like this heat system are done on houses up here, they bring in somebody from out of state. I do have a call in to a mechanical contractor I know, but haven't heard back yet.
ive seen joists done right on new construction pass inspection and plumber,and hvac guys cut joists
I ended up talking to a local hvac guy about radiant, well hydronic radiant floor heat is what the system I will be using is called. Anyway he had put in a handful of these type systems and strongly advised against it, but he is local lol. But I have also been talking to a very helpful person with a large hvac and mechanical firm over the internet. They turned me on to THE textbook for learning about radiant heat and assured me that when designed and installed properly, nothing is better than radiant. After reading this book (almost done reading anyway), I believe them. They have also offered to help me with designing my system to make sure I do it right, for free! I'm estimating the system will costs me around 3k in parts, and countless hours and headaches getting it installed, but it should be awesome when its done. Besides that, still haven't been able to close on the property yet, some complicated snag on their end, but its getting worked out and hopefully be coming through soon. Waiting to hear from my architect friend on the plans, hopefully it will be soon, so I can get my heat design done as well. Also because of my new knowledge on radiant, I will probably be going with my tile and the rest of the house will be laminate wood flooring. Its cheap, strong, and thin, so why not, plus I've found some cool looking ones for under $1 a square foot.
careful using laminate with radiant heat, I subbed a bamboo laminate for my buddy on a job of his,
overtop of radiant,
I saw his truck there 3 weeks later and stopped to see what he was up to.
he was tearing all that bamboo out, as it had started to seperate from the heat,
knowing that house and owner of Cernics Suzuki (Travis Pastrana's first and main sponsor), it wasn't cheap chit.
I do not know what they did to remedy it.
overtop of radiant,
I saw his truck there 3 weeks later and stopped to see what he was up to.
he was tearing all that bamboo out, as it had started to seperate from the heat,
knowing that house and owner of Cernics Suzuki (Travis Pastrana's first and main sponsor), it wasn't cheap chit.
I do not know what they did to remedy it.
I have a few close friends that do Hvac and I did it for a little bit (basically just duct work) 95% of the time everything went through the attic. Meaning the vents were in the ceiling. In a retro fit situation where they had heat already (base board) we would just remove the heating coil from the air handler (blower). Sometimes we would run the air right through the wall using the inside of the wall as the duct work itself and we would put a vent in the wall but on the bottom near the floor. You can put the vent anywhere you want up and down or anywhere in the ceiling. Sometimes one vent up top and one down low in the wall depending on where you wanted the heat or ac blowing. Close top vent and open the bottom if you want to heat from the floor so it will rise. The return is in the center hall way so everything recirculates back to the center of the home.
Judging from the work you have done you shouldn't have any problem doing your own duct work. The condenser and air handler are where the $ is but it shouldn't be to bad. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone and do forced hot air along with your ac.
Judging from the work you have done you shouldn't have any problem doing your own duct work. The condenser and air handler are where the $ is but it shouldn't be to bad. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone and do forced hot air along with your ac.
Thanks for the heads up. I hadn't actually looked at any laminates yet, but any "wood" flooring is supposed to be approved for going over radiant. Thats one reason I won't be using the extra flooring I had access to. There problems could have had a lot to do with the type of radiant, how it was installed, and the floor design temperature, believe me when I say I am doing my homework on this, and I'll make sure its right. Screw ups cannot fit into my budget lol.
Thanks for the vote of confidence jus me. I know I could install ductwork, as I have done repairs/replacement before in certain situations. Although my dream home plan always included a forced air system, with a boiler and heat exchanger, now that I have done all this research, my view has changed. Mainly because forced air is so inefficient, even when done perfectly, in comparison with radiant. For instance a single tube of pex can carry as many btu's as a 14x6 duct of air. As to the AC, it is not really a necessity around here. We rarely hit the 90's and there are lots of trees to help block the sun. With good attic ventilation, and a few windows, it is really not needed.
Finally got my plans together. Architect buddy got back to me a week or so ago. I haven't alot of time, but I got the revised to how I want it. He worked off a crude one I made with some freeware. There was one major flaw, his plans had a 19 foot addition, whereas the plan I gave him showed 14, but I told him I was gonna go ahead with 16. So my final draft fixed that and also moved around the bathroom, laundry room, and pantry to make the latter 2 better. So his is the first and my revision is second. I'll work off of copies of it to make copies for framing, heating, etc, thats why it doesn't have facilities, counters, etc. marked.
Gonna put dry vanity/desk in each of my older girls room so they can have a place to get ready so they don't fight over the bathroom, and divided their bath into separate areas for shared use. Oh and the addition will have 10 foot ceilings, not sure if I mentioned that before.
Gonna put dry vanity/desk in each of my older girls room so they can have a place to get ready so they don't fight over the bathroom, and divided their bath into separate areas for shared use. Oh and the addition will have 10 foot ceilings, not sure if I mentioned that before.
Gonna be starting on this very soon!! Got the estate sale done and over. Donated alot of what was left, and almost got the house emptied out. Need to get a tractor going, to put in my septic, and start footers and some grading. Sold this a week or to back, a quick easy $2500 for me, and opened a lot of room. 1951 spartan
I'll try n keep things updated as I go. Maybe I should start a build thread lol. It will be slow going, mostly me doing everything on the side while working full time.
I'll try n keep things updated as I go. Maybe I should start a build thread lol. It will be slow going, mostly me doing everything on the side while working full time.
