[TheForge] Re: WAAAAAAAAY OT (while we're talking about buildingsand heat)

[Ralph Sproul]

Placing insulation under a floor affects it's strength.  Impact can crack
the floor - the insulation crushes until things reach the ground below.  For
a shop where you plan to use 12-20 ton jacks, or impact equipment such as a
power hammer .............you may want to reconsider.

Heating the shop full time is the obvious answer to keep the thermal mass
all up to temp - this is very costly to do as compared to breaking the chill
to work............unless you've got lots of insulation in the building and
it is built tight.

Putting radiant floor heat into the concrete with a power hammer near by is
a great way to create a leak.

So far successful in upper Maine is creating an isolation box of sand with
the hammer foundations  in it - then the floor is totally isolated from the
shock and hasn't cracked the floor nor damaged the heat tubes.

Ralph

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Justin Fellenz
Sent: Friday, March 24, 2006 10:42 AM
To: Kenneth Mayer; Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Re: WAAAAAAAAY OT (while we're talking about
buildingsand heat)

Another shop build question: does anyone in a colder climate have
experience with insulated concrete floors? I'm building my shop this
spring in Kamloops, BC, where it gets a little cold--not like Maine,
but cold. Someobody suggested I lay 2 1/2" of polystyrene hard foam
under the slab. It's about another 4000 CAD to do it...I'm wndering if
it's worth the money and whether it decreases the structural stability
of the slab.

Another person suggested radiant heat (insulation with or without).
That's about another 5k and if it breaks it would be a nightmare to
fix. But people say it's pretty cool to have nice warm floors. Thoughts
on that welcome as well.

Thanks,

JRF

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