[TheForge] insulated shop floor

[wmullett at bright.net]

Ben,

I don't understand what your trying to do.  Do you have a new or existing condition?

Horizontal perimeter insualtion, that is outside the building line, is just placed below grade enough for shallow rooted plants.  The problem with this installation is achieving continuity between the horizontal and vertical insulation.  But in existing conditions where you don't have insulation below the perimeter of your slab or if your wall insulation is external to the structure, this can be a good solution.

I have never done under slab on grade heating.  If that's what your doing, there may be some considerations I am not aware of.  

I said soil is a good insulator in my previous email....  I would like to amend that to say it's only good because you have a lot of it.  It really has a poor r value but how many feet of it do you want to consider?  

Remember - Insulation is valued at inches per thickness in relation to a change in temperature.  If you have an indoor tmperature of 70 and a ground temperature of 55, the delta 'T' is relatively low (15 degrees).  Compare that with your walls and roof where your delta 'T' at 0 is 70.  Your heat loss is really through those areas.

In under slab heating, ground does have a high thermal mass.  It takes awhile to heat it up and it will cool down slower.  There is a cost to that which should be considered but I've not done the math.

As far as the "bubble insulation" goes.... I don't know what that is.  If it's styrofoam and not extruded, your pouring your money down a hole.

Walt


From: Loktr at aol.com
Date: Tue Mar 28, 8:57 AM
To: theforge at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [TheForge] insulated shop floor

 
In a message dated 3/28/2006 2:09:36 A.M. Central Standard Time,  
theforge-request at mailman.qth.net writes:

Soil is  a great insulator.  It's even better if it's dry.  Soil also has a  
high thermal mass that will hold heat. We normally insulate only the perimeter 
 of buildings at the footing to below frost depth.  Below that, there is  
very little value because of the ground's insulating value.  

This  perimeter insulation can be vertical or horizontal.  If it's 
horizontal,  it can extend inside or ouside the building line and works equally  well. 


Walt,  How do you insulate horizontally?  My situation is that I  have two 
layers of 4" concrete over three foot of sand.  I have had various  contractors 
tell me: bubble, insulate with 1" foam, dont insulate insulate only  the 
perimeter vertically.  I could not get the link to work either.
 
Ben
_______________________________________________
Manage membership or unsubscribe at:
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
theforge mail list group photo site is
http://www.photoaccess.com
Login:  blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
password:  anvil
___________