Suggestions to build a better foundation where frost levels are a problem.

[Munch12]

The foundation, and all the underground the grading and backfills, are primary that it gets done right, no going back.

Hope all the builders out there take a serious look at this simple Swedish system, which might cost a little more but pays for itself very quickly and is the most "user-friendly" which counts most.

I have been installing hot water warm floors in the San Juan Mountains since 1978 and my customers are very happy campers because they know their heating is simple and doesn't take a $100 dollar guy to fix stuff. 

This "air heated" system is a game changer but you have to get away from thinking concrete is just for holding houses up in the air.

Here is a foundation system that not only holds the house up but is also the radiant heating for the home forever after with very few moving parts.  It's provided by concrete floors (3" - 8" thick), with heat tubes imbedded with the steel. This system is tried and proven and just taking hold in the US, and the general contractors and their subs, are upset because they want their slab on grade and crawlspace foundations which tear up the property from the start and have nothing to do with heating.

Why not have your low-cost heated floors, functioning water and sewer and electric, and solar orientation, as the basis for any home in a cold climate? Instead of building the house first then having the heat turned on last which is the way it's done 95% of the time.

A two person LLC would do well buying property, building these functioning, heated and engineered foundations, and then selling to an owner/builder.  I bet they'd sell like hot cakes. It hasn't been tried before.

The "forced air" industry hooked up with general contracting and built so many houses with crawl spaces and a forced air system sometimes in a closet. High utility bills and a forgotten dusty crawlspace, (which you own by the way), and frozen pipes sometimes.

Once you have the "any sized" foundation poured, then add heat to the tubes and two or three days later you have yourself a snow melt system, for the brutal winter building season, and then radiant floors long after.

You also have the sewer hook ups roughed in and ready to use, electric on, and also the water on, so this is the start that a "smart" home is built on. Every day is a pleasure for the building crews, and some jobs even build the garage first for their heated shop and then let the general contractor come on board, to design and build a house over this already functioning site AND get the CO (what a pain that is) for the bank and homeowner.

There are ways to put heat into the floors, but the slab doesn't care.

Direct sunlight doesn't work.

one, hot water, (gas, solar, electric) which is as simple as a water heater a circulating pump and 1/2" tubes.

Two, hot air and a fan blowing into a 4" manifold tube. (Solar, gas, or electric) So simple I can't imagine heating a home any other way. Either way you don't see or feel the heat, but it's always available. The key is that the whole footprint radiates with no hot or cold spots, and there are days and days of energy in the floor/battery when the power goes out in 4 feet of snow and 5 below. (And none on your driveway)

A cold climate subdivision could be laid out like a trailer park and all the heated foundations and groundwork done first and ready to go for the new owners instead of piecemeal with heavy equipment on the streets for the duration of the project. Just slide your house in if it's a prefab.

Here's a concept picture. 

Air heated footprint for house and garage and driveway if needed. Cost x dollars for two journeymen to build, pour, and get functional, then minimum utilities and complete comfort for anybody to follow.

Heated Usable this?

or unheated unusable that. 

 

[Vmedvil]

On 4/24/2023 at 3:54 PM, Munch12 said:

The foundation, and all the underground the grading and backfills, are primary that it gets done right, no going back.

Hope all the builders out there take a serious look at this simple Swedish system, which might cost a little more but pays for itself very quickly and is the most "user-friendly" which counts most.

I have been installing hot water warm floors in the San Juan Mountains since 1978 and my customers are very happy campers because they know their heating is simple and doesn't take a $100 dollar guy to fix stuff. 

This "air heated" system is a game changer but you have to get away from thinking concrete is just for holding houses up in the air.

Here is a foundation system that not only holds the house up but is also the radiant heating for the home forever after with very few moving parts.  It's provided by concrete floors (3" - 8" thick), with heat tubes imbedded with the steel. This system is tried and proven and just taking hold in the US, and the general contractors and their subs, are upset because they want their slab on grade and crawlspace foundations which tear up the property from the start and have nothing to do with heating.

Why not have your low-cost heated floors, functioning water and sewer and electric, and solar orientation, as the basis for any home in a cold climate? Instead of building the house first then having the heat turned on last which is the way it's done 95% of the time.

A two person LLC would do well buying property, building these functioning, heated and engineered foundations, and then selling to an owner/builder.  I bet they'd sell like hot cakes. It hasn't been tried before.

The "forced air" industry hooked up with general contracting and built so many houses with crawl spaces and a forced air system sometimes in a closet. High utility bills and a forgotten dusty crawlspace, (which you own by the way), and frozen pipes sometimes.

Once you have the "any sized" foundation poured, then add heat to the tubes and two or three days later you have yourself a snow melt system, for the brutal winter building season, and then radiant floors long after.

You also have the sewer hook ups roughed in and ready to use, electric on, and also the water on, so this is the start that a "smart" home is built on. Every day is a pleasure for the building crews, and some jobs even build the garage first for their heated shop and then let the general contractor come on board, to design and build a house over this already functioning site AND get the CO (what a pain that is) for the bank and homeowner.

There are ways to put heat into the floors, but the slab doesn't care.

Direct sunlight doesn't work.

one, hot water, (gas, solar, electric) which is as simple as a water heater a circulating pump and 1/2" tubes.

Two, hot air and a fan blowing into a 4" manifold tube. (Solar, gas, or electric) So simple I can't imagine heating a home any other way. Either way you don't see or feel the heat, but it's always available. The key is that the whole footprint radiates with no hot or cold spots, and there are days and days of energy in the floor/battery when the power goes out in 4 feet of snow and 5 below. (And none on your driveway)

A cold climate subdivision could be laid out like a trailer park and all the heated foundations and groundwork done first and ready to go for the new owners instead of piecemeal with heavy equipment on the streets for the duration of the project. Just slide your house in if it's a prefab.

Here's a concept picture. 

Air heated footprint for house and garage and driveway if needed. Cost x dollars for two journeymen to build, pour, and get functional, then minimum utilities and complete comfort for anybody to follow.

Heated Usable this?

or unheated unusable that. 

 

Neat man!

[Munch12]

Thanks Vmedvil.

I have been installing heated concrete floors and "snow melted" driveways since 1979 and my customers love the simplicity and efficiency behind them. They are like batteries that can take a charge and deliver long lasting heat. These new "air heated' foundations are a game changer in cold climates.