"Yes, we have a ten year old LP gas furnace. In our case, the hydronic floor heat would only be supplemental, heated with the solar collectors we are planning on installing anyway to preheat domestic hot water. I'm going to oversize the system a…"
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Jonathan Runaas
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- Ainsworth, IA
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Jonathan Runaas's Discussions
Hydronic Radiant Floor Heat
12 Replies
For various reasons we've been considering adding hydronic radiant floor heat to some parts of our circa 1910 foursquare. Access to those areas is excellent as we have a full unfinished basement, so…Continue
Started this discussion. Last reply by Jonathan Runaas Apr 23.
Replacement Window Opinions
22 Replies
Hello all!My wife and I are starting to plan for the warm season and the associated opportunities for working on the exterior of our foursquare farmhouse. We are in need of advice from people who…Continue
Tags: windows, wooden, storm, vinyl, hung
Started this discussion. Last reply by Daryl Siedelmann Feb 19.
Insulation help
30 Replies
Hello to all! This is my first post on this lovely forum, though I have ghosted it for several months.My wife and I just purchased our first home, a very neglected turn of the century foursquare…Continue
Tags: foam, spray, ventilation, insulation
Started this discussion. Last reply by Jonathan Runaas Oct 26, 2011.
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Christopher Wszolek replied to Jonathan Runaas's discussion Hydronic Radiant Floor Heat"Hi Bill,
I am going to dig into several books at home and pull out references if helpful for you and Johnathan - will revert later on. Am not sure if you meant for me to respond or Johnathan since he began this discussion, but my house has…"
Bill Hendrickson replied to Jonathan Runaas's discussion Hydronic Radiant Floor Heat"Do you have any heating already, like radiators? We had the same thought process as you. Full basement, access to all the 1st floor floors, but once you consider the age of the floors and the fact you are going to subject them to an unusual…"
Christopher Wszolek replied to Jonathan Runaas's discussion Hydronic Radiant Floor Heat"I am really glad to have been of some help to you in this respect. Do you have access to Natural Gas in your area? The combination of the latest technology fully-modulating gas boilers together with a properly designed underfloor radiant heating…"
Jonathan Runaas replied to Jonathan Runaas's discussion Hydronic Radiant Floor Heat"Thank you for the vote of confidence in the system! I have decided to try to have it both ways and see what happens. I'm going to downsize the plans for my solar collectors (I can always add more later) and heat storage tank and experiment on…"
Christopher Wszolek replied to Jonathan Runaas's discussion Hydronic Radiant Floor Heat"Greetings Johnathan,
I would like to counter some of the other comments I observe in these posts regarding your (worthy) interest in underfloor hot water radiant heat. As you know it is the most comfortable heat ever developed and was…"
Jonathan Runaas replied to Jonathan Runaas's discussion Hydronic Radiant Floor Heat"Interesting idea, I will look into it!
Perhaps I'll limit my radiant floor dreams to the kitchen and bathroom, which will eventually be tiled..."
Franz replied to Jonathan Runaas's discussion Hydronic Radiant Floor Heat"Frankly I don't see your proposed plan as a winner in any respect since it amounts to basically converting your 1½"± floor into a wood drying kiln. Wood by its nature is not a thermal conductor, and fastening…"
Jonathan Runaas replied to Jonathan Runaas's discussion Hydronic Radiant Floor Heat"The reason we are considering adding radiant floor heating is because we have an ideal location to install a solar collector on our property (that wouldn't even be too ugly!). If we are building a pre-heater for our domestic hot water, it is…"
Franz replied to Jonathan Runaas's discussion Hydronic Radiant Floor Heat"Dropping the water temperature would greatly increase the cost of heating the room and isn't a way to go given the current energy cost situation.
I've seen many attempts at hydronic floors with wood floors, including plywood glued to…"
Jonathan Runaas replied to Jonathan Runaas's discussion Hydronic Radiant Floor Heat"I was just guessing, I have no knowledge of this. Is there anything that could be done to prevent this? I assume the problem would be caused by the moisture level changes between a humid Iowa summer and then baking the wood dry in winter? What if…"
Franz replied to Jonathan Runaas's discussion Hydronic Radiant Floor Heat"You already know the BIG downside, over time the heat will shrink, check and generally screw the floor up. "
Jonathan Runaas posted a discussionHydronic Radiant Floor Heat
For various reasons we've been considering adding hydronic radiant floor heat to some parts of our circa 1910 foursquare. Access to those areas is excellent as we have a full unfinished basement, so installation is not a worry for me, but instead efficiency. In the few places I've had to tear up a floor it seems to me that my old house has significantly more wood than most new homes, and I was wondering if the increased r-value would make radiant floor ineffective. I didn't measure my flooring…See More
Daryl Siedelmann replied to Jonathan Runaas's discussion Replacement Window Opinions"Hello Jonathan,
The first winter in our 1900 Queen Ann, it got down to minus 20 with a good wind. With 53 windows and doors in the house, two new furnaces were running constantly until I finally shut them down when the temp inside the house…"
"Do you just want wood window to be replaced? Maybe some old style stone window surround will be workable for you, they will be durable. you can have a look on http://www.stonecarving7th.com/garden/window.html, they can be customized…"
Jonathan Runaas posted an album
The House in the Shire
Some views of our home, long neglected, located in the rolling hills of southern Iowa
Profile Information
- Tell us about yourself:
- A choir director married to a concert pianist, sharing a love of travel, antiques, motorcycles, and old houses!
- Tell us about your old-house experiences and dreams:
- Born and raised in a fixer-upper family, and the proud new owner of our first house, a turn-of-the-century foursquare farmhouse! It has been very neglected for the past 40 years, and is very, very rough.
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