We ordered the radiant!

(This is last weeks post that I forgot to publish)

Here are a few pictures that should have been posted weeks ago.

The first one if of Shawn installing those truss hangers in the garage.

This other one if of the main floor with all of the insulation. We didn't get heat in the basement like we wanted since it took all winter to get quotes. We do think that insulation helped to keep the temperatures in the basement higher than the outdoors. On sunny days, the slab absorbs the heat from the sun, and when it was below freezing outside, it was probably just to the freezing point inside. There is a bucket of water in there that had a thin film of ice on the top, but the water didn't freeze.
I think that speaks volume about the insulation of the ICF walls. We're hoping this will in turn mean lower utility bills, since the heating equipment won't have to do much to keep the basement warm.

Speaking of HVAC, the quotes for the HVAC part of the house building process have been a lot higher than we were expecting.
Our new goal is to be living in the basement by Thanksgiving of this year, so to make that happen, we've realized that we won't be putting any of the HVAC components for upstairs. This means that we'll be without A/C in the basement.

What we did figure out is that the ductwork layout that we wanted will work, so we can now move ahead knowing what will need to go where in the future. I'm still hopeful that by the time we do have to do something upstairs, we can still go with a radiant floor and just regular A/C upstairs. But this option is definitely a luxury.

What we really need in the basement is heat, electricy, plumbing and drywall (besides doors and cabinets, etc, etc.) So we hired a company from the East coast called Northeast Radiant Technology to design the radian heat components in the basement. We will have to install the system ourselves. This will cost us half of what we could hire someone here to hookup the radiant for us.
Again, we're stuck in that trade-off of paying less and saving money, but doing a lot of the labor ourselves. And as last year proved with siding, it will take us a lot longer to do it than someone hired to do it. And the siding, soffit and fascia still needs to be finished.

At least we have finally made a decision. Our goal is to have geothermal installed when the time comes to do heating and cooling for the upstairs. For now, the basement will be heated by a small boiler and we'll handle humidity with a small dehumidifier. A/C we can live without. We've lived in the old house without A/C for five years now, and if we can handle the humidity, the basement is actually very cool in the summer.

Now, we're back on plumbing, and we have half of the upstairs plumbing designed. This weekend we're going to my in-laws for a visit, but perhaps next weekend we'll buy some supplies and start working on that. That is, if Shawn gets done cleaning the basement and organizing his tools. But it is going to be his birthday that weekend, so maybe I won't expect him to spend it in the house working.

We'll also be requesting a quote from the electrician to do the wiring so we can plan the budget for that, and hopefully that can be done this summer. Then, we'll be able to dry-wall.
I'm thinking that come what will come, we're going to be in that basement, even if we have to rough it out.

I'm also itching to do some work. It was really hard not being able to help Shawn because of my pregnancy, so I'm really looking forward to doing some work. Now it will be a matter of figuring out what to do with the kids.

See you next week.