Heat Load Calculator and In-Floor Radiant
Any recommendations for a free Heat Load Calculator. I’m gutting a ranch home for my parents and am planning to create a 2nd 2×4 wall on exterior (filled with blown in mineral wool) and also a layer of rockwool on exterior (2″ for walls and 4″ for roof). This seems similar to some a Steve Baczek (Build show) ranch remodel in Mass but then he installed radiant floor heating. I hae no background but I’m kind of guessing its overboard and the house will be overheated? The previous owners just put in a brand new hot water boiler so I’m trying to figure out if I can get away with a few baseboard radiators or should I just put in radiant and make it super comfortable – Any additional advice would be appreciated.
One added piece of info the majority of the 1950s house is build on an uninsulated slab which has radiant heat but it’s 70 years old and think I should abandon it, put a layer of 2″ polyiso on top and then Warmboard Radiant over that.
GBA Detail Library
A collection of one thousand construction details organized by climate and house part
Replies
We ripped out the subfloor in Minnesota and replaced it with Warmboard and insulated.
https://www.applewoodremodelers.com/birchwood-renovation
Scroll down to the project build.
We heat the Warmboard through a heat exchanger connected to a hot water heater, with water temperatures below 100F. There is 2 inches of closed cell foam on rim joists then the floor and ceiling have fiberglass.
I used Dana Dorsets method of analyzing the monthly gas bill to get the actual heat loss. That is documented on GBA.
If you put in some panel rads make sure that they can use water temp of under 120F. That allows you to move to a air to water heat pump over time.