Garage build, heating questions.

looking for spacer options for the wire mesh.

i have a bunch of pvc pipe from 1.25" to 3". i could cut them into 1.5" pieces....freebie factor.

break up cement cap blocks (1.625" tall) they are $1.18 each tho 4 pieces per block maybe?

these mesh spacers, looks like around 110 dollars for 500 of them.

last, mesh ups......150 of them for 43 dollars, looks like i would need four boxes.

does pex al pex attach to the manifolds the same as pex?

i got like 10 huge bags of zip ties that i got on clearance a while back, should have more than enough to tie the pex to the wire mesh. what do you do about sharp edges? i read warnings not to use duct tape near the pex pipe.

i went to look at building supplies tonite.

that wire mesh is nasty rusty looking stuff! won't that just rust in the slab and make more of a mess? it's already really rusty!

after seeing that stuff i'm back to foam staples.

You will need to get the correct manifold for the type of pex u are going to use...also get something to slip over the pex where it comes out of the slab and into the manifold

Mesh rusts...it happens...I just plastic cable tied my pex to the mesh...and whey the guys poured the cement they pulled it up into the cement

DooHicky wrote: ↑

Fri. Mar. 29, 2019 8:29 pm

You will need to get the correct manifold for the type of pex u are going to use...also get something to slip over the pex where it comes out of the slab and into the manifold

found the manifold for pex al pex thanks.

you said i should have more than 900 foot of pipe......i wanted to go on 12" centers and i'm leaving out about 40 square foot of space where there will be no foam or pex so i can have 6" of concrete for future lift pads. i was planning on a foot from the edges and a foot on center. shouldn't that be enough? i planned on having a forced air hot water unit also for quick recovery when the door was open.

McGiever wrote: ↑

Mon. Mar. 25, 2019 11:21 pm

I know your plate is full going forward and extras take even more time and more money so prioritize to get the baseline items done and then regroup after the dust settles and re-prioritize whats left to get things to a usable state before the heating season swings in...

that's what i'm working on, getting everything roughed in.

going to have to do most of the mechanical systems myself. i did hire an electrician to install 200 amp service. our 100 amp panel was full and both subpanels were full. told my dad in 1992 to have 200 amp service installed, he did not listen lol. he also bought the smalleds 100 amp panel he could get, it was probably cheap. we paid 1200 to have that 100 amp service done in 1992. this time the 200 amp service is $1625. labor and new box and breakers. that will eliminate the basement subpanel and now i can run 100 amp to the shop.

still have to buy the boiler and refurbish it, so i'm gonna need lights and compressed air in my shop. the air compressor is gonna be real close to the panel for a little while lol.

1/2” or #4 rebar on 1’x2’ centers in a grid like pattern, held up by something, either stones or “chairs” or whatever you can find, zip tie the pex directly to the top side of the rebar. I would go with 200’ loops, so just about 5 zones in the floor, I would double up the runs by the garage doors, but stay a foot away from all other walls, and I would stay at least 2’ from the footers for the lift. If every loop is the same length just hook them to a standard manifold of your choice, use a slab sensor for heat seating.

It’s that simple.

The loops around the perimeter are typically shorter than the rest of the floor since most of the heat loss is in that general area. Iirc the spacing for 1/2" pex in floor should be 8" apart. I used 1/4 graph paper to lay it out assuming 1square = 1 sq/ft...simpler to use round figures in my pea brain...lol and so if doing it that way it figured out to be 900 ft...1000 ft would be the ticket.....if u got too much that's much better than being short

township did not approve the building permit yet.

on my plans i had for r19 walls and r38 ceiling, i thought that might be overkill for a garage...nope.

the code for a heated garage is r20 walls and r49 ceiling.

this is nuts! it's a garage.....i have never seen a house with this much insulation. will the steel hold that much?

what do i do otherwise? lie and tell the township i'm not going to heat the garage. Definitely no floor heat then!

i had to send the excavator away this afternoon because the township took so long to get to even looking at the permit application, now i know why my old man just built what he wanted and never got permits. i would have been better off.

you can say it is not heated but still put the pex in the concrete...
If you have r-19 insulation you probably have r-20 with the wall assembly...
Just leave access to the attic to add more insulation when you decide to add heat...
Or let the town know that you are heating it...

Just roll out R-13 perpendicular to the other insulation across the top of your planned R-38. On the sides, staple up the thin fold out rigid for a R-4 gain. Neither of those options are terribly expensive deal breakers.

just heard from the builder, they revised the plans and spoke to the township. looks like my permit is approved now, i will get a call next week to go pay for it and pick it up.

no idea yet what the extra insulation and better windows are going to cost, builder said he did not locate the windows yet. i'll find out in a few days.
the code requires 0.36 u factor windows.

start time now is the last week of april. gives me time to order the supplies for the floor heat.

building permit is ready only 500 bucks lol.