Dave Lotte

150 meters of 12/2 wire ready to go.

Temporary bathroom countertop is in its place, toilet flange in place, marked where the water lines will need to go.
Since i needed to check the new toilet for damage, as well as figure out the placement of the water lines....  the toilet and sink have now been repacked for safe keeping until a later date.

Temp Kitchen counter has water lines roughed in, all it needs now is hydro and sewer.

Matthew Nistico wrote:

Excellent choice!  I bought a Toto toilet at 3x the price.

It has turned out to be terrible : (

Agreed.  I picked up one of those high efficiency washing machines - that does everything but do what its supposed to.  6 different settings 8 different washing motions.

Throw in a load of dry bed sheets on " normal" and it tries to wash them while they are still dry.  Does not add enough water.
Throw in a load of dry bed sheets on " bedding" setting, and it fills it right to the top and the sheets - sit there and float the whole time.

Throw the damn thing out and get one with low, medium and high water level switch that I can set.
Save more water than washing bed sheets three times in a row.

Matthew Nistico wrote:What brand/model toilet are you installing?

Cheap home depot one.  😁

Edit :  checked my phone for a picture ....

Next up, toilet,  sink and kitchen rough in.

First picture is an improper toilet flange.
Second picture is what its supposed to look like - with the flange sitting up inside the space under the toilet - and the toilet base sitting directly on the floor.

One piece at a time.

Another 14 hours in,

Except back porch, all rooms have electrical boxes installed.   ✔
Walk in shower framed in.  ✔
Additional storage area framed in. ✔
Temporary kitchen counter installed.  ✔
New toilet and sink ready to be installed. ✔
10 water shut offs ready to be installed. ✔
Walk in shower tap and shower head ready to install. ✔

Finally got around to wiring the back porch thermostat, and ... damn .... ended the 250 foot role of wire with less than 12 inches left.

All thermostats and actuators wired and working ✔✔✔

Not bad.

For those of you wondering....  why do i need 6 different thermostats in a 1500 sqft home when 1 will do

Easy.  Right now, with temps dropping to 32 F ( freezing ) at night - my first heating test proves that around 400 watts continuous will keep the building at a steady temperature.  ( Or even raise it a bit )
That is with a fan blowing in each direction ( front of house to rear ) heating the entire building

What will happen when i only have to heat one room, and can actually CONTROLL the temperature in each room...  
Really looking forward to seeing my energy costs compared to the old drafty - above ground - house. 😁

14 hours in this weekend, and i now have a linen ( storage ) closet.  Drywalled, with adjustable shelving.

All radiant floor heating actuators are installed.  Ran into a bit of trouble with thermostat  # 6 ,  but 5 out of 6 are working, ready to install radiant heating mechanical.

Blue lines on actuators signify water is "on"  and running.

Second heat test.

Now that i know the 400 watt heater will v-e-r-y slowly raise the temperature in the Hobbit Home,  time to crank it up !

Started up the 80,000 BTU heater for one hour.
Raised the temperature from 63 F.  up to 77 F.

Then the real test began.

Plugged the ceramic heater in overnight - 400 watts continuous, knowing that it is very close to holding the temperature steady.

8 hours later, the temperatures dropped back down to 66 F. Up from the 63 F start.

Observations :  

I find it interesting that the small ceramic heater raised the temp 8 degrees over the resting temperature of the house then slowed,  and when the large heater was on - after 30 minutes - the same 8 degree temperature rise happened - and stayed there for 20 minutes.  Is 8 degrees the magical number for the concrete to absorb the heat ?

100,000 pounds of concrete raised 2 degrees F - using 80,000 BTU - that sounds about right.  Now to see how long it stays warm.

Home heating update !

Now that the outside temps are dropping to 35 F  (1.6 C ) it is time to see how much of a difference the new insulated floor makes on the heating performance of the building.

I have no idea what to expect, but so far ... so good.

Temperature inside dropped to 51 F (10.5 C )  a couple of days ago, so i plugged in my little ceramic heater - set on setting number 1.  Thermostat set high.

400 Watts drawing 3.5 Amps.  Continuous running.

Overnight the temperature inside the house went from 51 F  up to 64 F  ( 18 C ).  Not bad.

Just to make sure, left it running for another night, and the temps went up one more degree - my guess is the concrete is slowly soaking up the heat charging up the thermal battery ( 100,000 pounds of concrete )

After 24 hours - the heater used about 10 KWH of hydro - so i would be looking at ( 30 days x 10 KWH = )  300 KWH a month for heating.

Rough guess.

7 hours.

100 -  50 lb. Sand bags.
21  -  100 lb.  Slabs.

One of the requirements for the occupancy permit is to have a clearly defined entry way for deliveries or emergencies.

Nailed it.  Time to rest and recover for a week.