Radiant Floor Tubes Installed
May 17, 2025
The countdown to pouring the concrete flooring is ticking! In just a few days, the styrofoam layer with tubes zip tied to the metal mesh will be covered with high-strength concrete. There’s a few details to coordinate to ensure the space is ready for pouring. Our kitchen is open to both the dining and living room, but it steps up about 6 inches, overlooking the two rooms. Michiel will be building forms to contain the dimensions of the step from the dining room to the kitchen. He will also be building forms around the perimeter of the rooms to keep the concrete from filling the nooks between the wall studs.
This past Monday, Michiel and I started and finished laying the tubes for radiant floor heating atop the styrofoam sheets neatly placed and taped across the four rooms: Living, dining, mudroom, and kitchen. Michiel had carefully calculated and drawn the blueprint of the maze tubes, making sure the hot and cold water lines are in the correct order, entering and exiting the manifold soon-to-be installed. Oliver joined-in on the repetitive task of zip-tying the tubes to the metal mesh below it, guiding the malleable tubes through tight turns and corners, each time the loop comes back around to the start where it began — at the manifold.
From the manifold to the living room; to the mudroom; back out to the dining room; and finally to the kitchen, Michiel, myself, and Oliver made it through — Michiel and Oliver with the zip-ties, and myself with the large roll of white plastic tubing. The floor is now looking like a labyrinth, similar method to the project we had tackled on the second floor over the past summer. This time, however, instead of tying the tubes to the floor, we tied them to the metal mesh beneath it — which proved to be a simpler and quicker process altogether.
We woke up the next morning to our oven running out of propane gas. I had prepared two loaves of bread late in the night with the intention to bake first thing when I awoke — only having realized that we finished our last tank of gas. We would need to drive an hour into the next town to fill our three tanks. Thankfully, we are expecting our batteries to fill completely today, as the sun has already made its appearance early this morning — hanging high and bright in the sky.
Our electric hot plate and mini oven will get much use today, until we make the trip to do what we must do. After careful consideration, we realized that we needed the propane gas not only for the stove oven, but also for hot water. So, we went into our van with a list of items we needed to purchase along with the three empty propane tanks for filling. It was a long day of driving and running errands — initiated by an unexpected need.
A new day means a day closer to ordering the concrete truck to come pour our floor. Feeling both the excitement and slight angst overtaking us, Michiel woke up at the usual time; prepared his coffee; sat in the quiet of our empty living room; and sipped his hot beverage while mentally preparing for the work that lies ahead this day. One day at a time — but a tall list of to-do’s to check off. I reassured him I would be over to help soon. First, I had to ensure the house was in order — which in recent months have been more or less up to par, but not the loose standard I would expect to keep long-term.
Our current livable space is separated from the current renovation space by a layer of drywall and insulation. As Michiel was clearing the renovation space — removing materials still attached to the wall, a well defined gap between the bottom of the drywall and our floor was revealed. It was just a gentle reminder that we are still fully entrenched in renovation mode — even as we are living in the same house — only separated by a wide wall (which will one day very soon be knocked down to connect both parts of the house).
We’ve made quite the advancement in preparing the main floor for the concrete pour next week. The long day of laying down tubes and attaching them to the mesh on the styrofoam floor is now complete. Now, onto the next phase of our project, which entails testing a stamp we purchased to give our concrete floors the look of slate or bedrock. It is a subtle design that will add a little texture, but also include a rustic, natural element to the light grey concrete floors.
As we are not experienced in concrete stamping, Michiel brainstormed the clever idea of diminishing any imperfections created by the pouring of the concrete, by stamping slight lines into the drying floors. We are hoping this mimicking-look will add more character to a home that has already accumulated its own unique traits from decades past.
Updates on concrete stamping is coming up on our next post in a few days. Stay tuned!
We wish our friends and family a good night and sweet dreams!
