Floors ... at last!

We finally had the floors installed downstairs and they look great. We had them installed on house II, but decided at the last minute to have part of the hardwood installed on house I.

We chose 2 1/4'' yellow birch in horizon grade (that's actually 3rd grade) from BSL (hardwood floor company from the Gaspe). This grade has knots in it, but that's okay because because the timbers also have knots in them, and the multihued daeker planks bring  out the hues in the knots of all the other wood finishing we have.

Yellow birch (as the name implies) has a nice yellowish hue that matches the Hermlock timbers. It's also cheaper than the other hardwood species.

The only thing left to do now is the bedroom whcih will be done with black cherry from our own woods.

Leveling the concrete

The concrete is poured directly on the ground and spread using a special rake. It's backbreaking work because the concrete is heavy and the areas involved large. Once evenly distributed, the concrete is smoothed using a special polisher. More bending and back breaking as they check for straightness using levels. You need an eye for a level floor to do a good job. Our floor came out very nicely, thank-you.

Concrete pour for slab

The snow also brought with it our concrete slab. The cement truck backed right up to the door and funneled the cement right into the house. The cement is then funneled to different parts of the floor using an interior chute.

The truck actually ended up making two trips. It couldn't hold enough to do the whole floor. Wish I'd known the capacity. I would have made some adjustments to the floor design and saved some money.

We protected the bottom of the posts and chimney from splatter using newspapers. Apparantly, the concrete stains the wood permanently becuae it is alkaline and corrosive. It's a messy job too. The concrete splatters when it hits the ground.

I was away at work, and Lisa had to go into Montreal to take care of some parental health matters later that morning, so she only got pictures of the beginning of the pour. Fortunately, Papa came buy later and got pictures of the workers finishing the job (to be posted later).

Plan for heated slab

It's almost time to pour the heated slab. Here's a footprint of the preparations for the slab. A previous post gives a nice overview of the foundation footprint.

Features include:

• A 4' perimeter of 2'' Styrofoam SM around the outside walls (light blue)
• A pantry area and storage area under the stairs which is to be unheated (dark blue)
  
• Manifold box (dark red)

Installation will include

• Compacted 1/2'' clear stone to fill the foundation
• 6 mm or thicker polyethylene vapor barrier
• 2'' Styrofoam SM
• Rebar grid to reinforce concrete and hold tubing in place
  
• 3 closed loop Pex tubing tied to rebar with plastic ties and attached to slab manifold
  
• 4'' poured concrete slab

References

• Slab on grade installation from Radiant floor heating company
• Radiant Heating: The Slab on Grade Installation - Video

Wall system

The wall system was proposed by William Lemaistre, the timber framer for this project; 8"Posts are supported by 10" sill beam.

The outside wall consists of a system of vertical trusses resting partially on the foundation, but mostly protruding out above the foundation. They held together by horizontal furring and anchored to the posts, sill beams, and rafter plates. The wall cavity is filled with blown cellulose insulation for and R-32 insulation value. Thick walls allow for deep windowsills, but will hang far over the foundation walls.

The frost wall is 8" thick and at least 16" tall. It is anchored and poured directly on the the impermeable rock of the building site and supports the load of the posts. 4" concrete or cinder-block pilasters support the load on the posts on the inside of the foundation. The foundation is filled on the interior by crushed stone and a top layer of sand to support a poured-concrete hydronic slab.

The frost wall is insulated on the outside by at least 6'' of polystyrene board and a finishing wall that will bring the below-ground wall system flush with the above-ground wall. The fill and the frost walls themselves act as heat sinks for the entire house and require R-Values higher than a standard foundation.

The sill system consists of 10'' thick by 6'' high beams that rest mostly on the frost walls, overlapping slightly with the pilasters and on the inside of the walls. The beams act as forms for the 4'' hydronic slab, providing extra R-14 insulation in addition to the R-32 wall system.