I have a floor plan, an isometric dwawing and all the elevations of a
house I want to have built.  In order to make the plans complete I need
to find someone who can do or help me do the structural drawings.  Civil
engineering stuff like footing size, steel floor trusses, cathederal hip
roof design, etc.
 
The structure will be just under 1,600 sq. ft. and made out of concrete
and steel with a wood framed roof.  I would also consider steel framing
for the roof.  It will have some pasive solar heating and will be air
tight and energy efficent.
 
I have talked to a hand full of architects in the last half year while
we were conjuring the design. So far they all want to go back to step
one and charge about 8 to 10 grand for their services.  !Way! too much
and we have NO interest in retracing steps we've already taken several
times.  All my work is to scale and on CAD so I'd prefer to work with
someone who is CAD competent.
 
Know of anyone who I should contact?  U of M school of architecture?

25 responses total.

I don't know of anyone, but our house was designed by a graduate of the UM
School of Architecture and, well, ahem, they can't all be "A" students...
For one thing, the house is not bolted to the foundation...and other foibles
have come to light over time. Ask other people who might have contacts - like
your doctor, or dentist, for example. 

The sill plate on our current house isn't bolted to the basement either,
but than the house was built 40+ years ago.  That is more a question of
code and builder/inspector relationships.
 
Our Dr. is also looking for an architect and will most likely go with
the one we choose.  He's already decided to go with our foundation
contractor.  Tha's a whole nother story though...
 
I just went and visited Sunrise Architecture.  Our meeting went very well.
I was also surprise and saddened to learn that many of the codes relating to
energy efficency have been repealed!  As have some of the 96 codes for
things like stair design, etc.  Expect continued dependancy on foreign
energy  :(

Wayne Appleyard, at Sun Structures, is a well-established, solar-energy type
architect.  Has lots of satisfied customers he'd let you talk to, as well.

Yep.  We've talked to him.  I *think* we may have found one, though I won't
know for sure till we sign yet to be delivered paperwork.  I have a frined
who's also looking though so suggestions are still welcome.

We hired an architect last month, I'm happy to say.  They have even done
drawings using the Poly-steel forms we intend to use and know the local
rep. / contractor.  My efforts are now turning to other aspects of the
project.
 
Next on the agenda is the in-floor heating system.  My first concern is
what type of tubing to burry in the concrete floor?  The water that will
be circulating through this tubing will be at about 120 degrees F. at
a pressure of no more than 60 psig and typically about 15 psig.  It will
be a closed loop system in order to reduce contamination and so that 
anit freeze can be added.
 
The tubing should last "forever" since it is to be buried in concrete.
I've come across two basic types of tubing used for this application:
1) Reinforced rubber hose.  Very tough stuff that can tolerate a lot
of abuse during construction, before being covered in concrete.  2)
Partly crosslinked and fully cross-linked Polyethylene.  This stuff
is pretty hard and seems to kink easily.  However, this stuff is used
to line hazardous waste dumps that are required to hold together for
100 years or more.
 
I've gotten samples of the various tubing in question.  I'm temped to
go with the Polyethylene because it seems to be more inert than the
rubber.  The rubber tubing gives off a typical rubber oder while the
Ploy. is oder-free.  I've also seen rubber hose that is 30 to 40 years
old and I have doubts about having a couple thousand feet of the stuff
in my floors.  The Poly. is suppose to be very popular in Europe.
 
Anyone have any thoughts on this?  If I do decide to go with Poly-
ethylene, should I go with the fully or partly cross-linked stuff?
What's the difference between the two?  Would one be more susceptible
to O2 diffusion?  (The topic of O2 diffusion is another hotly 
contested subject in hot water heating systems.)

I don't know anything about this, but I am interested in what you learn and
deciede to do. Can you explain what O2 diffusion is?

Sure.  It's just O2 going through a material.  In days of yore, radiant floor
heating systems used copper pipe laid in the concrete.  This made this
type of heating quite expensive.  Copper also has the advantage of having a
very low O2 diffusion rate.  Plastics, on the other hand, have much higher
diffusion rates.  Since oxidation requires oxygen, and most radiant heating
systems have metal parts in them somewhere, rust can be a significant problem.
In what I have been reading, system that use cast iron parts don't have a
significant problem with this.  However, cheaper steel parts will rust and
can cause problems.  Pumps and boilers are where the most metal is used, BTW.
Also in heat exchangers.  Some tubing manufactures sell plastic tubing with
special O2 barriers to address this "problem"  Others have found no basis,
except cheap (steel) components used in systems, for O2 barriers.

There was an article in the A2 News on Sunday, Jan 26, about radiant heating.
G! - At Home section, front page. Local writer visited several local homes
with hydronic heat systems.  Buried in the article is a reference to a
European tubing which has a lifespan of 300 years and is subjected to
monitoring by lasers ultrasound and CAT scans before it leaves the factory.
(That's what she said.  Must be true.  I read it in the newspaper.) 
Anyway, this wonderstuff is named Pextron, apparenlty made by Stadler.
Might be worth checking out.  
She also reers to several  heating people and architects in the area who have
done a lot of work in this field.  (that's "refers" not "reers")

Yes!  I saw the article.  I found it quite informative in that it did
mention some local contractors and such.  D&C Plumbing is one of four
contractors on my list so far.  Two of the remaining people are outside
of the state.  I'll have to do a web search on "Paxtron" and "Stadler"
and see if I can't figure out what "Paxtron" really is.  By bet is that
it's some type of Polyethylene.  The article now resides in my hydronics
file ;-)

Unless there's a typo in the newspaper, you want to look for "Pextron", not
"Paxtron".

Duly note.

It has been a while since I have entered anything here.  The hydronic
heating issue is still up in the air but I have a couple of fall-back
positions if necessary.  At this point it looks as though I will be
laying the tubing, etc, and will have a heating contractor set the boiler
and connect it as required by code.  D&C Plumbing seems to have the
market on quality hydronic supplies.  I *think* I have found a contractor
who will work with me through a friend at work.  My time is running out:
We broke ground yesterday.

 Congratulations!

Time for an update!

We moved into this house last week.  I went with D&C Plumbing for the heating
system.  John Carpenter was a person who did the design.  He was very helpful
and came out several times to take pictures and answer questions.  I
understand that he will be breaking out on his own soon.  I went with Stadler
Paxtron tubing to carry the hot water.  This is a PEX product with a vapor
barrier to keep oxygen out.  Stadler is a trusted name in Europe so I figured
they had the experience in these types of systems that I was looking for. I
installed the entire system myself.  About a year after I made my selection,
the Wall Street Journal ran an article on radiant floor heating system that
were leaking and wrecking havoc for their owners.  The faulty tubing was
rubber hose offered by Heatway.  I had dismissed it because I could smell the
rubber outgassing on a sample I had asked Heatway to send me.  This fiasco
gave radiant heating a bad name in general, it seems to me.

My heat source turned out to be a fancy domestic hot water heater with a
built-in heat exchanger.  The hot water for the floor heating system comes
of the heat exchanger.  Three circulator pumps, each on its own thermostat,
circulate the water through three zones.  Each zone has from two to three
loops.

The heat is very nice.  The floors are barely warm to the touch.  Our solar
plans worked out quite well too.  On sunny days, the heating system does not
run, even if it's 0 F out.  Typical heat gain in the house raises the
temperature from 5 to 10 F.  The house is also quite comfortable with the
thermostat set at 65 F.

I don't quite follow.  If it is 0 out and heat gain is 5-10 degrees, how is
your house staying at 65?  Are you talking about heat gain as something
different from solar gain?  

We had the thermostat set at 60 while we were building so the heating
system kicks in below 60. The house will get up to 70 on a sunny day due
to solar gain.  Does that answer your question?

Our house has gone up from its baseline level of 42 to 75 on a sunny day with
no other heat added if we open the doors to the sunporch.
  But since there is little mass it drops again pretty quickly.  You have a
lot more mass.

Yes, we do have a lot more mass but I find that the heating system kicks
in at about midnight to keep the temperature from going below the set
point.  It was delayed a bit after we moved in and started using the
accordion blinds after sunset.  (They have a series of little horizontal
air spaces when you let them down, increasing the effective R value of
the windows a little.)

We worked on shelving for the root cellar.  There will be close to 100
sq. ft. of shelving when we are done.  The temperature in the root
cellar is 45 right now.  The refrigerator is 40.

Most of our lighting is still incandescent. I will be modifying reflectors
I got at Property Disposition so that we can use compact fluorescents
instead of flood lights in our recessed fixtures.  I really like the
recessed lighting.  There is no glare off the fixture, just light where
you want it.  The light tube in the bathroom also works *very* well!
(A light tube is nothing more than a reflective stove pipe the pipes
light from the outside to the inside.  The top of this tube is fitted
with a 12" dia. clear polycarbonate dome.  The bottom, inside the house,
is fitted with a trim ring and a plastic diffuser to spread out the light.)

How is this different from a long thin skylight?

The Philips "Earthlight Universal 75" is short enough for our recessed
fixtures without modification. 

The light tube is just that.  It looks like a slim light fixture from
the inside and there is what looks like and upside down salad bowl on
the roof.  Ours is 10" in diameter and lights our 5' X 12" bathroom
very well.  A skylight is a window in the roof.

Is the Earthlight Universal the size of a standard floodlight bulb?
Where did you get it?

Wow, a 12" bathroom. That is sure economy of space. 

Home Depot, last December. It has 3 U-shaped tubes in parallel. It
projects ca. 5" from the back plate of the receptacle. 

Yes, it was a squeeze getting the vanity, sink, head, and 2' X 4' shower
in there! ;-)

Okay, I have seen those lights there but my light cans have no reflectors
in them.  They were designed for flood / spot light bulbs.  They sell
a compact fluorescent flood light, with integral reflector, ($25 ea!)
but it is too long and protrudes from our fixtures.

My can has no reflector either. But I am surprised at the high level
of illumination from the one over the sink. I was thinking of lining
the can with aluminum foil, but it really isn't needed. However you
might try that. 

I found a bunch of brand new can reflectors, at PD for $1.25 ea., that
I can cut to use as very nice reflectors.  I just need to do it :-/ The
project for today is to install the dryer that I converted for LP last
night.

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