I say ‘modern’ with good reason. For much as we might bracket underfloor heating with the technology of today, it is amongst the oldest heating techniques we know of. We’ll leave the old-fashioned heap of burning wood aside from that assessment. The Romans, being among the most technically advanced cultures at the time, found themselves invading colder countries than they were used to. Acclimatised to the ripe indulgent stare of the sun back home, invading a dismal place like 1st century England brought much discomfort. Rome’s greatest minds thought long and hard to solve this problem.

By basically propping up their villas on large numbers of small columns, they created unseen space underfoot. Then, setting fires at specially designed apertures, the heat and smoke from the fires would heat the air. This continual warming from beneath kept the Romans snug as a bug in a rug despite predilection for cold clothes like togas and leather skirts whilst trying to bring theater to Wales.

Modern under floor heating is thankfully, a bit more up to date but uses the same idea. Heated elements under the floor – typically hot water pipes – circulate heat beneath your feet and thus make your home that bit less chilly.

A modern heating system has great advantages over other options. Most pertinently, most other sources of heat are generally mounted on the wall, like radiators, wall-heaters etc. Firstly, this means that they are raised off the floor. As heat rises, this means that your toes – which are susceptible to feeling the chill – never get the benefit. Secondly, much heat ends up heating the bricks instead of taking the chill out of the air. While your bricks are nice and warm you might be waiting an age to feel any warmth at all.

Luckily for the interested, installation is no longer a big engineering job. You can just ‘get a man in’, but also lots of self-installation tools that let the average Joe fit it themselves. So don’t fear the onset of winter chill – start looking into getting underfloor heating.

Erroll lives in Britain’s coldest house. Perishing even in summer thanks to its colossal brick stone walls, it plummets to approximately -67 with freezing regularity in the winter. Fortunately, he has tremendous underfloor heating systems installed, and consequently still has the use of all of his toes.

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Roman architects designed a central heating system called a hypocaust. The word, hypocaustum means “heat from below.” The raised floors were held up by short pillars and spaces beneath them and inside the walls were heated with the hot smoke and air from the fire chamber. Walls were fitted with ceramic box-shaped tiles that served as flues to channel the burned air and smoke to the outside, as well as to warm them. The more warmth needed, the closer to the hypocausts they were located.

It was a pretty expensive and labor-intensive method, so hypocausts were reserved for public baths and upper class villas. In about 25 B.C. Sergius Orata figured out how to cut down on the overhead by putting the male and female bathing rooms close to the hypocausts and right next door to each other.

Korean traditional architecture uses an Ondol. This underfloor heating method depends on direct heat transfer from a wood fire maintained underneath a thick floor made of masonry. From the central firebox or stove area, usually accessible from the kitchen or master bedroom, a system of horizontal channels spider out underneath the structure. A chimney on the opposite side of the building from the firebox ensures a decent draft system.

One of the Korean twists is that while traditional masonry is used for the channels and to support the thick floor, they added an additional layer of something impervious to smoke and fumes, such as layers of stone slabs, clay and oil paper. The system works well and is in used today in many of their buildings, notably in an orphanage.

When American missionaries discovered small children sleeping on pallets and babies sleeping in boxes on the floor, they went to great lengths to obtain thousands of cribs. Even after their arrival, the well-meaning folks were baffled to find the children were still sleeping on pallets and babies were still in boxes on the floor. Only after considerable questioning did they figure out that it was the best way to keep the little ones warm since the floors were warmed in the traditional manner.

Today’s furnaces and forced air ventilation systems provide the latest in safe, efficient central heating. Filters ensure that pollutants from the outside are kept at a minimum and the closed heat production part of the system either confines or eliminates any potentially toxic substances.

We’ve come a long way, but the level of comfort we enjoy today stands on the shoulders of some pretty smart cookies who lived a very long time ago.

Bardi Heating and Air conditioning specializes in Atlanta furnace repair and maintenance. They are a local, family owned company with a name you can trust. Bardi hvac technicians are equipped to handle repairs on any brand of equipment any time of day. To learn more their services please visit http://www.Bardi.com.

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What would you think if we said that a home could have:

* Heating bills 35%-60% less.

* Weather resistance that will stand up to hurricane force winds, and is rated to withstand earthquakes.

* The ultimate fire resistance insofar that some insurance companies decide to give a 20% (or more) discount on a homeowners’ policy.

* Healthy indoor air quality, essentially free from dust and pollen.

* A guarantee to never get dry-rot, or be infested by termites or carpenter ants.

* Recycled material components that save in average 15 trees per home when constructed.

* Reduced exterior wall sound transmission by more than 65% so barking dogs, lawn mowers, and even airplanes are reduced to a whisper.

* The most amazing thing of all, is that this technology is available right here, right now and it costs only a little more than a conventional wood built house.

The Magic of ICF’s……

The big secret that more and more builders, architects, engineers and homeowners are beginning to uncover is the new advances in concrete homes constructed using Insulating Concrete Forms (ICF) construction technology.

Insulating Concrete Forms are lightweight, highly durable foam blocks or forms composed of an expanded or extruded polystyrene, and recycled materials.

Raw plastic beads are molded into one of several basic form types. Some of these forms look like hollow blocks that you stack and interlock like big “Lego’s”. Others use panels that are held at a constant distance apart by a series of plastic ties.

Either way, the product is stacked in the shape of your home, reinforcing steel is placed inside, and concrete poured in between to create a solid, structural wall.

The Insulating Concrete Forms remain in place after the concrete sets, and function as thermal and acoustical insulation, an air and vapor barrier, and exterior wall sheathing. Your finished wall is basically 6″ +/- of reinforced concrete with 2″-3″ of dense foam insulation inside and out, resulting in a rock solid, 12″ thick, super-wall!

The integral, permanent insulation allows builders to construct ultra efficient walls in a fraction of the time required to build walls out of wood or steel studs.

How is an ICF Home Construction More Environmentally-Friendly?

In so many ways; ICF home construction reduces the consumption of energy. These are the most air-tight homes on the market. The concrete absorbs solar heat and slowly releases it so heat is distributed evenly throughout the home. The average energy consumption reduction is 35-60% below conventional wood frame houses. The houses use fewer natural resources to heat them and they will last quite literally for centuries.

ICF walls conserve forest resources and their energy efficiency reduces fossil fuel consumption. It’s estimated a 2,000 square foot home saves up to 15 large trees when compared to conventional construction. Concrete is inert, non-toxic, and produced from abundant natural and recycled material.

Lower noise from the outside world and the air exchange system all contribute to a more peaceful and healthy environment for the occupants of an ICF home.

Disadvantages of ICF construction:

Cost; expect to pay 5-10% more for an ICF home depending on where you live.Where ICF homes are popular the cost will probably be a little cheaper.

Even though ICF construction is very durable and Code approved, it might take a little extra time to get your plans through the building department (unless they are familiar with the particular system that you are using).

ICF construction requires subcontractors to do certain tasks differently. Wiring, heating, plumbing, and drywall will be different than in traditional construction. This might cause prices to be higher or occasionally, difficulty in finding sub-trades that have experience working in an ICF home.

The ICF industry is growing rapidly, and in the last few years we have completed projects in many different townships and municipalities. There are very few building departments left in Southern Ontario where they are not familiar with the ICF building process.

Summary:

* ICF homes are a superior system to wood framed or steel framed homes.

* Once the exterior walls are poured they are ready for finishing (on the inside and out).

* They are extremely durable and they don’t cost much more than a traditional framed home.

* Finding subcontractors may be a challenge, but if you are planning to live in your home for many years, ICF homes are the only choice to make.

Harvey Juric, ICF Consultant and CEO of ICFhome.ca is a custom home builder in southern Ontario. He has been in the home construction industry for the past 30 years performing a wide variety of tasks related to the building trades. As one of the pioneers of the Insulated Concrete Form industry, he formed ICFhome.ca to take advantage of, at that time, emerging new construction techniques that promised stronger and better and more energy efficient homes. For more information about the model home, Insulated Concrete Forms or Radiant Floor Heating contact ICFhome.ca by telephone 705 533-1633, e-mail info@icfhome.ca, or visit their web site at http://ontario-home-builder.com, http://hotwaterplant.com or http://insulated-concrete.com

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