While there are legitimate reasons why people do not like staight concrete floors, they can be made beautiful with colorful acid stains and are increasingly found in high end offices, hotels, and homes. Nothing surpasses them for enjoying radiant heat. Sure there have been some plumbing problems with copper pipe that reacted or leaked, so copper is not recommended in a slab. That is why pex is recommend and using pex there will be no such problems.
However, if someone wants radiant heat and prefers something other than a slab, I will provide a suggestion. I am basically an "out of the box" thinker. If I told you all the things I have done that "they" said couldn't be done, it would surprise you. However, I also have one foot still in the box. I can go check with that foot and it will tell me if my idea will work or if it won't. Sometimes that foot doesn't tell me for sure or give me a clear message, so I will go try my idea anyway. Some people are good at floating out imaginative but unworkable ideas, and people who have some common sense about what works can be a valuable resource for such people.
So let me suggest an "out of the box" idea that is very appropriate for this group --- a papercrete floor. Perhaps it has been mentioned before and thus it would be an "in the box" idea for this group. Some will appreciate the advantages of a papercrete floor immediately, while others will want to have some reasons, so I will list some:
1. A Papercrete Floor will still provide an excellent medium for radiant heat, somewhat less than a concrete floor due to the insulation value, but still acceptable.
2. It will provide more flexibility and give than a concrete or tile floor.
3 It will provide an excellent medium for acid staining or other creative finishes.
4 The mixture can be fine tuned to provide custom degrees of flexibility (which I call sponginess) vs. hardness. It can even be made to have more give in it than wood.
5 All the other usual advantages of papercrete: do it yourself, cheap, etc. There is no need to spend $10,000 on a custom floor when you can make it yourself.
One of the only downsides is that it will take time to dry, so don't close the windows and doors while it is doing so. :) Since the slab is usually the first thing done in construction, this should not be an issue.
Neal
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From: "Robert & Connie" <losee04@sprintpcs.com>
We looked at a drop-dead gorgeous adobe home w/floors made from road base. They looked good and thought I had hubby talked into that and outa slab. I hate slab! Can tell you nightmares of plumbing gone
bad in slab. But woe is me, Hubby's talking slab again.
Connie
