The latest on our mixed use retail and loft apartment in Logan Square, which will be available for residential and commercial tenants come Spring. The ides of March find us with freshly installed radiant floor heating, tankless water heater and the roof off in preparation for our second floor residential addition. As you can see in our time lapse, our concrete floor has been poured, housing beneath it our radiant heating system.
WHY WE LOVE RADIANT FLOOR HEATING
We like radiant floor heating for a variety of reasons, mainly that we find it to be a more comfortable form of heat, due to its proximity to people. It also has the advantage of not blowing around air like forced air heating methods, which can aggravate allergies for occupants. It can also cut down or eliminate lost energy through the mitigation of duct losses, making it potentially more efficient than its analogous neighbors.
Our radiant tubing is 7/8″ PEX, which are thinner but larger, enabling them to radiate more heat
Sun streams through the open roof at our Diversey mixed use project, Logan Certified
Our tankless water heater consists of two chambers, one for the residential portion of the first floor, and one for the radiant heating. Doing away with the tank ups efficiency by effectively cutting out the middle man (the tank), which needs to be heated throughout the day in case someone might need hot water and want it “now.” We planned the radiant tubes to not be under walls, to keep them from getting punctured during construction.
PROBLEM SOLVING = BETTER SOLUTION
Even the best laid plans need to be flexible in case of unexpected rerouting, especially in architecture. We discovered some beams where the courtyard was supposed to be built, so we had to rework how the new walls were framed. One of the beams will form a roof overhang framing the windows. Overhangs are beneficial in passive heating and cooling. Throwing some shade over a window on a summers day can make a serious difference in how high you want to crank the a/c.
Sketches of how the beam will serve as an overhang for windows
We’re still on schedule for a May 2017 finish date, which we couldn’t be more excited about. Spring in Chicago is pretty lovely, but Spring in the square? That’s something else!
View from above atop the roof
