It's warming up around here!

With the warm weather last week, our new friend is now a single, rather than double snowman.  It is a little tough to tell, however he is still smiling!

At the end of last week the tubing for the radiant heat was laid down.  This will be our heat source when the passive solar design needs some help.

The second photo shows how the sunlight will be helping to warm our house.  Right now, that solar energy doesn't do much.  Once we have the gyp-crete (gypsum concrete) poured, and the tile laid down, that sunlight will heat the tile, which will hold onto that heat and release it after the sun goes down.
The gyp-crete is lighter than concrete, however it has the same compressive strength as concrete.
It also is quicker to lay down.

We will have four "zones" upstairs for heat.  So we can heat the areas of the house we are using, and not worry so much about areas we won't be using.
In floor heat takes a while to change temperature.  As such, we will lower the temperature for areas only when they aren't going to be used for hours, such as overnight.
Right now, we are looking at the later half of the week to pour the gyp-crete.  I am looking forward to seeing how that works.

Early this week we will have Patrick, from Building Knowledge out to test for week spots in insulation or other such issues so we can correct those while it is still relatively easy to correct.
This is a critical step, as it is far easier to correct these things now, rather than when the house is done!