42.1 Concrete Floor Pour with Radiant

It was time to pour our concrete floor.
Thanks to Doug Dysert and his crew (David, James, Chavo, Bryce, et al.) from www.dysertconcr...
If you want to know more about our project, check out www.homeintheearth.com.
If you want to catch up to where we are now, you can look us up on Facebook at / homeintheearth

[@michaelprevot2020]

I love these videos. I've been following this project for years now.

[@akhra846]

I cant wait to see the finished house!! I love unconventional construction.

[@chas2can124]

I have been watching this build for years! As a Civil Engineer I am humbled by your efforts. I hope the YT algorithm gets this info. Keep up the work mate - from Australia.

[@jonathancook4022]

I think its wonderful of your local Church to lend you those heaters!

[@Mrcaffinebean]

I bet having real floors feels like a huge moment. Love following this project!

[@scottmorgan3879]

NICE... I watch every episode. The videos are at a glacial speed like all my projects. But Insta shows me that you and your family are rockin it! Love the videos. Keep them coming.

[@juliemell2959]

It looks great. Makes it seem a lot closer to being finished

[@sgtcarroll]

Awesome to see the flooring going in! Been following for years and I always love when an episode comes out.

[@elliotazus6258]

Great Simon, A huge milestone behind you! Thank you for sharing. God bless you and family!!

[@ThatTechGuy123]

"Oh yeah, all coming together" Kronk from empire's new groove

[@kevinwilliams8662]

Enjoying the show

[@jennetichi9551]

Wow! Looking great! I get soo excited when I see a new video from you. I love to see the updates and know that you are progressing forward on your build.

[@nothandybutcheap2086]

Must be exciting to be getting close love your house it is brilliant

[@fabiancbarrio]

Thanks, very interesting!

[@rsmith2786]

Really coming along! The cold on the propane tanks is really governed by the heat of vaporization more than the ideal gas law. Cold all the same. Nice work and thanks for sharing your awesome project with us!

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

Yup, several things going on there. I just don't have time to get into all of it. There is the latent heat of vaporization, but that is actually fairly low for propane (not as high as for water). The ideal gas law describes the majority of the deltaT in this case. You just keep the volume the same and lower the pressure in the tank (as the tank empties) and you see the deltaT drops.

[@rsmith2786]

@@SimonHomeintheEarth But the pressure in the tank (vapor pressure C3H8 - based on temp) remains essentially constant as long as there is liquid present. It's only at the very end that the pressure drops. That's why you can't tell how full a cylinder is based on pressure, and weight is typically used instead.

[@toddincabo]

Congratulations, major accomplishment. That has to be a load off. Way to go man!

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

Yup, having a concrete floor (no dirt anymore) really makes a huge difference to a home.

[@RobertWiggers]

I always love these vids.

[@louchat333]

Very cool. I want one.

[@richardheinen1126]

Great video!!! That crew did a lot of work in a short amount of time!!!

[@richleyden6839]

nice progress

[@andrewblack5911]

Concrete Avengers... Assemble 😜

[@MrMOCENT]

such a long time coming but it is looking amazing

[@ebjamville]

Nice one.

[@Krakkel]

Looking good!

[@jim9520]

Very, very, very impressive. I all ways look forward to the next view.

[@stevencrawford9576]

Looks nice!

[@BorisFett]

Looks great. Thanks for filming this.

[@jesscneal]

Floors look great.

[@hubertdaugherty8986]

Our concrete home was done using the “Mexican concrete pump” method. Wheel barrows and compressed air mortar sprayers take a long time. But the job gets done.

[@toddfriley9373]

Can’t wait to see the next one!!

[@donalddixon8916]

Outstanding I’ve been absolutely amazed

[@samiam7]

Love seeing the progress!

[@LucidTactics]

Simon, i'd love it if you do a video on some of the engineering. Esp roof and wall loads. I'm thinking about doing a earthship style home - though without the tires and including your implementation of the thermal umbrella. Was considering compressed earth blocks for the structure with insulation on all floors and walls that dont have 6-10 feet of earth between them and the environment. I'm pretty sure I dont want earth on the actual roof, instead - just 3 sides and the bottom, but im not sure what kind of loads the walls would need to take from having earth against it. (CEBs have pretty good compressive loads but not sure about lateral). Anyways, would just love to see how you thought through your house! (even though i know you over engineered the hell out of it)

[@bdmenne]

great work Everybody

[@BelieveTruthDisbelieveFallacy]

Love your updates, keep 'em comin' :)

[@ihateoutube]

Great update!

Nice work!

[@FrankLadd]

Great job! Thanks!

[@thegenerousdegenerate9395]

Good stuff,. I've really been enjoying this series.

[@MrRonwroblewski]

nice work!

[@OhioCoastie94]

So very, very cool

[@metzicrowden8218]

Good job

[@joeshepley151]

its looking good!!

[@TheMidnightModder]

1 for the interactions

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

Thanks. I didn't understand the comment at first, but now I do. Gota feed that algorithm. ;)

[@buildingbrenham]

I'm assuming the floor will be polished and stained so you have a chance to patch those drip holes. It's going to be awesome!

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

Polishing the floor was the original plan. We got quotes, etc. However, the current plan is leaning towards putting tile over the concrete instead. This was driven by advice from the concrete crew.

[@BenKoren]

@@SimonHomeintheEarth Why did the concrete crew advise against the polished route?

[@jims1201]

@@SimonHomeintheEarth seriously... you should consider staining the floor (either acid stain... or die based.... both can produce deep color and mottled transparent qualities which are beautiful)..... but the KEY is the sealer. Do not use any conventional sealer.... they are crap! Use a natural oil that soaks into the concrete and polymerizes making a permanent vapor barrier (both from vapor moving upwards from the ground through concrete and from water spills and leaks moving downwards through the slab). The easy way to go (and my recommended) is simply to buy the product waterlox which is modified tounge oil.... dries much faster.... and seal with it. I've done my last two homes completely (all floors) with waterlox.... and it's amazing! The manufacturer does not market as concrete sealer.... but they do have experience w it being used as such. I can pour a gallon of water on my floor before I go to bed and what doesn't evaporate in the evening will still be there in the morning. Soak it up w towel and floor is completely dry immediately. If you have hydraulic pressure (hydrostatic) from significant water moving and pushing against slab.... i.e. down hill hydraulic in a basement.... this is not a solution for those kinds of forces..... those can even affect structural integrity.... you must fix those problems at source... not treat symptoms. Also.... waterlox (orig formulation) creates an incredible shine that is long lasting .... And if you want an even higher shine you can go to a higher gloss formulation for the last coat or the last 2 Coats and it will be incredibly glossy and look like polished concrete. The very nice thing about that very high Polish for the last few Coats is that because most of this soaks into the concrete and only the final coat really provides that gloss, it really does look and feel like polished concrete because it is all integral in the concrete. If there ever was a need for renewing the finish.... you simply add 1 additional coat and because of the way that it polymerizes and bonds, there is almost no preparation aside from making sure there are no waxes or soaps on the floor and you simply add an additional coat and let it cure and your good as new. In the 10 years since my 1st floor was done this way, I have never had to refinish even on high traffic areas.

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

@@jims1201 This flatwork crew is one of the crews that gave me a quote for the polishing, so they do know both sides of the business. And we had them trowel it expecting to come back for the polish phase (so they would do a good job for themselves). They had two issues. First, they never like polishing when there are radiant tubes. I tried to mitigate that concern by making sure the rebar was on top of the radiant, but they say they have still had trouble and found pex close to the surface when they did their polish pass. The tube can be repaired by cutting out that section of floor, but you can't hide the repair. Second, there was one area (the first part of the living room that they did) where you can see lines from the rebar. This is a case where the rebar is below the concrete, but close enough that the troweling pushed the aggregate away from the rebar. They say that if we polish, we should expect to see rows where there isn't aggregate above that rebar. The third issue is that the cost of tile is cheaper than the cost to polish, and money is getting tight lately (personal life issues)...

[@TheMarathonMama]

love it. so interesting

[@1grandpappy684]

I was expecting you to grab a sawzall to cut out the pipe for the heat. Then you made the comment about the subway for critters. You're right! Turning the vent pipe into a screen is an awesome idea.

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

I'll confess I drilled the first hole so I could get the end of the saw in there ;) But then I immediately changed my plan when I saw how cleanly it drilled.

[@BasedBidoof]

very cool

[@ofmiat4693]

Work on this proof of concept is going very well, when do you break ground on the real house?? 😁😉😂

[@ForbiddTV]

With such a high thermal mass of your house, have you had enough experience with it yet to see if it would have been beneficial to include some heating tubes in the walls or ceilings? If you sit in your radiant floor heat concrete home near a wall, do you feel a chill by sitting there for some time? It would be very interesting for you to do some testing with your infrared camera on this, especially if it's sensitive enough to see the tubes in the floor.

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

Ceilings are not usually done because of the whole, "heat rises" thing. Yes, you get some radiant independent of that, but it is less effective. Walls are just a bit too much hassle. Maybe if I did this a few more times, I'd give it a try. I am expecting that the heat radiating from the floors will go into the walls and then be trapped there by the exterior insulation. I have not yet run the system long enough for that to happen yet. I just do short bursts while we are out there for the evening.

[@JakeOfALL]

Love it

[@fintan3563]

Amazing how they can pour concrete in 11 degree weather.

[@TheKajunkat]

you know those concrete guys are gonna be talking about this pour for awhile. "Remember when we did that hobbit house?" haha

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

Two of the guys (Chavo and David) said this wasn't their first one. They had done several houses like this. (well, maybe not exactly like this ;) They were very familiar with the concept, the shotcrete, etc. They told me about the "Mexican shotcrete pump" which is basically a bunch of Mexicans slapping up concrete by hand ;)

[@wigglewiggle3789]

Watering the slab only works if you can completely submerge the slab for about a week. About 1 to 2 inches deep. Really doesn't add a lot of strength, but helps with shrinkage and surface cracking. Slab looks good though. Good gang of concretors.

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

Hydration is better than no hydration, even if it is water soaking in 5 gallons at a time, several times a day. This is called "moist cured" and I kept it up for about a week and then dropped to once a day after that. And yes, it is very easy to find charts showing that the compressive strength of concrete is significantly increased (as much as doubled) by "moist-curing" I'll add a link showing the "moist cured" compressive strength reaches more than 125 MPA, vs the "in air" cure strength of 60 MPA. www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in%2Fenergy%2Fwater%2Fpaper%2Fdrinkingwater%2Fwellsconstruction%2Ffig139.gif&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in%2Fenergy%2Fwater%2Fpaper%2Fdrinkingwater%2Fwellsconstruction%2Fappendix4.html&tbnid=UqrKHtDMeeAwmM&vet=12ahUKEwjuiKTU8cXsAhVORawKHSNDBI8QMygWegUIARDOAQ..i&docid=TjSGcSoJ9NMXnM&w=846&h=568&q=wet%20cured%20concrete%20strength&ved=2ahUKEwjuiKTU8cXsAhVORawKHSNDBI8QMygWegUIARDOAQ

[@wigglewiggle3789]

@@SimonHomeintheEarth If you can keep the slab continually moist, then yes. The best way to cure concrete after it has set is under water. That is a given. I worked 12 years in the concrete industry and am technically trained in concrete. And I will say this, your video was amazing with the detail you went into about concrete. I don't know if you laid 60mpa, if so that is overkill (personally I don't believe in overkill with concrete, I never use 20 or 25mpa for any concrete, minimum I use is 32mpa), but with higher strengths also comes issues and then you can get into flyash or slag percentages of the cemetitious in the concrete. But if you can keep the slab continually moist that is a good thing. But it has to stay completely continually moist. Awesome vid.

[@alanr745]

This house just oozes coolness. Sorry for the pun Simon. 😁 Great update and commentary. This would not be near as interesting if you didn’t include the engineering input.

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

I just can't resist some geekiness. You should see how much I leave out. ;)

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

I'll save all that for the book.

[@randydueck889]

That looked like a huge pour - how man cubic yards/meters? With the pump, you got it done all in one shot. Nice.

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

I forget, but it was several mix trucks, so over 20 cubic yards.

[@SandyWalsh]

Love the project, but you need a better microphone and a pop filter.

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

I actually got a Blue Yeti, so I thought I was all set. It is certainly better than my headphones (from over a year ago), but people say it is too quiet. When I up the gain on the mic, I get the issues in this video. I guess I just don't talk loud enough for regular gain. Maybe I can learn to talk closer, but then I need to watch my plosives. Maybe that is where the pop filter comes in... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Its a process.

[@TheMidnightModder]

And are there any updates on about how long until you'll be able to move your furniture into this home and live in it?

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

We are hoping that we are in the final stages now. I'd like to move in next spring/summer. But the world is an unpredictable and crazy place lately.

[@TheMidnightModder]

@@SimonHomeintheEarth I wish you the best of luck man! This has been a huge project for y'all

[@mmac4047]

No expansion joints or crack elimination joints? Are you putting tiles or something else for the finish surface? Nice work how will you seal the perimeter joint interface?

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

They did come back and cut sections to control the cracks, but that was a few days later, after the cameras were off. Originally, I wanted to polish the concrete, but the crews we asked for bids all refused when they saw that there was pex tube in the floor, even though it was under the rebar. So we are putting down tile instead... Actually, the tile is mostly in now.

[@michiganengineer8621]

Dang, this one slipped past, obviously! I'm guessing you had your radiant tubing air pressurized rather than liquid filled since you were expecting a "noise" if one of the crew broke a line? Hindsight is wondering if you had a water heater available and a pump to feed the radiant floor system if the flooring would have cured quicker than it did.

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

I have heard of people putting water in the tubes to weight them down during the pour (air filled tubes sometimes float up and end up too close to the surface), but all the official sources (including building code) have you pressurize the system with air during the pour so that you can definitely tell if you got a leak. Running hot water thru these may have helped the cure, but we would want it to cure quicker. Slow cure is best, we just wanted to avoid freezing before it cured. To get that done, I would have needed to get all the pumps and manifolds setup and then keep them safe during the pour. Doable, but I wasn't up for it at the time.

[@thenax8662]

How long do you think the whole build is going to be. Till its finnished?

[@namAehT]

Are you planning on using the radiant floor for cooling in the summer as well? I know you mentioned that you'll be using it to sort of "equalize" the floor temperature throughout the house.

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

I'll use it to absorb excess heat and spread it around. However, if you use radiant for cooling, you need a sophisticated thermostat system to make sure you keep it above the dew point. You can't just run cool water thru the floor or you will get condensation.

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

Thinking about this some more and it may be fun to try in a sort of manual way at some point, just to see/film what happens. I could just try running cold water (straight from the well, so 55 degrees F) thru the floor as a rapid cool down if it ever gets hot for some reason. Not sure if I'll ever need it. This past summer, without AC and still with plastic on the windows and no insulation over that central roof, it never got above 71 in there. We had 95 degrees outside and it stayed pretty comfortable inside. If I ever got AC, it would be for the dehumidification, and radiant for cooling can't help with that.

[@mmac4047]

O ya - I hope your planning on concrete countertops and a wood fired pizza oven.

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

We considered the concrete counters, but my wife wanted quartz. The wood fired pizza oven is a definite maybe though. I used to have one years ago and used it regularly.

[@mmac4047]

@@SimonHomeintheEarth you know most commercial quartz is just screened rock, sand and epoxy or polyester resins? Unless your getting diamond cable sliced basalt. How are you managing water migration over time, do you have drain tube / drain tiles?

[@1STGeneral]

My interaction 👍

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

My response... Thanks ;)

[@williamryder9785]

Capt America know you are using his shield?

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

We had three of them, but he borrowed one of our shields. Then we had to use plywood...

[@JohnCasale]

What was the bill for this concrete floor? I imagine it was astronomical.

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

3$ per square foot... I was pretty happy. Those guys worked hard for their money.

[@JohnCasale]

@@SimonHomeintheEarth wow!! That's not bad at all!

[@arrangemonk]

whyt are you going to do about those splats? ignore?

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

The 2nd one is under where a closet will be (that overhead pipe comes down into a closet so it isn't seen), so I'll totally ignore that one. The other one will be sorted out when we take care of the floor (either polish it away or tile right over it.) The cement is 4 inches thick, a little 1/8th inch deep circle isn't too big of a deal. ;)

[@spacewalkers2121]

Concrete hardens for about 60 years, then degrades for ~60 years... (not 1000...)

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

Nope. Concrete gets most (70%) of its strength the first 7 days. Then about 95% by day 28 (this is considered design strength). Then it hardens a little bit more each day for forever. The only degradation is with the rebar if water and oxygen get to it. Not sure where you got your info, but look it up again for yourself. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@spacewalkers2121]

@@SimonHomeintheEarth If it would harden for forever than the stregth would be infinte, which is impossible. But all this does not realy matter, because the concrete without rebar is not really great (only of compression), so if the rebar fails the whole system fails. --> Therefore are the rules for min concrete cover, max porosity, waterproofing, etc Other than that, the design life of the normal buildings is 50 years, for bridges 100 years and in normal applications you are not allowed to take into account the post hardening of the concrete. (and would not make any sense, since we have 1.5 safety factors for live loads...)

[@ForbiddTV]

@@spacewalkers2121 My senior structural engineer for my underground barrel vault tells me concrete will also continually shrink over time, making my building slightly smaller as it ages!

[@rongonzalez1303]

concrete does NOT get harder for thousand's of year's!!! If mixed correctly it continue's to get harder for aprox. 90 year's then it start's to deteriorate for the next 90 year's!!! Time in video: 7:50

[@SimonHomeintheEarth]

Pretty much every structural engineer, including those who study roman concrete, will tell you that it gains strength continuously forever. I'll toss a link at the end of this, but it is just the first from my google search. Show me a study that meets your claim that it goes up for 90 and then down for 90. Of course, we don't mean it continues to add strength at the same rate. The first 7 days are the most important, getting the concrete to 65%. Then it gets to 99% by 28 days. And then it just very slowly increases beyond that gaining smaller and smaller amounts of extra strength each year... Here is the first link, but you can find hundreds more that all say the same thing. theconcretenetwork.co.uk/how-long-does-concrete-take-cure/ If you see concrete degrading after 90 years, that is because of other issues such cracks letting corrosion have access to the rebar, which then expands and tears the concrete apart. My structure is protected from moisture or I would have other problems inside long before the rebar rusted.

[@ima6leaker]

Looking good!