Insulated Concrete Slab with Radiant Heating | Max Maker Dream Workshop Ep.4

[@JSTARandom]

I read a lot of comments written by experts in these areas, so I just want to mention that there are also teenagers watching and enjoying this. I learnt a lot through your videos, and even if I probably never need this knowledge, I love it.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Glad you enjoyed it! I started watching DIY videos around 2008 when I was a teenager. I learned so much from people like Jimmy Diresta, SV Seeker or Matthias Wandel.

[@Tyler-789]

Jimmy Diresta is the man!

[@von1477]

@@MaxMakerChannel ah matthias is the goat!

[@renevile]

a super good tip i got when i started building on radiant floors is, buy a cheap thermal camera, with that you can easily see where the heatpipes are. i have ~8-10cm of concrete above my pipes and i can easily locate the pipes within 2-3 cm. that way you can always be 100% shure not to hit any pipes now or in the future if you ever want to bolt something to the floor.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

I got one of those, but I also just bought a wall scanning radar that can detect pipes, steel and cables. Not sure if I will be able to see these pipes with the thermal camera because they are 12cm deep.

[@renevile]

@@MaxMakerChannel you can't see the pipes directly but you can clearly see a temperature gradiant between the pipes and the gaps between the pipes and infer where the pipes are. i can clearly see mine in the livingroom under 8-10 cm of concrete with 10mm laminate floor and 2mm sound absorbing foam and moisture barrier above. at work i sometimes use a thermal camera to search for leaking pipes under ~30cm floor (30mm), insulation (50mm) and sand (20-25cm)

[@dinocat8]

Grown up lego looks very fun!

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Its fun for the first 15 pieces. After that its just physical work. This building site is at the coast and at the top of a hill. So far it was always windy when I was there. That is fairly unpleasant. We also had a very cold April. Only on the day where we installed the insulation it was suddenly to warm. Heiko from Jackodur told me that installing Jackodur in summer when the sun is out is extremly hot because it reflects the sunlight so much. In summary, I am looking forward to working indoor soon!

[@dinocat8]

@@MaxMakerChannel could have monetized it! Want to play with big legos? Book your time and come over! You rake the ticket money, people have fun for 15 minutes, your insulation gets done 😄

[@deleted_handle]

​@@dinocat8 500IQ lol

[@demris15]

Don’t make a mistake though or you might be f’d

[@WladimirGalkin]

@@MaxMakerChannel По XPS летом даже в закрытом помещении ходить жарко, так что вы всё правильно сделали. И да: лучшее отопление это утепление😁

[@TheTrueRandomness]

This is my favorite series on YT right now! It's great to get a close up view of German/European construction techniques!

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@inkrpen]

It is very nice to see something built that is so efficient and uses all of the knowledge we have to make it the best you can!

[@SA-76234]

Well you are the definition of what the saying here in the USA “German Quality”. Looks fantastic and very thought out. You should be very proud. And I am sure you are. Thanks for sharing.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Thank you! I am very happy with the built so far, but its also a bit worrying to spend this kind of money.

[@ryanoverlay4592]

@@MaxMakerChannel Are you comfortable sharing the total cost at the end of the project or is that too private?

[@SA-76234]

Well you built it to last and that will save you money in the end.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Its estimated to about 800.000€. 200 of that is the property alone.

[@madmax]

19:57, that was trippy, looked like the pipe was growing.

[@alexaandrei7884]

Water level going down !

[@gunnerschwieterman6383]

@@alexaandrei7884I think he knows that a water drain drains water😂😂

[@asztapaszta9]

I am amazed how confidently you handle the construction process, most people would just hire a project manager. I am an architect and I dream of building my own house one day, so I find your videos very inspirational. Thanks for sharing!

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Thanks for watching! Its not as difficult as you might think and I doubt a project manager would do a good job when his or her money isn’t on the line.

[@tbillington]

Very interesting construction methods. Totally different to anything I've seen built here in Australia.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

I keep watching videos from all over the world! I learned through KZbin that a lot of what is custom in construction is only due to local regulations. For example nobody in Germany has concrete driveways, but in the US, they are everywhere.

[@mitchell6679]

Great job, really well made video too. I like how much of a straight forward person you are, no BS when being asked about costs for example. Would love to see this in person. Warm regards from the Netherlands

[@sinphony9835]

I am LOVING this series, Max! I also love the longer video format! Looking forward to more in the future.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Will do! Thanks for watching!

[@joshuabrown8550]

Very much looking forward to the final shed video! Saw the short and excited to see the longer version!

[@samuelbeckett4632]

Thanks; really appreciate the detailed explanations for all the various processes. Looking forward to seeing it all completed 👍

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Thanks for watching!

[@Audrey.SmilingSticks]

Thanks again for taking us along with your process - really enjoying this series! 😎

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Thanks for watching!

[@Lexaire]

This project has been amazing to watch! Thank you so much for sharing it!

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Thank you for watching! I get very nice comments like yours, but the views are small compared to my other videos.

[@fluffyredfox9226]

Laying the slab is always an exciting part of building. its funny seeing that your plot is the only one with development.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Yes, I am glad that its done now. Ther were so many steps and planning that went into the slab and now its set in stone. So the conrete is out of my mind.

[@mrJakestetler]

I’ve wanted to build a place with radiant in floor heat since the 90’s. Thanks for sharing your progress. It’s an inspiration.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

I think it has only advantages. Hope you get to build it!

[@Kapil-Patel]

Always exciting to see a notification from you Max, thanks for sharing. Amazing build ! 👍🏽

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Thanks for watching!

[@joshvmcconnell]

Fantastic. I love the foam / foundation solution. Also the radiant floor manifold you are using, I frequently see one manifold for both hot and cold *cries*,

[@LuckyRubb3rDucky]

Wow, just wow! I wish we had this level of construction in the USA! That foundation looks like it will last forever. Truly amazing engineering overseas.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

The US construction is certainly cheaper upfront. Its a different way of thinking. Not necessarily bad. Right now we have a housing crisis here. But the requirements for new construction stay very high. The 25k that I payed for planning permits would be the same for a regular home.

[@bixou69]

Never had issues with pex tubing in switzerland, that was weird. And they mostly work with german products like geberit which is great quality.

[@jairo.cabello]

Max, thank you so much for your effort making the videos. They are enjoyable to watch and inspiring to see! Looking forward for the rest of the series. I can't imagine how special it will feel to you to enter the building the very first time you have a roof :)

[@MaxMakerChannel]

I am excited too. I have no idea how the space will be from the inside. I looked at my model using VR goggles but without furniture its just a box.

[@AnarchyEnsues]

Hot tip. If you want to drill into a radiant floor, turn the floor on, and use a thermal camera to see where the pipes are.

[@darthrevan4933]

Pun intended?

[@chrispy3866]

Happy to see a new full length video. Coming along well! It must be VERY expensive!

[@MaxMakerChannel]

I like to make full length, but this workshop series gets very little clicks so far. The build is expensive for sure. Before the pandemic it would have been so much cheaper!

[@MarekVacek]

​@@MaxMakerChannel Make these videos shorter and post more of them more regularly. I know you want to keep it information-dense and informative, but more of shorter videos are just much better for monetisation.

[@kokonokov]

Great progress. Very interesting series, I drop everything and watch every single video as soon as I see its been uploaded.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Thanks for watching! I really appreciate the community.

[@Tomniverse]

Fascinating series

[@Mountain-Man-3000]

That concrete polishing was crazy!

[@kameljoe21]

Super! I like that foam boarder. That is quite cool. Watering and keeping the concrete cool is really key to preventing the concrete from curing too fast. I have a plan for this by setting up special sprinklers system to do this. We want to do the polished finish concrete as well stained and a coating to seal it. I look forward to see the connection between the foam "curb" and the finished wall along with the joints for the doors and their connecting sidewalks outside.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

A sprinkler would be great for this. Especially now that you can get those cheap controllers that turn them on every few hours. This slab is a bit to large for sprinklers. I would have needed at least 4 of them. The building sits directly on the edge of the concrete and there is flashing that starts behind the wall panels and overlaps over the foam edge.

[@cookedaudio]

That foam system is pretty neat. Looks like you are doing a good job!

[@TajulIslam-ei7gd]

This is beautiful. I'm not a part of this trade, and this video has been a great insight.

[@harrie205]

The concrete surface looks very nice

[@celo2043]

Thank you for sharing this process! It's so interesting and educational, I love it!

[@AllanElkaim]

I really enjoy your videos, can't wait for the next one !

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Thanks for watching!

[@ihass22]

It's so interesting to see the difference between how Europe builds vs how American builds

[@jrisner6535]

This is not a standard European build

[@ihass22]

@jrisner6535 than what is it cus it's not American that's for sure

[@jrisner6535]

@@ihass22 It's top ten percent European I guess

[@ihass22]

@@jrisner6535 so you don't even know and said I was wrong

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Standard in Europe is to add insulation on top of the slab and then another 8cm of low strength concrete ontop of that. So the radiant heat and cables would all sit underneath that top concrete layer. That is better for noise decoupling since the top concrete floats on insulation.

[@alfa0mega74]

I searched for exactly this kind of video for a very long time. this is a true dream shop. please update just like this video. the details are really nice to watch

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Glad it helps you!

[@alfa0mega74]

@@MaxMakerChannel is there any cracks on the concrete? pls keep the videos coming. this is some high quality german stuff. there is no similar video on youtube. it will catch probably 1m views soon

[@alfa0mega74]

my biggest question, that foam thing, will it shrink in time? I mean one part of the building will be tons a lot havier, will it make any uneavenness in 20*30 years?

[@MaxMakerChannel]

@@alfa0mega74 None yet! And the roof is up!

[@MaxMakerChannel]

@@alfa0mega74 Who knows?

[@thomasalison6188]

Really impressive project, great job Max!

[@norwaybirds3015]

Hi from Australia 🦘 That is absolutely amazing! Congratulations. Great tips and amazing skills. Thank you

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Put another Shrimp on the barbie!! Thanks for watching!

[@MissyBeeeee]

Great update video! Very entertaining but also educational.

[@marty3194]

Its always crazy to see how many ways there are to do this. Over here we start with the concrete, put insulation on top of it and then do the radiant heating. Over the radiant heading we put reinforced screed

[@MaxMakerChannel]

We do the same here in residential buildings. The upside to that is that the floor is isolated from the walls and that is good for sound proofing.

[@G89-]

Amazing, love the longer format!

[@FuzeHC]

Wow, das ist wirklich fantastisch geworden.

[@osholajones5084]

What a wonderful build and project.What product or material are you using to hold up the rebar from the foam.Thay floor will last for ages...

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Those are concrete triangles with a bit of glas fibre. But they break very easily. Not structural. Just a spacer.

[@osholajones5084]

@MaxMakerChannel Thanks for the prompt response. So basically the break under the pressure of the pouring of the concrete ?? Is this a bad thing that they break ????

[@anan7s294]

Was fun and interesting to watch. 👍🏼

[@jamesa8851]

You could've used a pex expander to put the tube on the connector. Or used a heat gun and a pair of needle nose pliers in reverse to stretch the tubing.

[@Captain-Donut]

🙏❤️ Love from Scotland ❤️🙏

[@ZanDeeMan]

Interesting to see the contrast in construction methods. Germany has the best waterproofing systems by far. Wonderful products! I also enjoy the layout choice of your radiant tubing. I've noticed many builders running their tubing in symmetrical yet robotic patterns with inorganic quadrants taking constant sharp turns. Your approach allows water and the heat to flow naturally and I am curious of the results. I feel it will help efficiency and be an overall net positive. It would be very neat comparing your layout to that aforementioned.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

We noticed that. Our layout is a bit messy but organic sounds better : ) If we had done this for a customer it would need to be pretty and more organised. I don’t think it would perform much better but it would take a lot more time.

[@rowingcrack]

Talking about sustainability not using epoxy is also very good. CO2 emissions of it are quite large and recycling the concrete later is also a problem. So a little more work by doing a good finishing job goes a long way!

[@dirtlac1]

How did you plan the routing of the heating pipes that all of them become 100 m length at the end? Keep up the good work!

[@MaxMakerChannel]

The rooms need between 1 and 3 loops. So if a room has some meters leftover we placed those leftover meters inside the workshop area. So maybe the last 30m would end up in the workshop and it doesn’t matter if that giant space gets some heat or not. If will spread out.

[@oleschinsky974]

No timber shuttering at all - this thermal insulation looks clever 👏

[@wilkuuu4016]

13:30 - you can just bore with knife a little bit from edges or heat up ends of tubing.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

I tried that but then there was too much material to get the captive nut over the pipe.

[@rkan2]

5:30 - How much is the insulation compared to installing more solar panels or more wall/roof installation tough?

[@MaxMakerChannel]

The ground insulation is 14000€ for the material. Probably another 10000€ to level the ground and installing it. Wall insulation hit its peak at 12cm thickness. More would require heavier steel beams which would have added 25000€. But 14cm of foam would only save 500€ a year so 5000 in 10 years. But the walls are made from Polyurethane instead of XPS which insulates a little bit better than 12cm of Jackodur. I am going to add solar on the entire roof and that will be about 90.000€.

[@NikolaSlavkovic]

Why not add crack control joints to control cracking of the slab? Amazing job so far, keep at it! 😊

[@MaxMakerChannel]

I know that is a standard in the US and I was supprised that it was not neccessary here. The engineers wrote "The reinforcement was planned for a limitation of crack width with wcal = 0.3 mm. Cutting of joints is not required.” I guess that there is so much rebar in this slab, that it would be hard for large cracks to form. I was told to expect micro cracks on the surface which I don´t mind. I would create myself a lot of extra work if I was worried about the looks of the floor. My current workshop has asphalt and is very forgiving in terms of stains.

[@BasBoon-x6o]

This is a monolithic slab. A rebar configuration is designed to control the crack width (0,3 mm) in a well distributed way

[@Dustmadeout]

​@@MaxMakerChannelI am an engineer who does the calculation and writes this. You are totally correct, we make a crack width design check, which takes into consideration the slab thickness, it's orientation (wall, slab on surface, plate in space), concrete exposing class, allowable crack width (standard is 0.4-0.3mm, could have less for certain applications). And we get a necessary smallest amount of reinforcement. Usually for such slabs this number is bigger than the number used in loading calculations, so we chose the biggest one. In your case probably around 5.24-6.xx cm².

[@MaxMakerChannel]

@@Dustmadeout Very interesting! Thank you for the explanation. So do you say that we used the rebar primarily to stop cracks instead of holding up the building?

[@Dustmadeout]

@@MaxMakerChannel Probably yes, just check your Statik, Kapitel Sohlplatte. You need erf.A= from the Rissbreitennachweis and compare this to the graphics showing Isolines of erf. Bewehrung in the numerical calculation.

[@ArthurGrofic]

This man knows what he is doing

[@ix_ix_]

17:31 this would be one of those jobs that looks fun to do 😂😂😂😂

[@jamesmck896]

This is looking awesome 👏

[@Paulholio69]

I love your work ethic. Amazing attention to detail. I have a question, I’ve watched other videos of concrete slab pours and often they include some sort of lines to stop stress cracking. Is this something you considered or is it not necessary in the beautiful German climate!

[@MaxMakerChannel]

The stress cracking was ruled out by the engineer. They put enough rebar in the slab that it won’t form any cracks.

[@unionmoon]

Yes sir, European building, unmatched.

[@TorteTS]

Very interesting. The foam can only withstand because of the low contact pressure?

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Yes, the load gets spread out over a huge area. The foam is also extemly hard! If you would suspend a sheet like a bridge, you could easily stand in the middle of it. There are differnt hardness levels and ours was the highest that you can get.

[@Simon-A]

Interesting Video! Thanks for documenting. The first half felt a little bit like a Commercial tho.

[@olofanderberg9392]

Why only 120mm of insulation? In Sweden we always have 300mm foam when we put floor heating in the slab

[@PeterLee-zn3jl]

Very complete install...fastidious prep , layout and sla looks tuff.! Including servixes , plumbing and wall provisions and work bench/hydraulic table is a COMMIT TO LAYOUT...EH..? Carry on...

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Thats why the hydaulic table is in the middle of the workshop! I don´t know yet where the work area will be exactly. So with the table in the middle it cannot be in the way. Also if we ever get a dilivery with a truck that does´t have a hydraulic loading platform, we can get our own forklift up on that truck.

[@jrisner6535]

How am I so fascinated, even though I have no idea what you are going to be doing in there 😂

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Its just a workshop like my current one is. Some woodworking, some metal working, electronics. All kinds of stuff!

[@jrisner6535]

@@MaxMakerChannel but just for KZbin? What do you 'normally' make?

[@MaxMakerChannel]

@jrisner6535 I built drawer slides for the caravanning industry and I work on new ideas. So prototyping in a way.

[@jrisner6535]

@@MaxMakerChannel cool, thank you

[@thimo739]

wow, great system!!!

[@MaxMakerChannel]

It really is!

[@Rir461]

When will the next video be out? Looking forward for it!

[@4ickyy]

Wow, only a few people mention the health side effects like fumes. Well done my friend. Please build my dream home for that comment alone

[@MaxMakerChannel]

This is the last thing I ever build.

[@dronefootage2778]

i love watching this stuff, thanks a lot for sharing. i'd also be curious how much this stuff costs, like when you said that you had 15 concrete trucks i was curious how much that costs or all the rebar and everything.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

I think the concrete was about 20,000€ and the rebar about 15,000€. In total the slab with foundation was 140,000€.

[@dronefootage2778]

@@MaxMakerChannel wow, that's a lot of money. i do agree with your philosophy though, pay more upfront to make it efficient and save money in the long run.

[@bbtbnwjdfotsyk4]

I'd love to see the cost breakdown of this project

[@MaxMakerChannel]

200 for the property 140 for concrete 280 for three steel building 30 for electric 50 for interior 50 for outdoor 50 for solar Roughly 800.000€

[@martinstedtler]

The floorheating seems to have a rathter large spacing between, compared to whats used in homes (15cm & 8-10 in bathrooms)? Will you use a higher water temperature?

[@MaxMakerChannel]

In homes its typically 10-15cm. I chose 20cm. However these pipes have 20mm outside diameter whereas most homes have 16mm pipes. So more water with more energy can flow through these. Also the workshop only needs 19°C, but homes should go up to 23°C. And here the concrete slab is much thicker.

[@yhachler]

How did you account for lens distortion when you overlaid your plans onto the aerial shot?

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Funny enough there wasn’t any. I guess its because the drone was so high up and the lenses is pretty straight. But you can get the value of the lenses from the image file and then apply correction in photoshop.

[@Ludix147]

Will your heat pump also be able to cool? For when it's really hot in the summer.

[@R5555.]

I think today almost every heat pump is capable of doing that.

[@MotoLen51]

Yes. For example, our heat pump can cool the floors, but if you cool too much the floor gets wet from condensation so there is a limit to its effectiveness. Also, the cold air then stays close to the floor, since it is heavier, so ideally you need fans to move the cool air around.

[@jamesgregsy]

It's also not that big of an issue where Max is building, there are some hot days but it rarely gets over 30°C in the summer.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Yes it will! The heatpump only needs one valve I think that reverses a cooling circuit. But as @MotoLen51 said, if the floor is too cold, condensation and mold will form. There are charts that tell you how low you can go. In my home that limit was always at about 18°. At 18° I can easily cool the rooms down to 22° in summer. The roof adds heat and the floor takes it away. But that only works with good insulation. If the roof adds to much heat, the floor needs to be cooler and then you reach the condensation limit.

[@Tokaisho1]

Fun to watch, thank you

[@1AYTC]

Great video!

[@KevinHorecka]

Is the condensation on the radiant heating line because you were running cold water through it? So it won't be an issue in normal use? What about if there was a power outage or something and the water was cool? Or what about during priming?

[@MaxMakerChannel]

There were rain drops on the tubing. Later the same tubing will be filled with warm water, so there cannot be condensation. Also I don’t know if there can even be wet air around the tubes now that it is encased by concrete. If there is a power outage the water would not be flowing and just take on the temperature of the slab. You only get condensation when there is a temperature difference.

[@KevinHorecka]

@@MaxMakerChannel makes sense! Very cool video, thanks!

[@MotoLen51]

Very nice build. When I built my house (10 years ago, in Spain) they used a product called "cupolex" under the concrete. It looks like a lot of plastic turtles, snapped together to form a barrier between the ground and the concrete. Is that used in Germany? Good luck with the rest of the build!

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Those are very cool! I bet they are used here, but I learned that a lot of smart solutions are not used because architects and engineers simly don´t know about them. Like my concrete guy didn´t know about the Atlas System. So he would have built a wooden form and then lined it with normal foam. My building materials supplier also didn´t know about it.

[@fritzfahrmann4730]

shouln't be the moisture stopped outside of the insolation? cause wet insulation is no insolation? But great video overall, really liked it - ist echt schön geworden der Boden :)

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Thanks! Jackodur says its waterproof since its closed cell.

[@fritzfahrmann4730]

@@MaxMakerChannel thanks for the reasonse, than it's fine if it can't get soaking wet

[@kuboteusz]

Installing insulation is a must and is obvious, you shouldn't compare not installing it to having a second heat pump. There are just much more cost-efficient ways to insulate and that's what you should compare.

[@thewingedringer]

no idea what im watching but very interestinggggggggggg

[@MaxMakerChannel]

I am building a giant workshop!

[@AdityaMehendale]

SHIT forgot to say this sooner: I too did a floor insulation and floor hearing myself, but had ONE regret afterwards: I did not put heat-exchange tubes BELOW the foam insulation. No, I'm not crazy, hear me out: Any insulation-pack has TWO sides, The "other" side, considering the 20-cm or so of XPS that you put down, is VERY valuable - as a cold-sink in the winter if and when you get heat-pumps, and as a heat-dump in the summer, when it shal invariably get hot. I know you have ground-heat-exchange borewells and all that, but still, for a few aditional euros per square meter, you (could) have a "free" thermal-resource. You migh tthink it counterproductive to cool below the insulation in winter, but the 20cm is orders-of-magnitude more insulative than the earth below, so the incremental disadvantage of having the earth slightly colder is negligible. Yoy can also think of the two water-circuits as two heat-potential sources, and a simple valve or pump inbetween as a "switch", so that you can choose to delete or reinstate the insulation with one twist of the valve.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

That is a very interesting point and I never heard of this idea before! A lot of people burry heat pump pipes in their gardens to use the soil as a heat sink. That way in winter you can use the 7° warm ground to draw heat from versus the 0° warm air. The reason why I disregarded that idea is that you cannot use water in those pipes for fear of freezing. You need a frost proof liquid and that in Germany comes with some enviromental regulations which I didn´t want to deal with. Also I have a air heat pump in my home and that works extremly efficient too. Using the air was just a litle bit less complicated. But your idea sounds very reasonable!

[@AdityaMehendale]

@@MaxMakerChannel :( The reason you haven't heard it before is that I though of it myself (unfortunately after having installed my floor-heating). More from an engineering background, Seebeck/Peltier effect or "active ground" (instrumentation) or "counter-mass" (lithography) standpoint, this makes sense (acting upon the "other" side). I had seen another person use the waste-heat from their fridge to (slightly) warm their pantry, as inspiration. Perhaps worth some more thought :) It'll be quite some time before I take-on my next civil-engineering task!

[@Dragonited]

​@@MaxMakerChannelNo risk of freezing if the pipes are bellow themaximum frost line. It wouldn't have been very far down since it's 80 cm here southern Sweden. The heated building on top would have been a good insulator as well. The footings are supposed to be bellow the frost liine anyway so you don't have ground that changes with the season that the building rests on.

[@kameljoe21]

@@AdityaMehendale Not sure I understand what you mean. Yet I could see installing pipes 4 or 5 feet below the existing slab to loop in to the slab should last nearly most of the summer to keep the slab cool. The freeze protection is food grade glycol. You said 20cm of xps insulation? That is 8 inches. Until we find a better supplier for cheaper prices we are considering around 5cm of insulation. We have mild winters with a cold spell that last up to a few weeks. We are going to put more insulation into the walls and ceiling. Hot summers are a problem. I am looking for a combo of radiant heat and heat pump all in one type unit. That way the slab can stay warm yet if further heat is required it can be provided along with maximum cooling. The only problem with this is I supsect that you would need to install contact temp sensor or have in slab sensors. I am sure the wire would be fine yet if one would have to replace such a sensor how would that be done> Which is why I think contact sensors would be ideal.

[@AdityaMehendale]

@@kameljoe21 Hi, (1) I eyeballed the foam at 00:08 and guesstimated it to be 20 cm - M|M later states it to be 12cm, and that is fine too; I have 17cm installed. (2) Cost for insulation is horrendous, but the cost of fuel even more so. If you calculate the payback-time, then sure 5cm pays back quicker; however if you calculate the total costs (including labor, resale value, and heating-costs) over a longer period - say 20yr, then the "excessive" insulation-layer makes sense. (3) This is not applicable if you have a thin (5 cm) insulation-pack; however, if you have a (ridiculously thick) insulation, then there is no downside to using the earth below your insulation as a cold-dump (assuming you use a heatpump). The ground shall get a few degrees colder, but the increased delta-T shall not impress the insulator. If the ground-temperature never goes below zero, you shall not need coolants other than tap-water. More valuably, during summer, the ground acts as a "free" airco - theoretically one could even generate power from dumping the summer-heat into the ground, but I digress... All this assumes that you are digging up your foundation to install insulation and floor-heating *anyway* and then there's just the incremental cost of a few 100 meter of tubing to install *below* the insulation (material cost being less than a few 100 monies) just as you do above it for floor-heating.

[@sethtchristensen]

you can actually cool that slab too. I have a 60ftx80ft shop with 18ft walls, that I heat the slab in the winter and cool the slab in the summer. Just need a dehumidifier in the shop to make sure the floor does't' sweat. very cheap to do! simple too.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

That is the plan! We will have so much energy in summer that it will be free cooling.

[@peterhorst7605]

Great Video ! How thick made you the concrete ?

[@MaxMakerChannel]

20cm

[@fromaflafl2198]

what R ore U value do you achieve with this system and 12cm of foam. for a Concrete Slab with Radiant Heating i would have expect 30cm of eps foam

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Its about 0.23W/(m2k). This is XPS. If I had to do it again I would probably pick 14cm. Those extra 2cm only cost 2000€ and the work is the same.

[@elbuggo]

@@MaxMakerChannel There is a significant diminishing return on more insulation. If interested, watch: _How Much Spray Foam Insulation do I need? | The most popular question answered_

[@AverySunshines]

Can you put in many large glass windows so the sun can heat it? How about a couple rammed earth monolith wall inside to store heat?

[@mohdgabir3344]

Beautiful

[@Maou3]

Awesome video

[@verven999]

looking forward to next week epizode

[@t789yq34iZKJFHWEIL]

Hi Max, how big will the heat pump be in terms of power? I assume it will be air/water (the water part was clear from this video :)). Enjoyed it

[@MaxMakerChannel]

It will have 16kW of heat output. So around 4-5 kW of electrical power + a 10kW heating coil for extremely cold days. This pump will be at its limit during cold weeks which is at -11°C. I think it will be alright since we get that temperature maybe twice per year and only for one or two nights. During the day its always at least -5°C. If it cannot keep up, we can prioritise the office and let the workshop cool down. I think with the good insulation it will take a while for the temperature to drop. 16 kW is the limit for most heat pumps and a second one adds cost which we likely don’t need, but I could retrofit one of course.

[@FiscalWoofer]

Wow this is amazing, just what I’ve been looking for re concept design!

[@micheljansen85]

Willst du da mit panzer auf fahren? 😅 Schöne arbeit!

[@procrastinator41]

Is the perimeter (exterior) not sealed ?

[@MaxMakerChannel]

No. No need.

[@procrastinator41]

@@MaxMakerChannel That’s where water comes from ?

[@MaxMakerChannel]

@@procrastinator41 The foam does not absorb moisture. Only the concrete could do that.

[@tarassu]

How much pipe per 1m2? On average. Is the pipe 16mm or 20mm?

[@MaxMakerChannel]

I used 20mm. There is no drawback for using bigger pipes. The distance was 20cm. So about 5m pipe per m2.

[@karstenf.2558]

Hallo „Nachbar“, sehr schöne Entwicklung und schönes Video. Ich wußte gar nicht, daß die die andere Seite vom Gewerbegebiet freigegeben haben, tat sich ja Ewigkeiten Nichts. Gruß aus Ratekau.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Hallo zurück! Falls hier noch mehr aus Lübeck lesen. Ich suche noch einen festen Mitarbeiter für die Halle der sich um alles kümmert. Produktion, Ware verschicken, Hausmeister für alles. Das ganze bei 3 Tage Woche und ca. 20€ Stundenlohn.

[@karstenf.2558]

Das hört sich gut an, wäre etwas, wenn ich in die Rente gehe, aber das ist noch etwas in der Zukunft 😂 Aber ich frage mal im Bekanntenkreis, vielleicht hilft das ja weiter.

[@blackeyes18ro]

Why is that a radiant floor? The heating system will run with 20-30 degrees from the heat pump. Convection will be the major in the heat transfer.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

That makes sense.

[@hunchbackaudio]

For what I know the floor heating pipe goes in the screed, never seen it in the actual construction? Interesting 🤔. This can take a long time for the heat to reach the top of the floor.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Yes it is slow but also constant. With the insulation the temperature will never change.

[@NavyCuda]

How come you didn't use Uponor PEX-A? It has the single best connections for pex tubing.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

This product is extremely uncommon here in Germany. Possibly its missing its certification? Uponor pipes exists, but they didn’t respond to my email so I went with a different manufacturer.

[@NavyCuda]

@@MaxMakerChannel Unfortunate! Absolutely fantastic product, I wouldn't use anything else. I'm looking forward to more coverage on your shop and I may steal some ideas from you for my imaginary shop!

[@andy_warb]

Out of interest... why are your plumbing fittings using imperial measurements and not metric? Really enjoying this series... I dream of having my own workshop one day (all though I'll be happy with a converted garage!)

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Oh that is extremly confusing here! The sewage plumbing is in milimeters. The water fittings are in inches, but the water pipes are in milimeters. And for pipes they only give you the outside diameter. But different manufacturers have different internal diameters which is the thing that really matters! So you always need to subtract the wall thickness for calculations. Also if you have a 1” fitting which would be 25.4mm, the inside dieamter is 30mm and the outside diameter is 33mm. So nothing really adds up. So your question why it is the way? I can only say because to be a plumber here you need to do a goverment mandated 3 year apprenticship and to own a plumbing company you need a additional 1 year master course. So its somewhat a closed society and they are difficult to change or innovate.

[@Sceme1991]

A rebar tying machine would've made attaching the heating pipes so much quicker. Really enjoying this series btw.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

I thought about that. Here in Germany I never saw a rebar person use them. So i figured that they might be unreliable. That alone wouldn´t have stopped me to try one. The biggest concern was that a malfunction could have dugg the thin wires into the tubing and damage it. I didn´t want to risk that. I would be worried if i had any repair connections inside of the concrete. Also those machines cost about 600€ and we only would have used it a single day. Overall, if it works, it would be a no-brainer for this. In other construction methods they can staple the tubing to the insulation below. That is extremly easy in comparison since you don´t have to kneel down for that at all.

[@Sceme1991]

@@MaxMakerChannel Yeah definitely no point in buying one but you could probably rent one too. I highly recommend giving it a try if you ever again have the need for one in the future. It doesn't pull the wire very tight and when it malfunctions it usually just makes a wire mess. I've used one for this exact same purpose and it's super convenient and also just mechanically interesting device overall. I bet they went thru a truckload of prototypes before they got one to work reliably. Also you're correct about the joints inside the concrete. That absolutely needs to be avoided at all costs. However people occasionally drill thru these pipes and they need to be fixed which is difficult but can be done. The repair itself is easy but exposing the damaged section without causing more damage is the hard part. The connections also needs to be covered with heatshrink tubing before covering with new concrete. Can't have exposed metal touching the conrete.

[@W2APS]

I'm really enjoying the construction videos. I'd love to see a collaboration with Colin Furze. 😁 You could be lift friends. 😎

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Colin has the clicks, but I already own a underground car lift! : D But yeah, we have similar minds and I like him a lot.

[@christophelpunkt9371]

Lange nichts mehr gehört , geht der Bau voran ?

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Das läuft. Die Halle wird grad aufgebaut. Ich bin etwas krank zur Zeit.

[@blitzar8443]

​@@MaxMakerChannelGet well soon. Can't wait for the next one.

[@MaxMakerChannel]

Thanks!

[@BuildItAnyway]

Impressive

[@Cutlerylover4life1]

anyone know of a foam product/system like this that is offered in the US?

[@MaxMakerChannel]

I think Jackodur sells in the US as well.

[@MrTheBirdIsTheWord83]

after few videos now, I´m still asking myself: what exactly shall be produced in this shop?

[@MaxMakerChannel]

The workshop will be mainly used to build a specialty drawer slide for the camping industry. But I also use it to build all kinds of prototypes. At least at the moment. Who knows what happens in the future. I might even sell it at some point.