warm floors

Radiant floors were a desire from the start of the project. This type of heating is perhaps the most comfortable, and combined with a thermal mass can be one of the most efficient as well.  How does it work?  Hot water is pumped through the floor - in this case a 3" cast concrete slab - through a series of PEX tubing arranged and spaced to provide the right amount of BTU's per square foot.  The hot water heats the slab, and then radiates into the space.  Because your feet, and body are in direct contact with the floor, you are able to sense the heat through conduction; as opposed to furnaces or convective heating, which tends to be uneven in a space with ceilings being warm, and floors being cold (hot air rises!)  Surfaces in the room of radiant systems will be higher, so typically the air temperature can be cooler, and therefore the thermostat can actually be set to around 65-68degrees instead of 68-72degrees.

The radiant tubes are connected to a combi boiler, a wall hung unit that is mounted in a closet in the hall which provides hot water for both the heating and domestic needs. Each apartment is outfitted with their own - the space efficiency, and individual control are the reasons we chose to install these over a single building system which would have been less expensive.  There are several brands on the market such as Baxi, Rinai, Buderus and Rheem.  Ours are condensing boilers - discussing condensing boilers could be whole other post - but the important factor to take into consideration with radiant and condensing boilers is to ensure that the returning water temperature is below 120degrees, in order to ensure that the efficiencies of the boilers are their max.  The radiant works well in conjunction with this, creating long heating runs that allow the outgoing 180degree temps to be dropped to 120 on the return.

One other important aspect is that radiant floors help simplify a space and its uses.  There are no visible mechanical heating units that are typical in apartments.  Lack of radiators or baseboards allows for flexibility in the room layouts, and a visually is cleaner.  Our windows are able to go to the floor without disruption. In addition, the radiant prevents dust from moving through the house in the winter time.

radiant temps versus air convective patterns

  

radiant tubes loops

radiant tubes

the concrete pump snaking through the space.

cast concrete, before the polish

graph showing condensing temp requirements

field trip to 3D ErgoLab

Last week thread ventured to mid-town to visit our friends, Marc Schwartzberg and his wife Jill Slater, a veteran at apartmenttherapy.  Marc has been in the furniture business for over 30years, inheriting his grandparent's business, Dallek Office Furniture which was an icon in the New York furniture scene of mid-century modern fashion.  As thread contemplated our move into our new offices, chairs were on our mind, and we turned to the expert to help us find something that would meet our finicky standards.

 Marc with his fabulous chair display in the 3D Ergolab showroom

3D Ergolab has hundreds of chairs on display and available for testing.  Marc will even provide loan chairs to test out in your office.  Marc went through the various features of from the high end to the super techno that can bend, mold, and tweak to your body and movement.  After testing nearly every chair in the showroom, we came back around to the tried and true Eames Aluminum Office chair.  Our favorite for style, and comfort although perhaps lacking the ergo wow factor that a lot of newer chairs on the market are pushing.  Marc was excited to chat about the Eames chair, one of his favorites too.  He and Jill just spent two weeks in China doing research on various imports, from the high end to the low end knock offs, scrutinizing factories, quality, and fabrication.   Below, you can see Mark - the other Mark - sitting in the Herman Miller Setu Chair, another good competitor to the Eames chair for comfort, simplicity and shape.  Of course, thread is still contemplating our next office chair.  But we will have to decide soon!

Herman Miller's Setu Chair

Marc talks chairs.....