Archive for category: Green Energy

Floor heating can be accomplished either by circulating hot water under your floor or using an electric heating cable system. Hot water or hydronic systems are ideal for heating an entire home but not something you would consider installing yourself when renovating a room in your home. We will therefore focus this discussion on the use of electric heating cables & mats which are better suited for DIY renovations.

Electric floor heating products can be used in under virtually any flooring but are most popular under tile and stone flooring which are normally quite cold and uncomfortable to walk on. The same property that makes tiles cold is what makes them the ideal flooring for use over an in-floor heating system. Tiles are fairly good heat conductors and therefore normally draw heat away from your feet. However, when the tiles are warm they act in reverse and easily transmit the heat to your feet and make you feel warm. Floor heating can also be installed under other finish flooring such as hardwood, laminate, cork, vinyl and even carpet but won’t have quite the same dramatic effect as when used under tile or stone since these products act more like insulators and do not conduct heat as readily as their tile and stone counterparts.

When planning or considering an electric in-floor heating installation there are a number of factors to consider. Below are some of the most important and common things you will need to consider:

Electrical Considerations

Before you start dreaming about your warm floors you better make sure you can get an electrical connection first. Have an electrician come in and determine whether they can provide the room with a new or existing 120/240V circuit to where your thermostat will be located on the wall. If you are upgrading a room where electric baseboard heaters were previously installed then most of the work is already done. If you are heating a room much larger than 150 square feet then you may need a 240V circuit capable of handling twice the load of a 120V circuit.

Sizing the Heating System

Heating cables and mats come in a range of fixed sizes measured in Watts. The wattage you will need depends on how cold it gets where you live, whether the heated floor will be your primary heat source or used for floor warming only. By default 12 Watts/square foot is the norm under tile or stone flooring but can go up as high as 15W/SF when used in cold climates or rooms with little floor space to heat. You therefore need to measure the exposed floor space in the room you will be heating and multiply this area by 12-15 W/SF to get an idea of what wattage you will need and pick a size that falls within that range.

Choosing between Heating Cables or Mats

Most vendors offer a choice of heating cables or mats for floor heating installations. Mats will cost more but should be easier and less time consuming to install than loose cable. However, mats are designed to cover exact areas at specific watt densities or W/SF. Before choosing a mat you must ensure that you choose one either the same size as your heated area or slightly smaller – but never bigger. Cables on the other hand are much more flexible in that you can adapt them to fit any room by merely placing the loops closer or farther apart. Sometimes both can be used in the same room by using a mat to do the larger rectangular part of a room and then using a cable to complete it and used to fill odd shaped areas.

Sub-floor Preparation

If you’ve ever installed tiled flooring before you know that you need to strengthen the sub-floor or de-couple it before it is safe to install tile or stone. Normally this means screwing down an extra sheet of plywood over the existing subfloor so that the overall thickness is at least 1” thick or more. Alternatively, diamond lath metal mesh and mortar may be used to strengthen a floor – especially when the floor is not level or needs to be raised more than ½”. Before installing any type of floor heating system you will need to ensure that the floor is clean and secure.

Installing the Heating System

Each system on the market has different installation instructions which you must follow in order to ensure the system will perform as it was designed to, meet safety & electrical regulations and be covered under the manufacturer’s warranty. Low profile cables typically require plastic fastening strips or the use of adhesive tape to fasten them to a subfloor while some thicker heating cable types may allow you to use special staples to fasten them to wooden surfaces. The more powerful the heating cable the less cable is required to heat the floor and the farther apart the loops need to be. Sometimes it may be necessary to purchase a thicker, more powerful heating cable product which can be embedded in a thicker “dry-pack” or concrete slab installation. Most installations, however, are likely to be over an existing subfloor and can be covered in self-leveling cement or thinset mortar before flooring is laid.

Longevity Consideration

One thing most people don’t consider is how long they expect their in-floor heating investment to last. Left alone, most electric floor heating products should last as long as your home. However, their ability to survive future finish flooring changes is not likely unless special consideration is made to the heating product and installation method used. When taking-up an outdated tile floor you are almost certain to irreversibly damage any thin heating cables lying directly underneath. One alternative to traditional subfloor installation methods is to use thicker, tougher heating cables intended for interior use over subfloors and cover them with 1/8” thick diamond lath metal or plastic reinforcement mesh before embedding them in self-leveling cement. Reinforcement mesh is an accepted means of reinforcing wooden sub-floors under tile installations and should be nailed securely in place every 5-6” over the thick heating cables before embedding the whole works in at least 3/8” of self-leveling underlayment. This technique is recommended for new construction and some renovations but is not for novices.

Thermostat Installation

In-floor heating thermostats all require the installation of a small floor sensor in order to measure floor temperature. Try not to locate the probe where it may be covered by rugs, furniture or appliances since these will act as insulators and prevent the thermostat from working properly. All electric Floor heating installations are required by the electrical code to offer you protection from electrical shock in the unlikely event of a cable break. This is accomplished by using GFCI protected thermostats which automatically shut down the system if anything should go wrong. Note that the ground sheath surrounding the heating cable must be grounded in the thermostat box in order for the GFCI circuit to work properly.

Shop around for the system best suited for your renovation and make sure you follow the manufacturer’s installation instructions since not all systems are the same. Take care not to damage the heating cables before they are covered in mortar and be sure to test heating cables during installation and before finish flooring is finally installed.

Every spring, homeowners far and wide break out the shovels and rakes to do some landscaping. But far too many homeowners don’t think about how they can strategically implement their landscaping to not just beautify their homes, but save money on electricity bills in the process. Here are some things to keep in mind when you are putting in those bushes and trees.

When people think about using their landscaping to keep cooler, obviously the first place they generally go is using plants – usually trees – for shade. But one other way plants can help keep their surroundings cooler is through evapotranspiration, which is the process by which a plant moves and gives off water vapor. This process can lower surrounding air temperatures by up to 9 degrees. And because the resulting cooler air directly around the plant settles near the ground, temperatures directly under trees can be as much as 25 degrees cooler. If you’re planning to plant trees for improved shading of your home, you need to consider the following:

Regional climate. Homes in areas with hotter summers can obviously use the extra shade during the summer months. But if you are subject to cold winters, the extra tree shade can actually backfire on you, since you’ll end up needing to run your furnace more to stay warm.

Shading needs. If you need continuous shade, go with evergreen trees and shrubs since they’ll provide a good year-round canopy. If you only want to block solar heat during the summer months, go with a deciduous tree that will let the winter sun through when you need it. Also bear in mind the height of the tree’s crowns (leaves and branches) – this will obviously make a substantial difference in the level of shade the tree will provide.

Location of trees. This is arguably the most important decision to make for planting trees for extra shade.
For summertime roof shading, plant trees with high, wide crowns to the south of your home. However, if you need some solar heat during those cold winters, only plant deciduous trees so you’ll get some sunlight when you need it.

If you’re trying to block the lower angles of the sun in the afternoon, plant trees with lower crowns to the west of your home.
While you’re trying to protect your home, try to shade your air conditioning unit while you’re at it. All too often the A/C equipment is abandoned to get nice and toasty in the sun. Properly shade that air conditioning unit and you can increase its efficiency by an additional 10 percent.

As mentioned above, the natural behavior of plants helps cool the air and ground in their direct vicinity. As a result, there are several ways to utilize smaller plants to also keep your home cooler in the summer. Plant shrubs close to your home to shade the windows and walls. They’ll establish themselves and start providing shade faster than trees. Use shrubs and ground cover to shade the ground and pavement around your home. Build a trellis and plant climbing vines. They tend to be fairly low-maintenance and they grow fast, meaning that with the right size you could shade an entire wall of your home within a year or so.

Obviously, there are other things you can do to lower your electricity bill, such as finding a cheaper electricity company. But to lower your energy consumption, proper landscaping can make a difference. If you are having new kitchen lighting installed as a part of your kitchen remodel, you will probably hear quite a lot about LED lighting. Do the benefits really outweigh the higher initial cost over other lighting options like the compact fluorescents that are found in many kitchens? These days the answer is yes.

Adopting LED lighting now is a smart move. Not only will you be doing your bit to help the environment but you will save quite a bit of money over time as well. Here are just a few of the benefits of choosing LED lighting. Most of the LED bulbs on the market today will last for at least 50,000 hours. Broken down that means that if you had one lit for eight straight hours everyday you wont need to change the LED bulb for about seventeen years.

A 3W LED bulb can do the job of a 35W halogen bulb. That adds up to major energy savings. Reduced energy consumption is not only good for your bank balance but for the size of your “carbon footprint” as well. LED bulbs emit no ultra violet (UV) radiation and very little in the way of infra red (IR) radiation either. This makes them a fantastic choice for display lighting as they won’t age or fade your collectibles prematurely.

LEDs come in a veritable rainbow of different colors (which is why so many people are using them in Christmas lights) and by using RGB LED lights and a special controller you can in fact create almost any color combination, which takes the whole idea of mood lighting to another level! Unlike compact fluorescents, that can take up to a minute to light properly LEDs come on instantly, with no flickering. And as they contain no filament they won’t be damaged by the occasional bash or crash like an incandescent bulb can be.

Home improvements are a great way to bring up the property value of your house. However, there are some hazards that you should avoid when you are making improvements to your home. One of the biggest mistakes that people make when they are renovating their homes is over-expanding. When a homeowner over-expands their house, they tend to add more features than is necessary for basic living. Over-expanding and ensuring fire safety of a home not only costs a lot of money to complete, it can bring up the utility costs as well. Avoid over-expanding your home unless you plan on living there for a very long time.

Another hazard that people should avoid when making home improvements is changing the general architecture. If you have a stylized home –a rancher for instance- you should not be implementing modernized aspects such as doors or windows. When you go to sell the house, potential buyers could be turned off by this strange transformation. In the same vein as this, people should also avoid changing the function of a room in their home. Sure, turning a spare bedroom into a game room is fine, but leave your bathroom as a bathroom.

There is a major difference between a “do-it-yourselfer” and a contractor. If you have a leaky faucet or a spot on your floor, feel free to fix the issue. However, a professional should always do home improvements. If you are looking to expand a room, install a bathroom or rewire any part of your house, you should always have a professional complete the task. There are a lot of codes in residential living that you should be aware of. If not, you could be setting a fire hazard or breaking residential code.

If you do decide to make home improvements yourself or through a contractor it’s best to over budget than to under budget. One of the most frequent hazards of home improvements is under budgeting for a renovation. And under budgeting doesn’t just refer to money. Knowing the amount of time that your home is going to be in disarray is essential to keeping a schedule for your home improvement. This is why it’s best to go through a contractor. Contractors know how to keep schedules and will get your improvements done within that time frame.

Once the home improvements are done on your home, it is important to maintain them. Making sure that you are cleaning the gutters and checking for any termites in your improvement is essential to keeping your improvement in good standing. If you aren’t keeping up with your improvements, the work will be for nothing.

Home improvements are great for any home. They can expand the functionality of the house while giving you more of a return if you are thinking about selling the property. But if you are going to make improvements to your home, there are hazards you should avoid. Follow this guideline before you start your home improvements and you should see a great return on your initial investment.

When designing a room it is essential to pay attention to the lighting. Both the quantity and quality of light can have a dramatic effect on how the room will appear. Quantity is fairly simple, the more light you have the brighter the room. It also helps the room to feel larger. For example a bedroom with small windows will be very dark and close. The same room with larger windows will feel much less intimidating and gloomy. The quantity will be affected by how large your windows are and what artificial lights you have available.

The quality of the light is such factors as the colour and intensity. Both artificial and natural light can affect this. A classic example of different quality lights would be mood lighting as compared to spot lighting. A more subtle example is the effect that the direction that natural light comes from can have:

North facing rooms will only get reflected sunlight meaning that light often has a cold flattening quality caused by the large amount of blue light reflected into the room.
East facing rooms get direct light in the morning as the sun rises but far less light in the evening.
South facing rooms get the benefits of direct sunlight on them for most of the day making them warmer and better lit than others.
West facing rooms will be dark in the morning but brighten up as the sun moves to the west. They will often get the most heat as not only does the early afternoon sun tends to be the warmest but the setting sun will often shine directly into them. Wooden Venetian blinds offer a great way of preventing glare whilst still allowing light in.

When deciding how to light a room you should consider its size and shape as well as the amount of natural light available. For example a square room will have a different pattern of light and shadow compared to an L shaped or rectangular room. In general the larger the room the more ambient lighting you will need. Ambient lighting is the light we use just to see and perform standard tasks. It can easily be provided by the natural light available during the day as well as a few lamps or ceiling lights.

Rooms like a kitchen or study will benefit from task lighting that allows specific tasks to be performed. For example if you are drawing or painting then having a bright task lamp such as an Anglepoise can be a huge help by providing light exactly where you need it. A similar example is lights fitted so that they shine directly on your oven hobs so that you can see what you are cooking.

The last type of lighting to consider is accent and mood lighting, which can be used to highlight artwork and other decorations. The typical example of this would be a small bulb in recess directly above or below a work of art. However you could also include candles and Christmas tree lights within this.