Heating Options
There are several ways to heat the studio. These also affect what sort of finished floor we can have.
- Radiant Heat/Hydronics: This entails a boiler, PEX tubing, and a system that’s pipes hot water through the walls and floors. It’s probably the nicest type of heat money can buy. There are several variants including: PEX in the concrete on the first floor, PEX in gypcrete on the second floor, PEX under wood floor (Warmboard), and radiant hydronic wall heaters. In general, if you go the PEX tubing route for the shop, it makes sense to go with radiant upstairs. To save money, we could go with hydronic radiators. Or, option 2, would be to use gypcrete as the finished floor. With wood at approximately $3-$5 sq. ft., this might save $2000-$3000. Estimates for radiant systems vary widely, but are probably going to be upwards of $10k.
- Gas Heat: There’s a compelling argument to be made for simple gas wall heat units like this. These units are very efficient and, with a tight building envelope, aren’t needed very often. This option is quite economical…somewhere between $1000-$2000 for each heater. I spoke to my friend Brian who uses a Gas Stove to heat his ENTIRE 1700 sq. ft. house (2 stories) and he loves it. Talk about inexpensive. The drawback is that these units take up some wall space.Total Cost for our project would probably be around $2000. We’d likely have to supplement the bathroom.
- Electric Heat: I know this may seem crazy, but there’s a great argument for the juice. It’s renewable, and under the right circumstances, produces minimal CO2 (that’s if you produce it from solar or wind). Installation is super cheap (a few hundred bucks per unit) and easy. The big drawbacks are that you really need a PV array (solar) to make it truly “green.” Another drawback is that baseboards take up valuable wall space. The upside to electric is that you don’t need to worry about the flooring. It can be wood, concrete, etc. Total house cost might be under $1000 if you don’t count the PV array.