Stained Concrete Floors

We decided to switch from poured adobe to acid stained poured conrete floor. I can't find anyone that has done poured adobe floors with radiant tubes in them. I want hydronic radiant heat. I install it part of the year for my work. I know how great it is--i know how easy it is. Besides concrete floors don't take a month to dry. Yes, yes I know, the energy to make concrete is ridiculous--so our slab will be thin at 3 1/2 inches. This should be rather responsive to the radiant heat and be nice and cool in the summer.

Thanks to an old posting on Day Creek by Alan I had a chance to further research “Frost Protected Shallow Foundations”, on the NAHB (National Association Of Home Builders) web site. I found a link to a case study done by the CRREL (Cold Regions & Engineering Laboratory) U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A very thorough and complete study recording foundation, footing & surrounding ground temperatures over several years.
They built a 2,000 square ft. extension on an airport control tower in Alaska, (where the frost line is 12 feet deep), using this type of foundation with great success. Very impressive, yet I wonder if our local
Town Planning Department will be as impressed and permit us to use this type of foundation for our area, with a frost line of 2 1⁄2 feet deep. In a worst case, we will have to excavate to pour footings below our frost line. This will add a great expense to our foundation costs.