My father has fallen and can't get up

[civilian]

Ours and Schluter's use a plastic grid work for an under layment that holds the wire in place. A drawing was submitted to WarmlyYours for them to layout the wire path. Everything came as a package deal. Not sure on Schluter's. Helped install both, but never involved with the order process with Schluter's. Jon

edit, ours is powered by a 220v circuit.

 

[fatjay]

Picked up a ton of stone to level things to insualate the floor and set plumbing in. Broke through the basement wall to run drain lines, cut, glue'd, measured. Occasionally in that order. Tomorrow I'll hit the steel shop for rebar and clean up to get ready to pour. Weather's taking a nose dive after today so that'll be fun.

 

[QRTRHRS]

I have not seen any talk in your thread about an ADA compliant toilet. With knee replacement coming up for me, I am looking to replace the one in our master. I had already put in one that is about 17 1/2 inches high for my wife but that one is still too short for me so I did a search on "tallest ADA compliant toilets". Depending on your father's height, you can find one that may work better than others for him. Most of the offerings on the market are more like 16 inches.

Two that popped up for me are Kohler K-25224 Highline which is around 20 inches high if I recall correctly. Available at the big box stores, Amazon for about 439. The other is a Signature Hardware 945956 Brandenton which measures 22 inches. The Signature is a bit more limited to find. Amazon does carry it but I did find it online for a bit less.

Per some of the articles that I was reading, you can find even higher toilets for people that are up in the clouds at like 6 foot 7, etc. Of course at a price.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Slab on grade? No footer? At first I thought you was covering over the outdooor steps, but now I’m guessing it’s just form bracing.

 

[3Ts]

One suggestion is to purchase a high-quality pocket door. Not the flimsy models available at the home improvement stores. My last house had those flimsy models and they were a nightmare.

My new residence has a few pocket doors that are high quality. Difference is night and day. IIRC, shop for models that can handle or support a 200lb door.

This!! The trolley should have 3 or 4 ball bearing wheels and the track should be in a "U" shape like a uni-strut for the wheels to run in. It will be a lot smoother, easier to open & close, and most of all much less prone to problems.

 

[2manyrocks]

Don't know if termites are a concern where you are, but here in Tennessee I would treat the ground while it is still accessible before pouring an area like that.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

If you’re goIng to install floor heat, be sure to put some foam under the floor. Contrary to common thought, heat goes to cold. Warm fluids rise, due to lower density. But, heat goes to cold. If you don’t insulate the floor, you loose a great deal of heat trying to heat the earth.

On ADA toilet height: The height of an ADA toilet should be the same height as the seat on the chair. Makes transfer much easier.

 

[newbury]

On the subject of electric floor heat -
Can anyone (like Eddie) expound on the relative pro's and con's of 240V, 120V and "low" voltage systems (like warmzone)?

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

Like all things electric, you have voltage drop as a function of run length. The higher the voltage the better it works over distance.

The amount of heat you generate is directly related to the number of Watts in your System. Low voltage works ok for a 3X5 typical bathroom system. 120 works on medium systems, and the 240 works better on longer systems. There is a limit to how long each can work at.

You have a fairly large system in mind, about at the limit of a single zone 120 system. So, 240 is better for teh size you have in mind. And, since 240 pull power from both buses in your breaker panel it keeps the load on the same on both buses.

You are going to install over a fresh concrete base. All Concrete will crack. Tile directly over concrete will crack with the concrete. So, I highly recommend you install the Kerdi system, because it disjoints the tile from the concrete. Down side to teh Kerri system is it doesn’t come in mats, so you have to install all the wire by hand. Which can take quite a bit of extra time.

 

[chim]

Fatjay, you are one ambitious guy and your posts and projects are very interesting. Although I haven't done any installations like you plan, back in the day I did a number of radiant ceiling heat and snow mat installs. There may be some commonalities.

One of the problems you probably won't have is getting enough heat into the bathroom. When we were doing electric heat in the 70's it seemed there was often not enough space to accommodate the amount of heat needed. For baseboard, we were frequently left with a wall next to the toilet. That was in the splash zone and always a treat to service when it failed. Cable heat in the ceiling was also a challenge to get a long enough cable to heat the room. The cable had to have spacing away from the joists, light fixtures, exhaust fans, heat lamps, etc. There was only so much area left.

Stats for things installed in concrete - a piece of empty pipe was stubbed out and the t-stat capillary / bulb was pushed into it after the pour. That allowed for replacing the stat if it ever failed.

Crossing joints - care needs to be taken wherever the wiring crosses an expansion joint or goes between a floor and a wall. Anywhere two pieces of material can move can damage the wiring.

Voltage - we normally used 240V because of the lower current draw. You still pay for KWH regardless of the voltage used, but the wiring to support the installation can be smaller as the voltage increases.

I've done mat-type and single wire installations. The mats are easier to work with and would especially be so if you can take advantage of the design assistance mentioned in some of the other posts.