"Raft slab"

Raft slab / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

Passive House

The Passive-aggressive house - our history of a Passivhaus build

...raft-sealing tapes in specific places. He’d recently had to open up a wall and restart because they’d skipped a few steps. He was spending so much time on-site that he was neglecting the management of his business. As a result, he didn’t think he’d make any money this season. Despite all this, he wasn’t sure his projec...

Delivery: radiant, forced-air and decentralized

Air-heated radiant floor slab foam forming systems

...slab on grade foam forms installation video here. Hydronic radiant tubing for a slab-on-grade floor © Ecohome You can see a Video Guide on How to Install Hydronic Radiant Heated Floor Tubing HERE Alternatively, you can heat floors with electric wires and this is often the most affordable after-market...

Efficient home design

The pros and cons of thermal mass in buildings

Materials in a home that act as thermal mass are things like concrete, masonry, ceramic tiles, even a large volume of wood like timber frames. All materials inside the insulated building envelope will store and release heat, the more dense they are the more pronounced the effects are. Intentionally adding greater amou...

Foundations and Basements

Slab on grade or crawlspaces, which is better?

...raft slab on expansive soils or high water tables instead of a slab with a thickened edge footing. A raft slab distributes the weight evenly over the whole surface instead of resting on an edge-loaded footing, so the risk of differential settlement or shifting is greatly reduced. A raft slab requires almost no excava...

Delivery: radiant, forced-air and decentralized

Design and construction of frost-protected shallow foundations with radiant heat

...slab elevation. If the excavation level needs to be raised, refer to the manufacturer's drawing for instructions on the use of compacted fill. NOTE: The final landscaping of the ground surface at the slab shall slope minimum 5% away from the slab. Flatten the site and strip the topsoil carefully, putting the soil and a...

Delivery: radiant, forced-air and decentralized

DIY radiant floor tubing installation video

...slab floors Learn more about the benefits of a free Ecohome Network Membership here.

Efficient home design

"The Most Resilient House in North America"

A resilient home for sustainability Northern Quebec isn’t a place where one might expect to look for a model of resilience. It’s bone-chilling cold in the winter with 10,450 heating degree days per year (Fahrenheit degree-days, base 65°F); there isn’t all that much sunlight in the winter, and Quebec—let alone northern ...

Efficient home design

Ecohome Demo House: high performance, affordable cost

...slab-on-grade home and superior wall drying abilities means that this house will have a longer than average operational life. This will help balance the added 'carbon' investment in terms of the embodied energy of building materials. For our building envelope we will use mineral wool insulation, which has a high embodi...

Passive solar home design

Ecohome Kenogami House wins Home of the Year Award

...slab floor to help transfer the warmth of the sun from the southern exposure to the north end of the house, also making sure rooms exposed to the sun do not overheat. The following table charts the temperatures over the course of a 4 day period with variable temperatures and sun exposure. Date Time Ext. Temp °C In...

Slab on Grade

Slab-on-grade technical guide

...slab-on-grade waiting for vapour barrier installation © Ecohome Floating slab / monolithic slab foundation: The term floating slab refers to a two-stage slab construction, where footings are individually poured, and the centre floor of the slab is poured after footings have cured. The forms of a monolithic slab are de...

Slab on Grade

Slab-on-grade construction: the Ecohome A to Z Slab building guide

...slab designs. This page is about how to build a thickened edge concrete slab on grade FPSF footing on soil with a high water table to prevent frost heave, by first installing drainage below the slab. Related slab on grade foundation pages: Slab-on-grade technical guide Building a thickened edge slab on grade with nor...