The Ultimate In Energy Efficient New Home Construction
John Webb has been a highly reputable new home builder in Eugene Oregon for 20 years. The John Webb Construction & Design team are well known for building new energy efficient homes. The literal foundation of his reputation starts with Radiant Heat floors.
“Gosh I think it must have been back in the late Seventies, I had lived in Terra Linda California, in an Eichler Home which is all walls of glass and open beam ceilings – very simply built – and they all had radiant heat floors. That was really my first experience living in it and having that in the winter time. I really loved the way that the heat was all even and silent with no dust in the whole thing.
That is something that I really had to design into my own buildings when I went out on my own. When I was working in the Architecture and Planning Firm we used Radiant Heat designs when we built homes up in Lake Tahoe and Park City Utah. They were all Radiant Heat since they were in a much colder climate. Almost all the homes I’ve built have that option in them.
You know, they’re really very healthy homes. They don’t have all of the dust blowing around that more conventionally heated homes have. It’s nice for dogs running in and out in the wintertime, the floors dry, and you just dust it, or sweep it up. Whether they come in with muddy feat it doesn’t matter, it dries quickly and you just use a dust mop or vacuum and clean it right up. It’s wise.
It’s just a different kind of heat. All your forced air thermostats are at about 4 feet high, so if it’s set for 70, everything above it is 70 degrees and everything below it is cooler. So, the difference is that the heat is coming from under your feet so you can set your thermostat lower and it’s even. You don’t have any cold spots. Say you have walls of glass, it’ll be an even heat throughout the entire place.
And we’ve gotten a bit more sophisticated with it. All our shower floors are radiant heated. In the Summertime the floor is cooler – the cool air created by the concrete slab stays closer to the floor, which seems to me and is proven by your electricity bill, that it’s more energy efficient that way. It’s cooler when you want it in the Summer and it’s really warm and nice and cozy in the Winter.”
John Webb Construction & Design: https://johnwebbconstruction.com/
What is Radiant Heating?: https://johnwebbconstruction.com/radiant-heat-what-is-it/