clear-floor-finish / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

Is polyurethane floor seal non-toxic? In North America, polyurethane varnish is used almost exclusively as a wood floor finish, but the majority of them are high in VOC's which are detrimental to interior air quality and health. For this reason non-toxic wood floor finishing oils are gaining in popularity. There are a ...

  How to lay your won hydronic under floor heating tubes  There is some debate in performance building circles, particularly in the Passive House community as to whether or not you can add enough insulation below a concrete floor to eliminate the need for heating it. We have been on the fence about this and leaned to ...

In many homes, basements are increasingly being converted into functional, comfortable, and often very livable spaces, but getting them to be warm, dry, and usable poses a unique set of challenges. A good underfloor heating system provides even warmth and saves space. Coupling this with waterproof floor screed helps to...

Home floor tiles: a homeowner's and pro's guide When it comes to choosing the right floor tiles for a home, the decision goes far beyond aesthetics. The ideal tile balances durability, maintenance, cost, and most importantly, environmental impact. As a builder when I chose tile surfaces for my own home, I used handmade...

See more videos about passive solar high performance home building here  Once a decision has been made to choose between a crawlspace or a slab foundation, you need to know how to finish the edge off durably. Typically the exterior edge of a slab on grade is made of EPS foam and can be parged. Having used rigid Rockwo...

Here is our DIY video of  how to lay down tubing for our radiant floor in the Edelweiss House. We have a 10 zone system, allowing floor temperatures in each room to be controlled independently. HePex tubing was provided by Uponor, who also use building plans to give customers a zone plan to follow making the install q...

Hydronic heating is a system that uses water as the medium to distribute heat throughout a home, rather than relying on heating air. In simple terms, this means that water is used as the heat-transfer fluid used to warm the living space. Although hydronic heating offers many advantages, it can be challenging to incorpo...

Radiant heating systems are very common in concrete floors now because they provide a very balanced and comfortable distribution of heat. Those systems are most commonly hydronic, meaning heated liquid is pumped through tubing in the concrete which then radiates that heat into the house. View the slab on grade foam for...

Underfloor heating, or infloor heating as it is also called, is a very efficient, comfortable, and healthy way to heat a home. Radiant floor heating can be done with air tubes, hydronic (liquid) tubes, or heating wires. It can be installed in concrete slab floors, under tile floors, or even engineered wood floors. When...

The floors you choose really create the atmosphere in your home and give it its identity. The first considerations should be to choose a durable and non-toxic floor to ensure safe indoor air quality. When you are making choices, find out the estimated lifespan and what maintenance is required to keep it in good conditi...

Radiant underfloor heating in homes is a very efficient and comfortable method for heating a home. There are different options for underfloor heating systems to consider, whether you are building a new home with a slab-on-grade or standard basement, adding radiant floor heat to a second floor, or doing energy-efficient...