Replacing Baseboard in Laundry Room

Uni R

I'm in the midst of converting a former side hall with closets into a laundry room. The situation now is that the room is closed and has too much radiation. When the door of the room is closed, the heating in the laundry room will go up to 75 when the rest of the house is just under 70. I'd like to get rid of the baseboard to simplify the tiling, eliminate the cleaning aspect and make it easier for the door swing, door stop situation. The joists run perpendicular to the room and only the one end wall is an outdoor wall. The room is over top of a 4.5' high heated crawlspace with a concrete floor. The current rad is fed by 0.75" black iron off a 1.25" diverter tee system. The water maxes out at 140 to 145. I only want to do some floor heating for the purple area which is 4' in depth. The room is just over 6' wide and just over 13' long. I'd like to just use the existing runs to supply the floor warming. I would prefer not to insulate the joist bays since they have phone lines and network cables running through them but would if needed. There is already a nearby baseboard in the crawlspace that heats that end just back from the outside door (the door that's colored blue). So far the ideas are as follows:


1. Staple up some really small PEX loops snaked through the bays.


2. Run several PEX strips lengthwise through the joists.


3. Cut multiple 14" sections of baseboard and run a strip perdendicular through the joists under the centre of the walkway area. Like an 8' baseboard but going through all of the joists.


4. Pipe 5 or 6 x 3' long black iron runs back and forth following the joist bays connected through the joists that go under the primary walking area.


What's the simplest solution that will be maintenance free in the long run and lower the temps from what that 8' rad is dumping into this small room right now? Nice to have a forum such as this to bounce ideas off and fish for new ones.

kevin coppinger_4

one simple solution....

to the over heting problem would be to cut off some of the fins only on the baseboard...start of by taking a foot at a time.kpc

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Uni R

Replacing Baseboard in Laundry Room

Very true Kevin, but laundry rooms can feed entirely too much lint to them hungry fins, and it would make tiling a lot easier if I don't have to tile under them. If I leave them I would have to replace them (they're old and ugly and will be too low as they are after tiling) I'd rather just floor warm from below and was wondering which way would be best. Thanks...

kevin coppinger_4

well if radiant...

is your goal you will have to insulate....otherwise that will be a warm crawlspace. DO the heatloss #'s ...kpc

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Weezbo

i have no idea as to the heat loss in the room ...however

take the base board down stairs lose the trim hooh some hepex 1/2" to one end and some he pex to the other strap it up in the outside bay,wrap a loop 10' or so in the next bay in and the same in the next bay in hook up the two ends to the pipe s that used to feed the baseboard. tie it right back in inother words....staple the two loops up to the top of the tjis and let it do its thing. it will help heat the bays under foot a bit ,and heat the outside perimiter. insulate the outside perimiter in the crawl space with some foam on or near the partition wall and Wa La ! radiant floor heat:) plus it will keep the area warmer under the floor...insulate the box or rim joist also as this will keep the heat sorta speak. as long as the btus are going into the home look on the ground of the crawl space..do you see a plastic vapor barrier? no?put one down.helps keep the space healty.

Weezbo

oh wow!

put the 8' of base board finn tube along the Blue wall. the vapor barrier i gotta think must already be "in There" under the concrete in the crawl space. i think you may be pleasntly suprised at how well it works to temper the room and your comfort . any time there is a call for heat on that zone it will dump some heat into the area the base board will dump heat to the cool Wall the radiant will send heat into the floor joist ply wood quickset tiles:) and feel much better than what you had going.

Uni R

It is heated...

Kevin, the crawlspace is heated. That's not a factor. I just want a nice simple way of warming the tiles in the room using the existing temps of the diverter tee piping.