Ron Jr.

Ken D.

Ron, After years of disconnecting leaking radiant heat and installing baseboard in Levittown, Pa., we have recieved 2 recent requests to reinstall radiant in Levitt homes. One of our suppliers said we must jackhammer almost the entire slab and install the PEX that way and recement, where another said to install the PEX directly on the existing slab and pour thinset. Have you guys reinstalled radiant? If so, What method do you use? If using thinset, would you need to cut the drywall at the baseboard level? What about the kitchen cabinet baseboard strips? Would the cabinet bases need to be raised? Unfortunately our present contacts have no experience in such a reinstall and neither do we. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Fraternally, Ken D.

Unknown

I've been at 2 Levitt homes

where new radiant was installed . The most recent was for my town supervisor who lives around the block from me . We installed the boiler and she had a radiant crew install the pex right on the slab and used gypcrete to bury it in . All the doors had to be rasied , but it wasn't a big deal since the inside was all gutted . Same method in the 2nd home .

Knowing the thinness of these floors ( 2 to 3 inches ) , I would bet that chopping it up to bury pex on the widest of centers you'll wind up floating a whole new floor instead of just recementing channels . I think a cement saw could work a miracle in this situation , but it'd be real time consuming . I was hoping someone would try this in a Levitt home because I was thinking of doing it myself , but I don't want to be the test case .

Good luck Ken , are you gonna try the install ? Keep us posted on what method you go with .

Robert O'Connor_7

I'm Tripping Again!

One thing comes to mind when I hear this. Tread heights. Be aware of building code regs when undertaking this. Some inspectors enforce it and for good reason. I'm gonna try not to be the fly in the ointment here but..... have a backup plan. If you can plan around entrance ways, stair bases and tops OR have a plan B if called on it. You would acually be suprised by the brains ability to put stair climbing on auto pilot. I'd hate to see you get jammed up, and speaking from experience a sharp lawyer will pick it up if someone got hurt.

Robert O'Connor/NJ

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Stair

According to one of my grandmas who like to study such things, stairs are the most deadly common household object--followed by bath tubs.

IMO significantly changing the level of a floor with stairs attached can be very dangerous.

Not too bad if you've raised the floor at the BOTTOM of a set of stairs. Increase the run of the bottom tread to the proportion of 2 x rise + run = 24 and everything will be safe and feel natural. Nice old staircases frequently have the bottom step with a longer run--if properly built it also has a shorter rise.

If you've raised the floor at the top of a flight of steps by more than an inch, the only truly safe thing to do is to rebuild the stairway. I believe that most codes now prohibit a rise of more than 8" in any but unusual circumstances.

Ken D.

Ron

Thanks for the reply. We don't know if we are going to tackle it or not. I am inclined to let it go, but both jobs are good regular contract customers. The more I think about it, they will be major jobs. 2 or 3 inches is alot and I'm sure we will need to raise the kitchen cabinets along with the porcelain facilities. Robert's point about the rise is well taken,although neither of these homes will be an issue as both driveways and walks have been redone previously and have hardly any rise into the homes. One is what would be called a ranch style (one floor) that Levitt called the Levittowner model. The other is what Levitt called the Rancher model, but is actually aCape Cod style that is being all redone with a new stairway. we are getting nformation at this point and have not made a decision to proceed. I will keep you posted. It does sound intriguing. Thanks to all.

jerry scharf_2

don't rebuild, just shim it up

They say they used to build castle stairs with the top stair too high. This way people sneaking in at night would trip, fall and wake up the guards. Maybe that's just a myth.

Anyway, rather than rebuilding the stairs, you can just pull the finished surface of the treads off, and add plywood on top of the structural tread to keep the riser within 1/8th or proper height. That's what I do when the floor changes height, it works either way and it doesn't take too long (as long as someone else gets to put the finished tread surface back on...)

jerry


jerry