
Radiant cooling and hangar progress
Emilie Phillips
Mid-September update on the hangar.
Most of the site work is done. The site crew had to import crushed stone and bigger gravel for the taxiway and apron. Without it, the trucks kept sinking into the sand. We are waiting until after the outside of the building is done before we pave. They dug up the yard between the house and the hangar to put conduit for utilities. We had a slight change of plans when Jerry convinced us it was possible connect a water line to the hangar.
Then Ike and his crew installed the insulation under the slab, the piping for radiant heat in the slab, and finally poured the slab itself. A funny thing happened, though, one night after the insulation and the waterproof membrane were installed. It had rained the day before, leaving a thin layer of water on the waterproof membrane. Overnight it cleared up, and the air cooled to ~44F. In the morning, we found ice on top of the insulation.
As best we can guess, the water radiated it’s heat up through the clear air to space. The insulation underneath protected it from the ground’s heat. Apparently this is a reliable phenomena in the desert. Folks in the middle east used to use it to make ice above freezing.
Previous hangar build stages listed in the full build story.
Photos
- Digging the taxiway -- Comments (0)
- Water and electric conduit -- Comments (0)
- under-slab insulation -- Comments (0)
- Had to bring in a gravel with bigger rocks to stabilize the apron and taxiway. -- Comments (0)
- Utilities put in between the house and hangar -- Comments (0)
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- Work needed to reinstate the access road -- Comments (0)
- Trench for mini-footing under shop walls -- Comments (0)
- Foam installation -- Comments (0)
- Taxiway and access road complete. -- Comments (0)
- Detail of insulation under front door -- Comments (0)
- Waterproof membrane beneath slab -- Comments (0)
- Looking out the taxiway towards the runway -- Comments (0)
- Ice! at 40F. -- Comments (0)
- Radiant heat piping -- Comments (0)
- Hangar and taxiway are tucked into the woods -- Comments (0)
- Pooring the slab -- Comments (0)
- Slab complete -- Comments (0)
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Biggest thing I noticed in these photos is… you have big trees at both ends of the runway! Interesting note about the ice.