I was just thinking that heated slab with no insulation would be expensive to heat, i too use the white stuff for my build, much thicker layer, i like to keep the heat inside the house, as for the density, it would be best if it was calculated to take the actual load, but we do have different building codes over here.

Yes, I think northern Europe and Canada have a common interest in thermally efficient designs.

That foam in you build is very thick! I have only seen foam that thick in floating docks and in boats.

One error that many with in-floor radiate heat do here is to omit a thermal barrier between the heated floor slab and the unheated wall. If the two are connected then the snow will melt 40cm or more from the house!!!

I have 13 inch below the floor, this is the basement, we build so we get close to a "zero energy house"

I have seen triple glazed windows in Finland. You don't mess around in your region!

Yes, we have that and that's what we are going to get, they also come with gas inside and the bounding edges are with plastic instead of aluminum, heavy as hell.

Yes plastic is less conductive for sure. I never understood the aluminum spacers and frames in windows.

I recall a thermodynamics class where the prof calculated the ideal glass-to-glass spacing where air's insulating properties gave way to convection.... you are bringing back bad memories of unintuitive partial differential equations.... leave those to Bohr and Brahe

IIRC that must be 5/4 inch

Hey Phil, I'm a contractor.#1 what you think is big enough for a barn/shop 99% of the time is small. building a pole barn type of building will keep cost down, and you can get about an R-30 in the side walls. ceiling, in cold country 18-24 inches of blown insulation, not fiberglass, it also helps to put Mylar bubble type insulation between your trusses stapled to the roof decking, it makes a dramatic difference in heat loss/gain. No sky lights facing south you'll roast in the summer, north side only. radiant heat the only way to fly, put down 2 inch high density foam insulation,then 3/8's pex tubing on 12 inch centers 4 inches of concrete.heat with of a 40-50 gallon water or grater water heater. Ceiling needs to be 2 foot above your highest door. With the radiant heat you will have multiple thermostats set at about 62-64 F. with the thermostats at 5 foot from the floor, any more and you will sweat.

YOu can't work in a cold garage, grasping cold tools. No matter WHAT I had to sacrifice I'd put in radiant,in-floor heat. Hot water tubes running in the floor. Requires a boiler, and a bit more concrete work.

With radiant heat the rest of the shop can stay cooler while the part your BODY is in contact with, the floor, fEELS warm. the sensation is just incredible. There are no drafts, no smells, just pure comfort.

Ask anyone who's had in-floor heat intheir home or shop. They wouldn't trade it for a lift, for nothing.

Update. I was too slow and the weather beat me. It is roof tight but I still need to put the metal roof on it. Currently -17C and 1' of snow on the roof.

It is warming up to +6C this evening so I may go up and shovel off the snow. It may go above zero on the weekend so I can have another go at it.

It has in-floor radiant with 2" of foam underneath. I am looking for a propane on-demand water heater that I can mount on the wall.

It is actually a 25'w X 24'd "shed". Once I get the metal roof on and the metal siding, I can call for a building inspection then proceed with insulation.

In the long run it may be a cat kennel.

Nearly ready to move in!

Just need a final inspection, rain gutter, and more grubbing, drains and crushed stone.

Nice: Looks like a good place to spend the winter.