The view across the living room slab

We came back the next
morning to flood the slab with water. The more slowly the
slab dries out, the stronger it will be. It won't reach design
strength for 29 days

1,300sf of concrete slab with two outdoor courtyards
(opposite sides near center)

Steel trowel for the final finish. You know when it's
done when the trowel "screams" on the concrete surface

By the time the pour begins on the last part, the
first part has already be leveled and floated

First, fill in the footings

the manifold and pressure test gauge

the compression connections for the manifold.

all the zip ties get cut off before the concrete pour.

the tubing is held down to the rebar with zip ties

1,000 ft. of radiant tubing

The desert house radiant barrier with 24" o.c. #4 rebar in place for the pour on Saturday.

Fresh out of the box: the Rehau manifold that we'll be hooking up during the radiant tubing installation at the desert house on Wednesday.

The desert house, all set for the radiant tubing.

I finished the installation of the radiant barrier for the desert house in the dark - this was the last picture with daylight... Over the weekend, the rebar was finished and so now on Monday I'll spray paint the radiant heating pattern so it will be easy to lay in the radiant tubing with Linda during the week.

On friday I installed the radiant barrier for the desert house myself. The product is two layers of 140psi bubble wrap sandwiching a foil center. Not only does it help reflect the radiant heat back to the top of the slab, it also acts as a thermal break from the earth and as a vapor barrier.

At the desert iT house, the plumbing has been stubbed out in "chase" areas to be fully roughed-in once the cabinets are in place. This picture shows the bathroom chase right behind the lavatory.

the desert site with plumbing and electrical rough-in prior to installing the radiant/vapor/insulation barrier. Preliminary rebar is being staged in the footings.

A typical floor outlet