Homebuilding the Green Way

My general contractor sent me your address and suggested I look at your concrete stain page, among others. I'm building very green in Raymond, NH. You mentioned a radiant floor and your concern that sawcutting would damage the radiant heat tubes.

There is another way: hand-troweled expansion joints. The effect is exactly as if great stone flags had been cut and fitted together to make the floor and I'm planning to have them stained in a couple of close variations of my chosen color to give the effect of quarried stone with natural gradations of shading.

I like your site and will be exploring in more detail soon. My house has just had the insulation blown in and is awaiting plastering on the concrete shell of the first floor north, east and west walls that are sunk into the hillside, and wallboarding elsewhere. Photos, is you are interested, are on my blog--everything is chronicled there from the cutting of trees to make the road up to the house site to the most recent developments.
 

Thanks, Will. We were also concerned about sawcutting and Radiant Floor, because we also like the effect. All the contractors chickened out when we discussed it, probably a good idea.

Don't skip the insulation under the floor - many, many people do not know that un-insulated radiant floors use up to double the energy. There are many details and photos on the web of floors uninsulated, or partially insulation. This is nuts - heat just gets sucked into the earth forever. It's COLD down there, go in any cave to find our how cold. It is a nmyth that the ground will eventually warm up - heat is just soaking deeper and deeper into the soil, never to return.
 

Thanks, but not to worry--this place is super insulated everywhere it can possibly be!