Yes you can have baseboard radiators and in-floor radiant. "Can they be in the same loop or zone?" That may not be the best way to plumb, as the radiators and in-floor will likely require different water temperatures (supply & return âÂÂT), flow rates and controls. Always use proper design and best practices for assured comfort and reliability, not easiest, quickest, cheapest hookup. Don't forget automatic air elimination and dirt separation. Proper placement of every component is crucial! Plan and document your mechanical room carefully with proper labeling, arrows indicating flow direction, supply & return and a DETAILED schematic that remains on-site and includes every component so that any technician coming on site can understand what they're looking at. HIRE A SERIOUS PROFESSIONAL - you'll be glad you did! IMO SR

Hola, Sorry, forgot to post layout: And no, we're not thinking of using our huge fireplace as a heat source. My kids have asthma, so all the tiny particles from wood burning or pellet stoves are not good for the kids. And I don't think they're that environmentally friendly. If we have the money, we would do geothermal heating. Here's our house in about 20inches of snow last year (does this help your decision, since it's nice and warm today?): plllog: "You have young children. You have a budget...Then the children can spread out their painting projects on the floor, roller skate, or whatever. Real linoleum, such as Marmoleum, is an ecologically friendly choice...you can easily replace it when you decide you want hardwood. In fact, you can do the subfloor as if you're getting hardwood... Then it's easy to mop. And you can make the change when the kids are older and you feel like spending the money--or not." These are my thoughts exactly!!! roobear: "Hardwood is better for resale, it would add value to your home, it can be refinished etc. Plus, it would fit the period and style of the house better." EXACTLY! The flip-side of my thinking as well. If I'm going to do hardwoods later, why not do them now and enjoy the benefit of the flooring, rather than pay twice? I've also thought about the heated rugs; the Japanese use them all over their house. circuspeanut: "have cold feet 6 months out of the year" Argh: sometimes it feels longer. cleo: "using engineered hardwood floors" Great idea, but because we installed some in our previous house, I really did not like them. My main concern w/ them is wear and tear, especially in between the planks. What happens if water (or raw meat juice) gets in between and swells the ?particle boards, etc? lovilynne: "have you considered DIY wood" Oh, while my house is not historical, it seems like it with the uneven floor, no insulation in the walls, etc :) We are DIY the hardwood floors for the 2nd floor right now. The learning curve was HUGE for us. And I'm not sure about my skills w/ hardwood floor over radiant heat. "they make a special heater to go under the cabinet" Oh!!! Can you please tell me more? Do you have pictures to share? Hmmm...

The short story is we chose radiant because it worked the best with the floorplan / material choices we made. The long story is how we got there. We had the choice of a basement, crawl space, or slab. Basements are common in my area because of the required 3' footers - it doesn't cost much to go deeper and have a basement. Financially they make sense, but I don't care for them. They are cold, dark, and low ceilings feel oppressive. Crawl spaces are nice to allow access, but the floors were crazy cold in winter and the amount of humidity could also turn into a mold problem. We chose a slab foundation before we had land, and it worked out since the land we built on would not have supported a basement. Our slab has xps foam board under and along the edges for insulation. Our floor plan is completely custom that I did in autocad myself. All the common areas are on the south side and open. The bedrooms and bathrooms are on the north side. With an open floor plan (some of it 17' tall rooms) and concrete floors it makes forced air ducting more difficult. My experience with forced air is that it blows dust and curtains, feels like a cold draft across your neck when it first kicks on and forces the cold air out before the heated air, and is noisy enough to have to raise the TV or conversation volume when its on. Choosing radiant floor heat with separate zones for the common and private areas seemed like the perfect choice for heating. But we do use our air conditioner for 6-8 weeks and the floorplan layout was critical in being able to use a wall unit to comfortably cool the whole house. I was planning on finishing the concrete with coloring and waxing of some kind, but my husband became friends with a person who polishes commercial concrete floors and we had him polish our floors. It looks wonderful, and is easy to clean. The radiant heat is quiet and even heating with about a 2 hour lag time. I also thought it would be warm on my toes, but I learned that it's not - even in the middle of winter, and want to make sure others are aware of that so they are not disappointed. It's not cold, but its not warm either. Our upstairs is a quality pad and carpeted which feels nicer to my bare feet than the cool concrete. Each house and owner is different so I hope you find the best solution for your situation.

Part I You have a very interesting hydronic system, probably gas. However, due to its complexity I strongly suggest that you find someone in your area that is familiar with leading edge hydronic design theory and implementation, including the use of glycol, mixing valves, variable speed pumps, zoning and motorized zone valves. Your system should have primary and secondary loops. The primary loop should have its own circulator. If the secondary loops operate at different temperatures, perhaps the plumbing should be Series Primary Secondary so that the loops/zones further away from the boiler receiver progressively cooler fluid because they’re all in series as opposed to a Parallel Primary/Secondary plumbed system that would have all the loops/zones receiving the same liquid temperature because they’re all in parallel. To not stress the boiler with too great a ∆T, the boiler should be modulating and perhaps a variable speed circulator might be installed with speed variation based temperature differential between its input and output. That way you would have a more constant fluid return temperature at the boiler, less short cycling, greater efficiency due to longer run times and a longer equipment life cycle. IMPO SR