Hi as far as the O.C. basment finished system goes. I feel its very similar to a mobile home interior, they try to sell you on the waterproof and mildew/mold resistance. I have been a property damaged repair contractor in Ohio, Mich and Indiana for more than 20 years. The O.C. System doesnt hold up any better in a heavy moisture/waterdamage/flood situation. I would go with a standard studwall, wood or metal and drywall walls and ceiling. We finish 20 basements per year on average and build more than 30 additions on top of our fire and water work. If you have a serious moisture issue, deal with that first then finish the basement. The price is also high for what your are getting. As far as the rest of your do it your selfers. I have nothing against you save the fact you like to compare your work/quality/knowledge and cost to that of a licensed reputable contractor. Maybe you should try building your own vechicles, filling your own teeth, mending your wounds, butchering your meat and so on. Sure many of you can trip your way through a remodle project with varing results, especially in todays world where there are a million web sites to explain how to do just about anything. Home improvment seems to be the career many of you just can't seem to accept as a legitimate way of making an honest living. The real story is folks in the trades work all day long in the field, go home have dinner with their families then leave to visit homeowners like yourselves, most who wouldnt think of leaving work early to meet prospective contractors during business hours, but dont think a thing of "in the one case above" calling out 15-20 contractors for a free estimate more than likely at nite or on a weekend. Btw our professionaly finished basements start at $35 to $40 per square foot based on the scope of work and yes we dont feel comfortable with a gross profit of less than 30% much less than your mechanic, grocer, doctor, lawyer, or your local gas station. The average age of our employees and contractors is 52. Based on that in twenty years you will get to do all your home improvment projects your self and avoid paying a qualified contractor a well earned wage. Look out for that roof replacment!!! YOUR IGNORANT TO COMPARE YOUR SWEAT EQUITY TO A QUALITY CONTRACTOR If your employer did'nt earn a profit you wouldnt have a JOB

"never heard of Ditra! glad i'm on here. I expect there is a pine board subfloor under there somewhere. I intend to reuse it. The ditra just goes on top of that, right?" Unfortunately, no. Pine boards, though probably pretty darn stable by now, can still move a bit either through flex or seasonal humidity changes. So you need a transition material between the planks and the cement board or Ditra. That transitional material is usually plywood. If using SLC, a typical flow would be: Your pine planking, fasten it down securely. Then 1/2" plywood over that, then set your heating mats. Then use a garden sprayer to spray the SLC primer on the subfloor and heating wires. You don't need to use a garden sprayer, but it does coat everything very nicely. Then SLC. Then you can tile right over the SLC, or Ditra over the SLC and tile over the Ditra. I do recommend a self-leveling material over the radiant wires. It simply makes it easier to get a nice level surface upon which to tile. Some folks set the wire mats in place then trowel thinset over the mat, trying to get it fairly flat. Sometimes it works, sometimes they end up with incomplete coverage, a honeycomb of voids, and/or a messy and unflat surface. That will frustrate you when it comes time to tile. SLC is not mandatory by any means. But if your ability to trowel thinset into a nice flat surface is somewhat challenged, then using SLC can make your life a little easier. If you use SLC, realize...as the name implies, it is "self-leveling". It will flow wherever you allow it to flow. Through cracks in the floor, down the toilet waste flange, under the baseboards. So you need to contain it from flowing wherever you do not want it to go. And don't forgo a bonding primer for the SLC. The primer helps it adhere to the subfloor. If you do use SLC, have all your ducks in a row. Have a helper. Once you start you don't stop midway through the job. Lastly, whatever method you use: If you use cement board, the cement board gets a coat of thinset between it and whatever it goes over. So many people omit that step and it results in cracked grout and lose tiles a few years down the road. The thinset isn't there to bond the cement board to the plywood beneath it. The fasteners (screws or nails) do that. The thinset simply acts as a setting bed to provide complete contact between the cement board and the plywood underneath it, so there is no vertical movement between the two when the floor is walked upon. I won't really critique your work flow because we all have different methods of working. But how about ventilation? Any bathroom vent?

Careful plumbing location is far more important for multifamily buildings and hotels or subdivisions where a house design will be used repeatedly. The savings from locating bathrooms near other bathrooms is not as important as the savings in structure and the benefit of a good layout. If there is a basement or crawl space, plumbing can pretty much be located anywhere but it does help to anticipate where waste pipes will be located in the framing of the second floor in order to avoid soffits. A more important issue is to avoid locating plumbing next to or above living spaces where noise would not be welcome and to avoid exposure to outside freezing temperatures. Figure out the big issue before getting side tracked by the little ones.

Since you have chosen warmboard over gypcrete, what was your reasoning behind it besides responsiveness? I am sorry for the confusion. I didn't build a house with Warmboard, I had it in a house where original owner had installed it. It wasn't a house I built. I used it in the sense that I heated the house with it. I looked at the Gypcrete system and somehow feels uneasy about it. Doing a concrete pour over first and second floor does not sound structurally sound to me. Gypcrete has positives and negatives but shouldn't be overlooked because of structurally sound. I think a competent and knowledgeable designer is much more important than which type of system you use. So if you don't have a lot of experienced local people, you have to find experienced people who can help design at a distance. I would start with Radiant Engineering (talk to many companies though). A long somewhat unbiased discussion of radiant: First, it should be noted that radiant heat isn't an efficiency discussion. As people have pointed out many times hydronic radiant systems rarely have a positive payback. They are simply too expensive to install and they never payback if you are installing central air. However, every decision in your house isn't about payback. There are many decisions, such as paint color, cabinet color, cabinet design, many fixtures, etc., that are about your enjoyment of your home. No one has a pool installed because they want it to add value to their house. Radiant fits soundly into that category. Next: A discussion of trade-offs between the different systems. It is important to note that ALL radiant floor systems will provide a comfortable environment to a home that other heating methods struggle to achieve. There are basically five considerations in radiant heat (1) installation costs, (2) operating costs, (3) responsiveness (4) allowable customization and (5) noise (as hot water passes through cold aluminum plates it makes noise). If we look at the different systems we can typically see how they handle each of these things. Warmboard is (1) very expensive to install, (2) it has a low operating cost as it is a warm water system rather than a hot water system, (3) incredibly responsive for radiant heat (able to heat a structure in hours rather than days), (4) low customization and (5) low noise. Underfloor transfer plate systems are (1) moderately expensive to install, (2) low operating costs as they are also warm rather than hot water systems, (3) are somewhat responsive (4) highly customizable and (5) have more expansion noise. Gypcrete overpour is (1) moderately expensive (still cheaper than the two above), (2) have low costs as,they too are warm water systems, (3) not responsive at all, (4) are highly customizable and (5) eliminate almost all noise. Staple up systems are (1) pretty cheap (2) high operating costs as they are a hot water system, (3) not responsive at all, (4) limited customization (they are more limited by physics than design), and (5) are pretty noisy. So looking at Warmboard vs. similar systems - the only real concern from using any aluminum covered plywood system is the noise. Warmboard eliminates expansion noise because of the "special" glue they use to adhere the aluminum to the wood. I can't really tell you how special their glue is, I feel confident they will say super special and their competition will disagree. Warmboard type systems vs. underfloor transfer plate systems - Warmboard is quieter but the loops are not really customizable. Loops are 8" apart with Warmboard, so you can choose not to put warmboard in places but you can't get the loops closer together. With transfer plate systems you can customize the heat of a room by simply moving the loops closer together. This means that you can make the floor right outside the shower warmer than the floor beside the toilet (not many people spend a lot of time standing beside their toilet), but there is more expansion noise. Warmboard is a bit more responsive than transfer plates. Warmboard vs, gypcrete overpour - Gypcrete overpour gives you almost unlimited customization without the noise associated with aluminum transfer plate systems. However, it is not at all responsive. Staple up systems - They are more expensive to operate than any of the above systems but are cheaper to install and easier to maintain. You are not likely to nail through a staple up system with a nice thick transfer plate. Also easier to remodel with staple up systems. TL:DR In the end, if I was ranking a radiant system today - I would probably rank it - underfloor transfer plates > gypcrete > Warmboard. But it is a three way photo finish so it wouldn't take a lot to change the order. Also noisy houses don't bother me at all.