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DV, NV | My answer is to do both, basement AND floor heat. If not then really consider a slab. FineHomeBuilding.com has some great articles on insulated slab foundations.
I built my house with a full basement and in-floor hydronic heat. Built my parents' house on slab foundation with in-floor hydronic as well. Couldn't pay me to deal with crawlspace issues long term. Critters will get in eventually, moisture mitigation, heat loss, floor deflection, point loads for fireplace, and frozen pipes.
I like tile and hardwood floors, best heat transfer and easy to clean. You can always carpet over a heated slab, just need to run a little warmer water in floor. Quality engineered flooring has a decent pad built into each strip. Hardwood can be "floated" on slab over underlayment or glued to Kerdi just like tile
Under slab plumbing is basically bulletproof with quality PEX tubing and not burying any fittings. We run 1 1/4" HDPE water line as a "sleeve" for the PEX under the slab. HDPE protects from crushing PEX during backfill and protects from power trowels and sloppy framers. If you ever had a failure (VERY unlikely) you can pull a new PEX line though the poly pipe. Drain pipe takes a little more time to get toilet and shower drains in place and to grade but not that much. I've also never heard of frozen pipes under a slab. If you have access to a good concrete guy, ask about a stained and stamped concrete finished floor-we did one with a wood plank stamp and it is really nice! | |
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