I just happened to stumble on your blog while in the midst of researching heat pumps and radiant heat – so many options and a wide range of costs. It’s very helpful to hear some real life experiences….

Pascale: That’s a fair point about heat pumps. I wouldn’t say the noise bothers us at all, but yes, you can hear when it turns on and off. Radiant, of course, does not make a sound. If you absolutely don’t need cooling, I would say radiant is a fine choice. Also, this may not be an issue for you but we needed a system that could respond rapidly to changes in solar gain outside. Because we have a huge SW facing wall of glass, the solar radiation that comes through there dramatically affects the heating and cooling needs of the house. So if you don’t have that issue, it’s one more item in radiant’s favor.

A question for you regarding your HVAC – how quiet/noisy is your heat pump? I’m leaning heavily towards radiant floor heating (we don’t need A/C – our property is typically 10 degrees cooler than the mainland) partially because over the years I’ve come to dislike the noise of our gas furnace and the sound of air rushing through the ducts. We have electric radiant floor heat in our master bedroom (did it ourselves during a remodel a few years ago) and we (and our cat) just love it. Only wish we had thought of running it in the shower stall as well!

1) Kohler Flipside: Yes i will encourage the fandom. How can a $70 piece exceed expectations so much? I think i may start giving them as gifts.

2) Separate controls for volume and temperature in shower.

Also – got to agree on the radiant heat. I live in cold Pittsburgh, PA and i had a giant steam radiator in my 1920′s spanish mission house’s bathroom. I put in a panasonic whisper warm heater/fan and a radiant heat floor in the bathroom. For me – walking onto the warm floor is very important in my subjective feeling of warmth. And then if we need more heat i put on the whisper warm.

Great house and thanks for documenting it!!!

Real Estate is a profession, kind of like web design. So you sold some company for millions dollars? It’s in here somewhere, I’m sure there were contracts involved.

So your time, effort, energy, your trade, is much more valuable than the excellent work of Russel Katz, who has also learned a craft?

You say he isn’t complaining, because you’ve got your condo deal you’re going to give him as his next prize.

What I’m saying is that I hope this next experience he has with you goes better than what you have described.