Warmth elves and works of industrial art

Prior to our house making/keeping, we were busily insulating our newly heated home. We capped the second floor ceilings to hold the heat in (sort of) and keep it from escaping to the atmosphere (expensive!) and floored it in from below in the basement ceiling. Alicia, Bonnie and I had quite a little assembly line going.

You must admit, they look like little Christmas elves,

checking Santa's toy list

and working hard in his workshop!

(Note the blurred action photos!)

The beautiful sculpture that is making all of this warmth possible -- after all these weeks (dare I say, "months"??) of hard work is this:

All of this was brought to its final fruition by Frank Vitolo, our amazing plumber, a true craftsman. He constructed all of the copper connections and designed the layout of our kit parts, tank and boiler. I connected all 18 tubes to the manifold! Alicia was the system layout mastermind throughout the entire house. THANKS FRANK!! Only the slab tubing in the basement remains to be installed.

Oh, and if you don't think is beautiful, please consider the former system in all of its sooty glory: