FamilyWiggs
Member
- Messages
- 3,452
- Location
- Flintshire, N Wales.
I am just getting to the sitting room floor in my 16thC Welsh farmhouse project.
Floor is currently bare earth (compacted clay) with some rather nice early 19thC Heather Browns laid directly onto it. They were rather damp when I first lifted the 1970s carpet, chipboard and polythene that was covering them. However it has all dried out nicely now (as nature/the original construction intended).
SWMBO (She who must be obeyed) won't let me leave the Heather Browns in situ, so they are sadly being moved to the dining room floor instead.
I am planning on putting a flag floor in instead - maybe York, maybe slate. Rather than laying directly on to the clay, I am thinking of putting down a lime screed first, and setting the flags into that.
I would like to put electric underfloor heating in as background, having had good experiences of it elsewhere. It will supplement the woodburner/backburner with cast iron rads. Putting in water pipes for UFH is not an option, so it has to be electric.
Clearly I want a breathable floor, so won't putting down the usual extruded polystyrene-type insulation underneath the UFH.
My questions are:
a) does anyone have any experience of combining a lime screed with electric underfloor mat heating. As it is a "breathable" floor, do I need to worry about any moisture evaporating through the screed/floor if I have UFH cables there. Everything is all sealed in terms of cables, so I presume not? Strikes me is is no different to burying cables in plaster in the walls.
b) How thick a screed should I lay? Is there a breathable insulation I can incorporate.
c) I presume if I seal the flags & grout, this negates the whole "breathable" point of the exercise?
Thanks in advance for the advice.
Robin
Floor is currently bare earth (compacted clay) with some rather nice early 19thC Heather Browns laid directly onto it. They were rather damp when I first lifted the 1970s carpet, chipboard and polythene that was covering them. However it has all dried out nicely now (as nature/the original construction intended).
SWMBO (She who must be obeyed) won't let me leave the Heather Browns in situ, so they are sadly being moved to the dining room floor instead.
I am planning on putting a flag floor in instead - maybe York, maybe slate. Rather than laying directly on to the clay, I am thinking of putting down a lime screed first, and setting the flags into that.
I would like to put electric underfloor heating in as background, having had good experiences of it elsewhere. It will supplement the woodburner/backburner with cast iron rads. Putting in water pipes for UFH is not an option, so it has to be electric.
Clearly I want a breathable floor, so won't putting down the usual extruded polystyrene-type insulation underneath the UFH.
My questions are:
a) does anyone have any experience of combining a lime screed with electric underfloor mat heating. As it is a "breathable" floor, do I need to worry about any moisture evaporating through the screed/floor if I have UFH cables there. Everything is all sealed in terms of cables, so I presume not? Strikes me is is no different to burying cables in plaster in the walls.
b) How thick a screed should I lay? Is there a breathable insulation I can incorporate.
c) I presume if I seal the flags & grout, this negates the whole "breathable" point of the exercise?
Thanks in advance for the advice.
Robin