Hello all,
I found the site whilst doing research on all the work we need to do to a c. 1817 mid-terrace we bought a number of months back and the forum seems to have lots of good real-world experience which I would like to tap into if I may!
Our lower ground floor (one front and one rear room plus corridor, stairs and some cupboards) hasn't been lived in for decades. It has never had central heating and works to waste & water pipes, etc. down there gave no consideration to aesthetics or materials as it was 'hidden away'.
We would like to bring this back into use as a kitchen to the rear and an informal breakfast room/living space to the front. The rear room has (likely orginal) tiles on the floor but these are in a very poor condition and along one side have been pulled up and replaced by concrete when a waste pipe was introduced in the 1960s. The two rooms were also knocked together, then separated with a bare breeze-block wall about the same time which has also damaged the floor. The front room has flagstones as does the hallway/cupboard space. The front room flags had a thin cement screed poured over it some decades ago.
Current thinking is that as the rear room floor tiles are beyond salvage and need replacing and it may be possible to either flip the front room's flags (or at least pulling them up may help with removing the cement screed) that installing wet UFH would make a lot of sense rather than radiators. This of course would mean excavating and installing an insulated slab.
Limecrete seems to be the clear way forward with a Georgian building and this is where I have a few questions that I hope someone can help me with:
1) I'm not clear if this must be done to Building Regs U-values. Of course, it would be good to do this if possible but it's not like it's a new build or extension so is the view that 'something is better than nothing' (floor currently sits on the earth) or is it more 'all or nothing'? My belief is that Listed Buildings are exempt from Part L but I don't know if this is definitive or known by Building Regs approvers! If it's exempt, does it still need to be inspected/signed-off?
2) If we only excavated the central portion of the two rooms and left 30-60cm around the walls (so as not to disrupt the shallow foundations or interfere with the aforementioned drain and also a fireplace hearth) this will obviously impact the heat retention/loss but is there anything else we should think about (positive or negative) regarding this approach? This also means we wouldn't have UFH beneath the wooden kitchen units that will be fitted... which seems like a good idea.
3) What if, after we dig out a section, we find that it pools with water - is it enough for only the top limecrete layer to be out of any such pooling (i.e. the loose-fill insulation is in any such water)?
4) Can anyone recommend (or otherwise!) any particular limecrete installers in the Bristol & Bath area? We've found two and would like to find one or two more.
Many thanks for any advice!
Jake
I found the site whilst doing research on all the work we need to do to a c. 1817 mid-terrace we bought a number of months back and the forum seems to have lots of good real-world experience which I would like to tap into if I may!
Our lower ground floor (one front and one rear room plus corridor, stairs and some cupboards) hasn't been lived in for decades. It has never had central heating and works to waste & water pipes, etc. down there gave no consideration to aesthetics or materials as it was 'hidden away'.
We would like to bring this back into use as a kitchen to the rear and an informal breakfast room/living space to the front. The rear room has (likely orginal) tiles on the floor but these are in a very poor condition and along one side have been pulled up and replaced by concrete when a waste pipe was introduced in the 1960s. The two rooms were also knocked together, then separated with a bare breeze-block wall about the same time which has also damaged the floor. The front room has flagstones as does the hallway/cupboard space. The front room flags had a thin cement screed poured over it some decades ago.
Current thinking is that as the rear room floor tiles are beyond salvage and need replacing and it may be possible to either flip the front room's flags (or at least pulling them up may help with removing the cement screed) that installing wet UFH would make a lot of sense rather than radiators. This of course would mean excavating and installing an insulated slab.
Limecrete seems to be the clear way forward with a Georgian building and this is where I have a few questions that I hope someone can help me with:
1) I'm not clear if this must be done to Building Regs U-values. Of course, it would be good to do this if possible but it's not like it's a new build or extension so is the view that 'something is better than nothing' (floor currently sits on the earth) or is it more 'all or nothing'? My belief is that Listed Buildings are exempt from Part L but I don't know if this is definitive or known by Building Regs approvers! If it's exempt, does it still need to be inspected/signed-off?
2) If we only excavated the central portion of the two rooms and left 30-60cm around the walls (so as not to disrupt the shallow foundations or interfere with the aforementioned drain and also a fireplace hearth) this will obviously impact the heat retention/loss but is there anything else we should think about (positive or negative) regarding this approach? This also means we wouldn't have UFH beneath the wooden kitchen units that will be fitted... which seems like a good idea.
3) What if, after we dig out a section, we find that it pools with water - is it enough for only the top limecrete layer to be out of any such pooling (i.e. the loose-fill insulation is in any such water)?
4) Can anyone recommend (or otherwise!) any particular limecrete installers in the Bristol & Bath area? We've found two and would like to find one or two more.
Many thanks for any advice!
Jake