West Country houses, types of ground floor construction?

[kebabman]

I am looking at property in Devon and Somerset which I guess would be up to a couple of hundred years old. I was wondering what different types of ground floor construction forum members have in houses of this age and in these areas. I ask as I would be interested in installing underfloor heating and with low ceiling heights in some properties I was wondering about lowering the ground floor. Has anyone done anything like this.
Would houses of this age have a ground floor slab construction? Houses with flagstone floors, are they often laid just on the earth underneath?
Many thanks

 

[Essex]

Have a look at the 'Heating Advice' thread for lowering floors

 

[Nemesis]

I'd also be aware that these days in a listed building lowering floors may not be allowed - and nor may digging them up in some buildings either.

 

[kebabman]

Some good info on the heating advice thread, thanks

 

[arthurw3]

I tried to reduce my 200 year old house ground floor level, but came unstuck when I found that the walls are built straight off the floor, with no foundations. I ended up with 50mm of insulation, a DPC and 50mm of reinforced concrete floor slab. I am going to use the bricks I got off the floor in an extension, where I have the ability to dig down further.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Arthur - I have been through a similar experience in my place. Hacking off the cement render revealed that the floor had already been excavated about 12-15 inches in the early 1800s (to judge by the floor tiles laid onto the bare earth). Sadly the walls were also sitting on the original floor level - making for a swift bit of digging out and under-pinning as part of my works!

I haven't excavated the floor any further, as I don't need to. The cement render was slapped on in the 1970s (along with plastic sheet tanking and dry-lining - ugh (now gone, thankfully)). The bottom 15 inches was about 15 mm thick and applied straight onto the clay under the base of the walls!

Given the floor was lowered some 150-200 years ago, I do wonder if I needed to dig out and underpin. If something was going to happen, surely it would have happened by now? I guess this was the approach they took in the 1970s "modernisation" of the property.