What order to do things?

[TheSpid]

If you have ripped back the fireplace, stripped back the walls to bare stone, dug up the floor ready for limecrete, and have the ceiling down to redo too - what order should you reinstate everything in?

Floors first? Then walls [along with fireplace], then ceiling?

And where does one find such basic information - I have loads of books and none seem to state this?

 

[paulc]

Get the floor down to provide a flat & even surface to work from. Cover it with a couple of layers of stout dust sheets (preferably hessian with a plastic backing), then do the ceilings then walls.

 

[88v8]

Ideally.... floor first. There will be a hiatus while it cures.
What are you putting on it?

The fireplace will require stonework, so that's next, along with any stone that needs to go into the walls.

Then the stonework and the walls to point.

Before pointing, think about wall lights. Great for atmosphere. When the room is in use, the lights should be behind you or to the side, not in front.
The cables will be wiggled into the spaces between the stones then pointed in. Take pics to remind you where the cables run.
Likewise the coax for the tele, if any.
And loudspeaker cable.
Your one and only chance to hide it all.

Then the ceiling. Again, think about lighting. What is this... dining room, sitting room? Rise and fall over the dining table for example. Do you have any period light fittings looking for a home?

Sequencing, I say 'ideally', because that assumes the trades are ready to do their bit, then you do your bit, then the trades, then you... it doesn't always work that way. But, ideally.
Onwards.

Ivor

 

[Cubist]

My personal approach would be floor, to give it time to cure and to provide a solid and level surface to work from, then ceilings to make sure I get into all the nooks and crannies and to fit any jointing tapes needed to bond with the walls, then walls as, to me, its easier to ensure that the wall plaster successfully meets the ceiling plaster and covers any bonding tape successfully.
Have fun.

 

[TheSpid]

Many thanks all. Lots of fab tips there. Floors first it is. {after making sure the chimney is structurally safe = happening this week hopefully}

Not sure what we are putting on it - still thinking about UFH and then maybe oak flooring as it is the living room? It does have quarry tiles at the moment but . . . hubby not keen and I'm not keen on the work they need too, in cleaning etc.

 

[88v8]

...thinking about UFH and then maybe oak flooring ... It does have quarry tiles at the moment but . . . hubby not keen and I'm not keen on the work they need too, in cleaning etc.

You mean initial cleaning up? After that, all they need is an occasional wash.

UFH and oak... hahmm, we've been here before.
I love oak, but wood is an insulator. You wouldn't put unvented wooden covers around your radiators, would you... And in any case one can't put wood on a breathable floor - reason the floor needs to breathe is that it's damp.

Se we have wood and damp.
Wood as an insulator.
Noooo.....

Quarries, flagstones. Turkey rugs.
Or if you really want wood, then a suspended floor.

Friends up the lane had ufh put in their large (ugly) new open-plan extension. Under a wood floor. It's so expensive to run that they first decided to put in a ground-source heat pump with a huge loop under the paddock, and now they're are having to build a large solar array to offset the cost of pumping the water around the ground-source loop. And they claim it's 'green'.
Moreover, this extension is partly their kitchen, they put the ufh under the cupboards so there's nowhere cool to keep food. An architect, they had, an architect, he designed the whole thing including the kitchen. Idiots are to be found in all professions.

Ivor

 

[TheSpid]

Thanks Ivor - hmm, may need to rethink - the quarry aren't old and don't 'do it for me' very much. And need a lot of work to get the glue and cement off them. Barely seems worth the effort. (But then I
m a bit poorly at the mo and effort is not something I have in droves).

 

[MikeG]

...... still thinking about UFH and then maybe oak flooring .....

I'm not sure you're understanding limecrete. In the sense that the word is used, it is "breathable" which means that at times it could transmit moisture into the room. That is not something that you want going on underneath a timber floor. Please don't even consider doing this.

As for UFH.........it's great, so long as you have solid floors and non-insulating floor finishes, such as stone, "pammets", and so on. Never even contemplate having it upstairs, and if you are planning on a solid floor above your limecrete seek advice from your limecrete supplier or contractor regarding its suitability for UFH.

 

[TheSpid]

...... still thinking about UFH and then maybe oak flooring .....

I'm not sure you're understanding limecrete. In the sense that the word is used, it is "breathable" which means that at times it could transmit moisture into the room. That is not something that you want going on underneath a timber floor. Please don't even consider doing this.

As for UFH.........it's great, so long as you have solid floors and non-insulating floor finishes, such as stone, "pammets", and so on. Never even contemplate having it upstairs, and if you are planning on a solid floor above your limecrete seek advice from your limecrete supplier or contractor regarding its suitability for UFH.

Im getting muddled Mike. My excuse is I have adult mumps and my brain is very muddled. I did know this once. Will read up again and hope it sticks.

 

[Flyfisher]

Thanks Ivor - hmm, may need to rethink - the quarry aren't old and don't 'do it for me' very much. And need a lot of work to get the glue and cement off them. Barely seems worth the effort. (But then I
m a bit poorly at the mo and effort is not something I have in droves).

I agree with all the comments about not laying a wood floor on top of UFH - 'insulating' the warm surface of the floor really is defeating the object of getting heat into the room. In fact, it is the UNDERSIDE of the heated floor slab that must be very well insulated to ensure that your expensive energy is not being used to heat the ground!

As for not keeping the existing tiles, there are plenty of alternatives - both modern and traditional. For our UFH floor (which was in a new extension, so no existing tiles to consider), we chose traditional hand-made new pamments from Norfolk Pamments grouted with lime mortar. https://www.pamments.co.uk/index.php