First house, want to retrofit Underfloor Heating. Many Questions

[davesparks]

There's nothing structurally preventing proper wet UFH being installed, thats just money, effort and time - perhaps the disruption and need to have it all in with 2 months makes doing the job properly unrealistic.

How do you know that there's nothing structurally preventing it? With the age of the building there may be very limited foundations which may then require underpinning before the floors can be dug out far enough to get a concrete slab cast to then get a thick enough insulation layer down.

 

[sean_ork]

How do you know that there's nothing structurally preventing it? With the age of the building there may be very limited foundations which may then require underpinning before the floors can be dug out far enough to get a concrete slab cast to then get a thick enough insulation layer down.

My point is that it's a fairly normal house, its structurally indentical to 100,000s of other, there's nothing to stop UFH being installed, it almost certainly will have shallow founds - but that's nothing that hasn't been resolved before, just needs time effort and disruption - MW implied that UFH just wasn't "realistically achievable" which certainly isn't right, but will need a change of view by the home owner.

Any type of UFH, or any other form of space heating with no associated insulation and air tightness work is pointless, unless they like big bills.

I'm hoping the OP extends his timescales and does the job properly - remembering that you only pay once to do the job properly, you'll be forever paying high energy bills if you install a thermally compromised solution.

 

[telectrix]

i heard today that they're scrapping the original Enterprise 1701. dylithium crystals now on ebay . power and heat for 300 years.:grinningelf:

 

[davesparks]

My point is that it's a fairly normal house, its structurally indentical to 100,000s of other,

How can you tell that? As far as I can tell it's a 1920's built converted schoolhouse with a thatched roof in Wiltshire.
So it is not going to be like a fairly normal house as most normal houses weren't built as schools and thatch roofs are not all that common except in isolat dare as of the country.

 

[sean_ork]

I can tell as much as you can, it is not a unique structure - it is suitable for retro fitting UFH of the type I have described.

 

[Midwest]

MW implied that UFH just wasn't "realistically achievable" which certainly isn't right, but will need a change of view by the home owner.

I'm hoping the OP extends his timescales and does the job properly - remembering that you only pay once to do the job properly, you'll be forever paying high energy bills if you install a thermally compromised solution.

I do not have a negative view of the system, I would consider it's installation in a property of my own. But I wouldn't consider it, if I had to pay to remove an existing screed floor, pay for the accumulated waste to be disposed and then pay for someone to reinstate the finished floor. As someone else mentioned, there is also the ancillary cost of reinstating wood finishes etc. I'm guessing at £800-900 per average room? That's why I said, in my opinion, it was not realistically achievable.

In a property of this age, the existing finished floor and sub floor, may well be in need of renovation. Then it might be viable.

It is up to the OP how he spends his money, but he does mention at least once, he has financial limitations. Anything is achievable, as long as you have deep pockets.

 

[sean_ork]

It is up to the OP how he spends his money, but he does mention at least once, he has financial limitations. Anything is achievable, as long as you have deep pockets.

He said he's got 10k to spend on boiler, UFH and laminate - that's fairly healthy just for that element of the works, obvioulsy that will change if he does the job properly.

He's also said that this will be their forever home - that's a signicant statement - they will be paying energy bills forever.

What's the point of throwing in a cheap to install, cripplingly expensive to run heating system now - you only pay for a proper job the once, you'll be paying energy bills forever.

You are correct, it is the OPs money not ours to spend for him.

 

[sean_ork]

...well beyond my expertise.

What's the EPC rating of your new home ?

 

[Midwest]

He said he's got 10k to spend on boiler, UFH and laminate - that's fairly healthy just for that element of the works, obvioulsy that will change if he does the job properly.

He's also said that this will be their forever home - that's a signicant statement - they will be paying energy bills forever.

What's the point of throwing in a cheap to install, cripplingly expensive to run heating system now - you only pay for a proper job the once, you'll be paying energy bills forever.

You are correct, it is the OPs money not ours to spend for him.

By my calculations and guesstimate, that's about 5k on digging up & putting back the floor.

 

[sean_ork]

By my calculations and guesstimate, that's about 5k on digging up & putting back the floor.

This is rather pointless, the OP has stated he's happy to do some relatively unskilled tasks - and its never been suggested that the system I've mentioned would fit within his stated budget - do a job once and do it right, its their forever home, that's my point.