Roger440

Ive used it, and your description of "shoggled" is about right. Its nothing like whacking down type 1. Significant voids or gaps remain afterwards. A geotextile membrane was then laid before concrete/lime crete. If you didnt, the voids are such that the concrete would fall down into the voids, negating its insulating properties. The main reason i used it aside from being "breathable" (old house) if i can use that term is that it reduced excavation as it is both the sub base and insulating layer combined. Im not one for taking pics, heres a shot with geocell, membrane and heating pipes down

I think looking for logic isnt likely to get you far. Its government. Worse still, its the scottish government. One does have to conclude that the wood burining stove lobby are highly effective.

Foamed glass is easy to move as it weighs next to nothing.

Its 15 mins work to fit an isolater. Though you do still need to remember to isolate the incoming before you turn it on.

Exactly what i am doing. Boiler is oil, but clearly, still needs power to run. So a small diesel genset does that. If i ever get my forklift to be my battery bank, thats more than enough to keep the boiler running. My primary reason for sorting all this stuff out isnt power cuts, though we do a get a fair few usually no more than a few hours, its protecting myself and not being a victim of Ed's bonkers ideas and the inevitable power rationing that follows.

Good summary of the madness of road laying.

Government signals and actions suggest it is. I think you will find the public at large think it is too. Everyone who comes to our house, which now has the original fireplace opened up, ask if we are fitting a wood burner. Without exception, when i say no, they think we are mad, if i try to explain why, they think im madder still and some sort of conspiracy theorist. There is literally no understanding or concept of the consequences of burning wood inside your house.

Ive got this now. Surprisingly effective. But only in the living room, not the kitchen. Can have carpet in the kitchen! Nothing matches UFH for comfort. The costs are negligible, some UFH pipe and £200 or so in hire for the machine. Not doing it doesnt stop the heat loss through the uninsulated slab, though, accepted it will be less of a loss than with UFH.

I did the whole excavation thing at my last place, though primarily for other reasons, but insulated and fitted UFH along the way. To do this to my current place, even with me doing a lot of the work i reckon it will be circa £5k by the time im done. Significantly more if i paid to have it done. Thats an awful lot of heating oil.

Id suggest it will be fine. Yes, i didnt want the shallow step. On the face of it, its not much, but you do notice it in use. Bizarre really, your wouldnt think that would happen.

Very interesting. Thanks for posting.

Ill be doing it myself. You can hire the slot grinding machine, so straight forward enough, if tedious. Ive looked at an overlay, but given id be doing the whole ground floor, it causes to many issues with doors, thresholds and the stairs, so ive discounted it. My house is 1800's solid wall with no DPC, so im not overly concerned about "warming" the wall as it will help push the moisture outwards, but im gussing yours is rather more conventional? Im not convinced it will need to run at an overly high temp, but clearly it will be a slow to respond heating system. The one i did in my last house was semi insulated with foamed glass, but pipes right at the bottom of the slab. It worked really well and ran at 35 degrees.

Im in the same position. Without ANY insulation under. I intend to do likewise, just set it into the existing concrete. Of course, its a long way from ideal, it will cost more money to run than if it has proper insulation. Quite a bit more. Its all very well people saying dig up the floor, but that costs. A lot. I ran some crude numbers. Id need to live to well over 100 years old to see payback. Not happening. Got better things to spend my money on. The reality is, its makes no economic sense. Unless you are 12. Dont take my word for it though, crunch the numbers yourself. Use the Jeremy spreadsheet on here to help figure it out. Id imagine with 25mm insulation under, your payback will be even longer. Of course, it will be better done right. If i had unlimited funds id do it right.

You make a good point. Wasnt aware i can hang it out as long as it takes me. Which would indeed be quite a while! I do still have the issue of cost and risk of doing it with approval, which, seems, unless someone says different, inescapable.

Im intending to die here, but that may not pan out, so yes, when selling it can be an issue. Traditionally an indemnity policy is peanuts, because the risk of action was essentially zero. I bought this house in the full knowledge that nothing that had been done, boiler aside, had certification. My previous house proved that such certification, of which there was plenty, was to all practical intents, worthless. Had i relied on it as evidence of compliance i would have been most disappointed. But, yes, going forward, logically those indemnity policies will go up in cost as the risk of enforcement increases. But to get to the nub of it, if it was just the BC fee, that would be OK. But its not like i can present my sketches and say, i want to do this, is that OK? Unless ive very much misunderstood, im going to need "proper" drawings, SAP assesment, maybe a WUFI condensation risk analaysis for the walls. None of these will tell me anything i dont already know. However, i cant do any of these things myself. Things things are not £50. So i either spend significant sums on these things, with no guarantee of acceptance as i am departing from the regs, and the risk of further reports and / or changes to what i can do. Then ill have to do the same again later when i do the windows. And the back of the house, the cavity wall bit. Each time another 4 figure sum. It makes no sense to keep shelling out for things that add nothing to the house, for a project that even without those additional report costs etc is way beyond the 15 year payback period to which the regs refer. Essentially, my choices are do it by the rules with lots of extra cost incurred, with no certainty what the final cost will be, just do it with out approval, or do nothing and buy more oil (which is the financially sensible option). My takeaway so far is that i could probably get approval for my plans, but at considerable additional cost. Cost which adds nothing to the final result. Though im struggling to believe anyone will let me do UFH on an uninsulated slab?!? Im conflicted given the new penalties...........................................