Paene Finitur

It's engineered oak. The supplier and have confirmed that it can be used with UFH.

A fair question. The joist voids are packed with Xtratherm PIR rigid insulation board (I've a feeling at might be 100mm though it could be more) and the ceiling of the porch is 12mm ply. This is in a new build, by the way.

I'd asked my electrician to lay a small underfloor heating circuit in one of the bedrooms, but despite being told months ago, he hasn't got the job done and I've decided to step in and do it myself as the floor is being laid on Thursday, so time is of the essence. Naturally, the sparks has at least agreed to check and sign off my work. Reason for going for UFH in this case is that the floor in question is a little annex which juts out over a porch so gets no rising heat from downstairs and is only 3.5m2 so a small UFH install here should be fairly simple, I'm thinking. I'm wondering if anyone has experience of this and can answer the following questions. First question: I've been working mainly from this video which seems comprehensive although, like most other videos and tutorials, it assumes that you're installing over a screed. From what I can gather, it should be much simpler over chipboard - especially if you're using engineered wood over it, as I am, rather than tiles - being just a matter of first laying an appropriate insulation board such as this one, and then fix the mat onto the insulation board as per video/instructions. Should the insulation boards be glued/fixed in some way to the chipboard, or just float free? I guess any type of appropriate insulation would do? Second question: I was planning, for simplicity, to get a kit something like this Nassboards one. I assume I'll need: Heating Mat Thermostat Floor probe and conduit Thermal primer and roller Anything else I would need, or does this seem reasonable? Many thanks!

This is strange as the windows already have child locks built in. When you open them, they open a max of 8-10cm, but there's a button inside the rim that, when pressed, allows it to open to full extent. I don't see how the linked item is any safer than that really, although I accept that one might be acceptable to building control and the other not for reasons I don't understand. I would guess the window would have to be openable by a competent adult (or even child) in an emergency, to meet fire regulations?

The feedback from the Warranty surveyor has been receptive to using a jaclock although they've asked me to check with building control. Point about escape windows is a good one though, as I chose the permanent version which is probably more suitable to third floor and above where window escape is not a realistic possibility. So do I go with a key version and keep the key nearby? What if someone unlocks it and leaves it unlocked? You could really end up overthinking this.

Thanks all. I've emailed him to ask whether a jaclock (short cable restraint) would suffice. Fingers crossed.

We've been told by LABC that one of the windows in a bedroom on the first floor is too low and needs some kind of guard to prevent someone falling out (the windows do have child locks built in) Naturally, we're annoyed that this wasn't picked up earlier when building control signed off the plans, and it's too late now to replace the window. I was thinking of putting some bars across, but the LABC guy said this wouldn't be sufficient as a child could climb the bars. He's suggested a toughened glass barrier. Personally I think this would be pretty intrusive but also probably very expensive. To be brutally honest, I doubt this is a feature that I'd want to keep long term. I wondered if anyone had experience of this and what was acceptable from a building control standpoint?

Fair point. I think it's simply because even though the sand/cement screed is about as flat as you'll get non-self-levelling, they need something smoother and more level for the best finish. It's something everyone who's quoted has said. In my case, I also need to raise the floor a bit as the floor in the next room is 25mm stone, so I need quite a thick latex layer.

Had another guy round today who was much more savvy about things. He specialized in wood - said LVT was fine on high footfall or especially on wet areas (kitchens, utilities etc) but it would always be different to wood. His approach would be 5-10mm self levelling latex and then gluing the wood (15mm) i.e. no underlay. Not cheap though, even with rustic rather than prime. Would love to do this myself but time is of the essence unfortunately, and we need to be in ASAP. Thanks for all the responses.

Nobody has actually cited the UFH as a reason for not using engineered wood. To be honest, from the start I was told that it was fine, but three potential contractors have now shied away from it. The only thing I can get out of them is that they say it has a tendency to lift. One guy told me that a customer had it fitted then had to rip it all out. One said they'd have to put a 5-10mm self levelling latex layer down and then glue it, but that seems fairly normal to me - not sure how an underlay would fit into all that though. To be honest, I think with some of them they just don't feel they're up to laying the herringbone pattern, but then they'd have to do that with LVT anyway, I'd have thought as the stuff I want comes in small blocks, not sheets, as I understand it.

We've got two rooms (25m2 and 10m2) containing a cement screed with UFH in which I'd like to lay parquet, if the budget allows. Initially I was told that so long as I went for engineered wood rather than solid, this would be fine. However, when trying to get quotes, I'm finding many fitters are not keen to do parquet over screed using engineered wood. The reason they seem to give is that they don't get very good results, and they seem to be pushing me towards LVT, which I have no experience of. I'm really keen on the real wood look and feel and I'm a bit skeptical that LVT can look and feel as good, but happy to be converted if it compares well and I must admit, I'm tempted by the 20+ year warranty that some of the manufacturers offer. Has anyone else been skeptical of LVT and subsequently won over by it? Any experiences of high quality LVT parquet?

Thanks @JohnMo, unfortunately, the line items weren't individually costed. There were a list of cost items but only a total supplied - no breakdown. Given the scale and complexity of the job, I think in retrospect it's actually going to be quite tricky to give a fair estimate of the work involved (for me at least) Maybe the easiest thing is simply to knock the £16K it cost for the ASHP+ UFH and associated items off his bill, to get a better idea of what it should have been. Even if I drop the £16K a bit - to say £14K, it's still a huge difference. It would mean I should have paid £21K when I've actually paid £29K. The context is that I've paid out almost £30K to the plumber in good faith, but he's asking now for £7.5K to take him to up to date and perhaps another £5K on top of that! My point is that having looked into it, I feel I've substantially overpaid him already. I don't know if the PM tackled the plumber about duplication in the estimate, but either way, it looks like I've been heavily overcharged. The only question is by how much..

Hi All, I could really use someone's help to give a very rough estimate of costs for plumbing work on a big (300+m2) housebuild. Last year, my plumber submitted an estimate for the entire plumbing system which ran to £35K. This was to include designing, supplying, and fitting a ASHP system, including 300 litre cylinder, buffer tank, UFH to basement and ground floors. It also included rads to first and second floors + installation of bathrooms etc. This was never presented to me directly, as I'd hired a project manager to run budget and costs (OK, you can and perhaps should blame me for this, but I did hope that the PM would actually be a cost saving measure) so I have just been paying the bills as they come in but it got to the point where the Cost to Completion supplied by the PM was way out of line with what the plumber is asking me for. So, I asked the plumber directly about this and he forwarded me the original estimate. Now, I should add that, as I say, I wasn't aware of this estimate and we ended up getting the ASHP, Cylinders, buffer and UFH including design, from Nu-Heat at a cost of around £16K. Clearly, it seems to me that I am being double charged (plumber is charging me for supplying ASHP + UFH, that I bought elsewhere) but what I really need to do is to get a very rough estimate of what the job above (i.e. fitting the ASHP + UFH but not supplying it + plus the rads and the bathrooms etc) would cost, so I can go back to the plumber tomorrow and thrash it out with him. By the way, I appreciate many of you will probably be looking heavenwards and with good reason. In retrospect, I should never have employed the PM (although I have to say, on earlier stages of the build it made sense and I would never have got through it myself), please by all means feel free to think what you like, but please if you could be gentle + positive with your responses, my nerves would very much appreciate it! 😟 Many thanks!

I bought a Howdens kitchen with solid wood doors (ironically, because I wanted to avoid the damp damage that I've seen in MDF/chipboard) back in October last year. At the time, the project manager assured me that we'd be no more than 6 weeks away from fitting it. Sadly that has turned into eight months and the kitchen has been stored at the house (which is watertight) waiting to be fitted. We've just started to fit it and the kitchen fitter has advised that it looks like all of the doors/draw front facias, are suffering from damp ingress and have warped making them difficult to fit. He suspects that this is simply condensation absorbed from building work carrying on in other areas of the house. It's slight, but a millimeter or two are preventing doors from closing etc. Naturally, I'm very annoyed about it, particularly since I've been pressing the PM to get the kitchen fitted for ages, but I don't think I really have a leg to stand on. I shall speak to Howden's but am not expecting too much. Has anyone else been in this position that might have any advice? Since I'm expecting the damage might well run to four figures, I'm wondering whether it might be a better approach to get a carpenter to reduce/level them slightly, if possible, and then get them re-painted. Not my ideal solution but I'm at the end of the build and, if it comes in really expensive, I might not have the cash to simply replace them all. Thanks!

Thanks, there have been quite a few groundwater issues mainly because the exterior landscaping, hard-standing and drainage is still being sorted out. They are also iteratively dealing with issues with the membrane - I expected that might be the case. Each flood hasn't gone more than two inches or so which is bad, but not so bad as it could be. when it was open to the elements, four feet deep floods were not uncommon! We had a terrific deluge the other week with the storms and the pumps coped admirably. Not looking forward to the electricity bill though!

Thanks - that helps! 🙂 There are three pumps (2 x groundwater and 1 x foul) all on different breakers and backed up by UPS. The pumps are alarmed and linked to a monitoring centre so if both groundwater pumps give up, there will be a call out. Yes, well, as you might have guessed this is entirely subterranean, so there are no windows. I will go down the heaters/de-humidifiers route but can't do that until the supply is completely in (the pumps are on a temporary supply at the moment, which is vulnerable - thus the floods.)

Does anyone know of any tried and trusted techniques for speeding up drying of a basic concrete screed? Here's the context: I have a tanked basement with a Delta pumping system. A base screed has been placed over the floor membrane with the insulation, underfloor heating and top screed still to be done. We've got a temporary pump operating as the electrics have not yet been connected. Up to end of December the screed was drying out nicely although certain areas were concerning me and potentially indicated that the membrane might have some small leaks that needed to be addressed. The contractor was due to look at these after Christmas, but on Boxing Day, the pump faulted and we had a flood - back to square one and the contractor wasn't able to identify any leak areas as the whole of the screed was no damp. We dried it as much as we could and a month later were due to get the contractor back. Two days before they were due to come, a builder switched the pump off overnight in error and the basement flooded again. We've wet vacced it out, but I understand it takes around a month per inch of screed for it to fully dry so it's still pretty damp. We've since had the contractor in again to look at some wall issues and he suggested heating the basement to help dry it out. I've tried using a diesel heater, but it's very localised heat (the basement is roughly 9m x 6m) and doesn't appear to make a huge amount of difference. Smaller but electric powered heaters might cover the area better, but until we get the electric supply in, the power needed is going to be too great for the existing power extensions. That won't happen for another week or so. Also, there is going to be an air ventilation system based on a Mitsubishi Lossnay, but that won't be in action for some time yet. I'm wondering whether there are any ways to draw the water out of the screed, such as sawdust, skim plater, paper etc, that I can speed up the process with as we're now two months behind with it. Any thoughts/experiences/suggestions gratefully received. Thanks!

Specifically, I'm less worried about a supply chain delay (though naturally, I don't want it holding up the build) and more worried that a massive incentive (HSI), that frankly swayed me to ASHP in the first place is likely to be denied through no fault of my own. I'm naturally hoping that OFGEM extend the deadline given the situation, but I don't even see any evidence (other than my suppliers e-mails)

I ordered an ASHP + UFH system back in late September from Nu-Heat and while the UFH part has been delivered and fitted, there's no sign yet of the ASHP. Nu-Heat have been sending out apology emails blaming global supply chain issues, made worse by increased demand for not having delivered the heat pump. When I phoned them today, they still had no idea when they were likely to receive stock, placing my RHI application in serious jeopardy. I was surprised not to see any mention of this shortage here - apologies if I missed it. If this is indeed a countrywide shortage, then there must be lots of us out there who bought ASHP systems in good faith relying on the RHI to balance the budget and are now likely to not get a penny, through no fault of our own. Have others experienced it and what, if anything, can be done about it?

True. I wondered whether (how) the addition of opaque film would change the fire resisting properties of the door. I'm sure BC wouldn't like it.

Thanks very much for all the replies. I'd already come across some of these doors so it's reassuring to know that I'm not completely off-track. It's a shame that obscured/opaque glass seems to be an extremely limited option. I'd actually be quite happy with wired glass, in the right door (like I said, I am a bit picky) but unless I go bespoke (££££) that seems a very limited option. It's a great shame that there's this two tier system for existing houses and new-builds which seems to result in an extremely limited market for FD30 doors (and pushes up the prices) I understand it but I don't like it! ? In any case - thanks again for all your responses and please keep them coming, for posterity as much as anything else! ?

I'm trying to source some traditional looking doors for my build for the ground floor hallway. I was hoping to get a couple of 840mm x 199mm half glazed Downham style doors with frosted glass and I also have to get a 1680mm x 199mm double glazed door from hallway to kitchen. The problem is that I'd like these to be quite traditional styles which would be no problem if they didn't also have to be fire doors (FD30). I've found the range of residential glazed fire-doors really very restrictive (not to mention horrendously expensive!) Can anyone recommend a supplier who has a decent range of traditional designs for glazed FD30 doors?