Bemak

In the middle of refurbishing an old farmhouse at the moment and am currently working out service routes before the new slab goes in. I'm proposing to locate an external boiler about 20m from the house - the pipework will be 26mm pex pipe (10mm insulation) which will be run inside a 110mm Wavin pipe - all of which will be buried about 600mm below ground level. I appreciate that some element of heat loss will occur along the way - but as we're proposing UFH in the house, the reduced temperature shouldn't affect things too much. Before I lock this in, just wondering if anyone else has done something similar and if so, how has it worked out? Thanks! *update - apologies, I just realized that I posted about this already. Please ignore!*

thanks for the link!

As posted elsewhere, I've embarked on the refurb of an old 2-storey farmhouse. As part of the refurb I'm going to install a MVHR system to ensure that moisture and condensation is adequately dealt with. I'm also installing a new insulated floor slab with a radon barrier and sump. I was going to run the vent from the sump out under the slab and bring it up in a nearby flowerbed to conceal it. The idea is that I would just put a cowl on it and let it vent naturally. However, in a lot of instances locally, the radon vent is brought up to the perimeter footpath and just capped - then, if necessary, the cap can be removed and a duct with a fan can be installed to vent the sump. My issue with that approach is that I don't want the potential to have a vent running up the side of the house when we've been so careful to conceal all the services to date. However, as we are going to be installing a MVHR unit anyway, I assume it's highly likely that we'll never need to vent the radon sump in the future considering the house will be so well ventilated? The reason I ask is I may just revert back to the standard solution of capping it on the footpath as opposed to bringing it up in a flowerbed as currently planned.

thanks for all the replies on this. I've been distracted with demo starting on site. finally! what are peoples thoughts on UFH for upstairs as well?

thanks for this!

I recently came across 'over floor' heating systems which are essentially an underfloor heating system in a 30mm screed - the idea being that the system is much closer to the surface of the floor allowing for quicker response times while generally running at lower temperatures. I spoke to a supplier about it and they said the following which I thought was interesting "the system achieves a typical operating energy reduction of 50% daily compared to heating the same space using Under Floor Heating". "Conservation of energy on a daily basis sets the ground work for affordable heating and sustaining the building, the most significant feature of Over Floor Heating systems is the remarkable increase in comfort created by operating the system using water at body temperature". All sounds great. I'd be curious to hear of peoples experiences using such a system as I wouldn't be opposed to trying it on a refurb I've started.

just a quick query on a detail I want to ensure is correct. i'm planning to construct a cavity wall extension to the side of an existing two-storey farmhouse. the new extension will replace an old stone extension and we've yet to determine if the stone extension was keyed into the stone of the main house. In any case - I was wondering how best to detail the junction between the new blockwork and existing stonework to prevent any water in the stone wall from getting into the inner leaf (as per the crude diagram below). Is a vertical DPC the best bet or is there a better way of doing it?

that's a great point regarding the soak away in the middle of the run. Thanks Nick!

yes I was looking at something similar. An extra bit of lining in the trench like you say will help a lot.

its a personal preference to not see it.

Hi all, In the initial throws of a refurb at the moment and one thing I'm trying to bottom out is the location of the external boiler. The existing house doesn't really have a rear elevation - it's seen on all sides which is making it a bit difficult to locate the best place for the boiler (inside is not an option). I have a shed nearby that would be perfect, but it's 18m from the house. I appreciate that this is quite a distance, but just wondering if I did a deep trench for the pipework and double up on the insulation around the pipes themselves, would it be a viable solution? Just wondering if anyone else has located their boiler a similar distance from their house and what they did to minimise heat loss.

this is my project - sorry have been offline for a while. Just as an update, over Christmas I had a builder friend call and run through the plan of attack. In short, new floor slab with UFH - for the walls we're going to dry line internally with a metal stud set off the wall by 10mm or so. The insulation between the stud will be either a hemp combi jute, or gutex thermoflex. wall will be slabbed with a gutex thermoroom board on a finsa vapourstop. skimmed with a breathable lime render. when we reviewed the floor joists, they weren't too bad. any bad sections were tight to the external wall. so the metal stud approach will also act as a support for the existing floor joists.

Hi All, Hoping to kick off a project I posted about here previously at the end of the year. It's been delayed for multiple reasons but hopefully it will get a bit of momentum in the next few months. House is an old 2-storey farmhouse, 140 years old with 600mm thick rubble stone walls. The house is in good shape considering it's rarely used and structurally very sound. I had been mulling over whether to dig out the slab at all as the existing floors are relatively sound. In the end, I've decided to dig out the existing floor as it will allow me to install UFH, a radon sump and membrane, and insulation. I was talking to a very experienced contractor about it recently as I was concerned about the potential knock-on of digging out the existing floor. He suggested that I keep the excavation to the minimum and suggested a build-up of, 100mm compacted hardcore, blinding, Radon barrier, 150mm insulation, 50mm liquid screen with UFH. 300mm overall. his argument is that the existing subfloor would already be well compacted and that the suggested buildup would minimise the potential of disrupting existing walls. I agree but I just wanted to put it out there to see if anyone has done something similar?

ensure as well that there is adequate fire stopping between the bedroom and garage. I think it needs to be 1 hour from memory.

The alternative is two or three dMVHR units in the vents, like the lunos e60 etc, which would work in tandem to extract/supply air into the house. These look great for completely airtight houses but I'd be curious to know how they work with standard levels of airtightness.