zoothorn

@Ferdinand yup I could really do with one of those beatles-holes to lower my floor! nice one.. might put a lemon twigs link up to break things up, & keep Onoff interested(?!) I might ask my builder to drop by again & go over the basic dig > new dpc > eps > slab idea (it being the only feasable work/ job I could attempt alone myself as Ive said).. IF this is a good plan of action. Never know what protocol is re. asking solely his advice via a visit: IE should I offer him money for his time? or should I just condense it to just a phone call? he's fairly ammenable, & I have paid him £5k to rebuild my chimney + other jobs, but don't want to upset him.

'Puter totally died now.. major 'rip' just going off drastically. I did try reseating the memorys.. same as before tho. Cheers anyway I- just- saw what i wanted to for the thread.

Its funny I went out to do the job for a v. tight budget, & having done just that it looks so good that a budget lino job to finish.. just won't do at all! I think if 16sqM of self-done stuff would be £100 (if £6/ M offer stuff).. then for £70 extra to get my chap in who did my bathroom & UT well, seems the sensible route. These damn GU10 hood halogen bulbs.. one already popped & replacing for led warm '35w' white ones (tho still pretty cold I find) I found the terminals all mangled & charred. Hopeless flawed design. I went for too cheap a hood, its flimsy too. Looks pretty good tho.

Crikey 4x4m of the self adhesive lino works out at £132 it seems using their calculator, with me bodging it too! I think maybe then me prep old lino/ get my guy to lay new onto it pro @ £170 might be the way to go. Very grateful for ideas & links tho.. I'll do more sums.

Ah ok useful ideas.. I had thought of getting one big 4x4m piece from my lino chap, maybe £18 per m. Would doing it this way likely be preferable/ a step up in quality & finish from the 'tiles' method?

Alas not.. looked everywhere for a VGA(edit!) lead. I'll pick one up when I can. I've managed to just see my pic I wanted tho.. Ok so back to the floor. I have my ref pic (of the '06 build I used to live in/ the small 1 big room 'wing' addition to a cottage being most of my residence). The builder's blue dpm is spead over floor, spilling up over 1 block perimeter outer course 'lip'. Chap's there whacking on maybe 6" depth/ height of concrete, barrow by barrow, smoothing over top carefully with hand float: going from one corner back, standing on the dpc (so doesnt this rule out its likely eps underfoot then-?). I thought I had pics of what insulation.. if any.. but alas not, so my pics not as useful as Id hoped: no evidence of insulation. Unless -under- the dpc. Is that a possibility? The room once complete, with rockwool used in wall cavities & in ceiling joists (no PIR if I recall used in the build).. was 'normally' warm/ decently insulated enough it seemed.

Will do. Just found an oddity. popped the dvd tray > in again, saw very very feintly some spiel 'f1 to continue' on the balck screen. F1 > the windows started up, old XP 5-note startup tune/ all noises I was used to hearing. BUT. The screen's only feintly visible: in fact if I turn off the led hood lights above thinking Id see more.. I cant see a damn thing. weird.

2 prominent beep-beeps, 20 secs after start up. Maybe a dadt Q but can I not just shove the hdd in my toshiba laptop/ swapsies/ one Im on now?

Ok its a IDE one. Dug out & fired up the old 'puter. Its sounds normal, a gentle whirring HDD.. but a black screen (no sign of -any- life) a 'Beep Beep' signifying summink amiss/ unusual beeps. And remains as is, Hdd & 'puter on.. screen black.

It was a dell d600 (yup that old!). I took the HD out. But surely if put this in a caddy it still won't work-? (ie I cant see how the caddy would 'revive it')

@Onoff just picking up on this subject Onoff.. it was my stalwart old XP laptop, which just won't boot up/ wont get to the windows xp start. I had loads of pics of that pro build taken -just for- situations a few years down the line, like now- Id sure love to get them back. Took the HD out/ scrapped the rest. What you think- any chance of retrieval?

Lino£.. 170 pro quote, with me doing the hardboard layer prep including removing old lino.. so £200 lets call it. Ouch. Not expecting that. I can't see the problem on the face of it, of laying new lino over the existing stuff.. sure the edges lift/ wibble a bit but surely I can grab-glue these down > lay new lino on? (the pro guy wasn't too happy with the idea, but hasn't seen the kitchen tho, & said it is done occasionally).

Another good link Onoff, that seems a fine idea- only snag being the cabinets mean I can only vinyl up to them, so where all the worktop areas are couldn't have this stuff on floor.. I wonder whether that might negate the overall benefit if not doing all the floor area. How much extra depth would I need if adding that underfloor heating element: is there any reason I couldn't consider this addition, if I'm doing a concrete 'top' layer (I assume it slips in here)? Id think very dear if I did the whole ~6x4m mind you- maybe spread it, or in middle 2/3rds only.

Its not neccessarily that I like the look, its a Q of cost/ & my skillset to attempt a job. Complicated external digger jobs (I cant use one) & additions to depth, however terrific the results might be, are simply 3-4 leagues out of my remit (& a recipe for disaster if nothing else). Hiring a jack-hammer, hand-digging, laying sheets of xyz, hiring a whacker-plate, doing a concrete layer, smoothing.. are all possibles due to low'ish difficulty levels.. therefore I could attempt (I very much hope). Even these low'ish difficulty level steps lets say it might entail, is a HUGE leap into the unknown for me. But anything more complex I'm not qualified, skilled. Same with upstairs rockwool/ pB redo, & the kitchen which was only a huge fiddle rather than anything of difficulty (even the plumbing) once Id got the hang of it. I must just stick to internal, & as simple as too.. for this stage of my skillset. In 5-10 years I could maybe come back & go to level 3 or 4 difficulty, but Id need to be very sure 1st- I doubt I'll ever be this competent tbh. Many thanks- zoot.

Yes exactly as newhome Yes exactly as newhome suggests above, its only the main room this would be for: within the original 'shell' 4 walls. The adjacent kitchen is not part of the plan, as Ive just done it & moving onto the lino/ finishing off. I'm not planning internal wall insulation within the main room: I cannot face ruining the character, ruining / compromising the space which I'm fairly limited with being my main space, or face doing the job anyway. They will be the achilles heel re cold yes/ this I'm aware of. But cold walls or not, I cannot let them stop me addressing the terribly cold floor by staying as is. The only thing in Q is the cold coming up/ in from the floor.

I'm not quite visualising these various suggestions &/ or can't put any external plan into action due to possible extension addition on the end of house (onto sheer blank wall @ fireplace end.. opposite to kitchen extention in the foreground).. which would need new foundations. Ive got planning for this ext, but up a gumtree re. costs & understanding the regs/ protocol so given up.. but may come back to do it when the right plan hits me. The reason I was thinking planA (dig up floor etc) was bc my builder made this as a suggestion.. & only this. Id assume maybe it being the simplest for him to do, builders being builders. He does know the house to a degree, & saw the floor hands on though. I think it might be the only conceivable thing I could actually do, without getting into a huge pickle attempting anything more complicated. Tbh I can't conceive of digging up externally, digger etc. Ive got water pipes & leccy cables buried, in-out relief to walls let alone unknown foundations & the ~possible~ extention adding onto 1 of the 3 'exposed' shell walls (4th tied up with the kitchen extension onto it).

Omg if I had underfloor heating in here! I can't stop thinking on it now Onoff's shown me that pic. I guess one thing this major house insulate 2 BIGass jobs won't give me (upstairs rockwoolling-the-fkn-lot the no.1 priority) is anything visible or 'worthy' for an estate agent to spiel about.. unlike "!underfloor heating!" is all bells n whistles. Just one addition/ & its innitial cost of course, within the job = adding significant value..?

My main room in Q. Got it pretty warm this ev- far more comfortable when its DRY outside, even if cold: if WET atmos then the room & house gets cold almost regardless of the actual temp. Weird. But sort of tells my instinct, that wet underneath = a sort of vehicle for cold.. summink like this. The staircase.. is awful/ 'agricultural' effort- so yet another job to replace it: which I gotta do somehow with the wood tools I have (£4k quote from a local Co for a pine rebuild!). And I guess would have to follow on immediately from the floor job (& a temporary ladder instead while jobs on.. urgh).

All very interesting, much appreciate the info (if a little complicated number-wise, for me that is). I'm basically on board with the perimeter idea, although I'm really not sure at all with the old 4-thick-walled 'shell' alarmingly in-out in places: the idea of digging down 1m around Id be very reticent about. Its not s'thing my builder mentioned either, briefly talking on the cold floor as we did/ him noticing scraps of blue dpc 'evidence'. Id really only be entertaining the original idea of digging the floor up, I think tbh, if of course the consensus IS that it is a genuinely decent idea. @Ferdinand my beams are exposed, & 6'8" between.. & 6'1" @ the lowest cross beams points! seriously, the lowest Ive ever known I think.

@Ferdinand can you explain perimeter insulation.. are you talking walls, externally? Im not entertaining this idea if so, as it'll detract from the contoured original exterior. The orig 'shell' 4 walls are are undoubtadly cold slate lumps sure.. but will have to be, & everything but the kitchen sink addressed/ attacked but them: that's the basic action plan for the house.

@Onoff hey thanks for all the info- impressive.. & terrifying in equal measures. I had no idea the job was to this level of xyz to do. Maybe I can simplify / hope so or its too daunting a job. My crib before was just a small new [pro] built 'wing' (onto an old cottage). Took tons of pics of build (lost on a died laptop- v. annoying) & seem to recall the floor wasn't nearly as complex, & 'felt' perfectly good/ normally-well insulated: once the base prepped it seemed to be effectively, a dpc > eps only (poss 100mm?) > concrete top, levelled, then hand smoothed over with a big square float. I was hoping I could do it in a roughly similar way, the digging down/ removal & prep being the vast majority of the work. I'll have to consider possibility of hitting stone (slate- not too hard I believe, thankfully).. how much I hit dependent I guess on what depth to go down. What would be the minimum insulation I should be considering here? I'll not be going whole hog 300mm thats for sure.

Another good Q Ed- yes 2 slopes, LHS drains away acroos then steeply down to brook 5m from house. RHS: water collects along this channel here, but nothing Ive ever been concerned with & main WC drain in middle helps. If damp ingress via this RHS channel here you might be thinking, nothing to say inside the main room this side any different/ worse than other LHS. Seems ok.

This is the basic house, foreground the 80's dreadful kitchen, behind the 4-thick-walled 'shell' main room (ontop the 80's disaster 1st floor addition).

Hi newhome- very kind link/ good plan I admit. I resort to warming hands over toaster s'times.. last did this as a 19yr old stewdent-grant. This cold snap I'm just going full pelt on my 1 'leccy slim kitchen rad (I had a similar one 2x as big, in main room.. but just removed/ sold it bc putting it on didn't make a jot of difference/ total waste of £ & energy, any heat if felt just going up stairway above).. & my stove stuffed to the gills for my 2 hr 'window' 7-9pm. A leccy blanket- now you remind me- is a must next-thing to get.

@Onoff wow you've even done this very job! & your results- really 1st class (pic3). Assuming your idea's as mine, to essentially put in 100mm of PIR underfoot.. any info/ pics between pics above 2 & 3? I thought it might be a jackhammer affair. Ok one imperative consideration/ difference with mine, is some vertical beams bases of which of course sit upon (or upon what exactly?) the floor as is: IE if I take these away.. I can't bear to think, but Laurel & Hardy springs to mind.