We are having an extension built using a ‘goalpost’ steel support structure, with steel columns resting on the he concrete footings.
The steels have already been installed, without any kind of thermal break material under the columns; they are resting on concrete pads and will penetrate through the floor slab, insulation and screed with UFH.
We planned to leave the steels exposed, as a feature. We are wankers, I know.
Aside from putting a 50mm PIR barrier around the base of the steel posts to separate the UFH screed from them, there’s not much else that can be done now.
Are we in for a world of hurt? How bad will the thermal bridge to the footings really be? The rest of the steels will be within the thermal envelope.
We aren’t building a passive house; this is an extension on the back of a solid-walled Victorian house, but we’re fitting ASHP, MVHR, EWI/IWI to most walls etc, so this thermal bridge oversight is keeping me up at night…