Omgiamgoingtobuildahouse

HI. We have an MBC insulated raft foundation. We are on heavy clay and the house is on a slight slope. We need to landscape when the weather is better but we need to back fill the trench around the house. What did everyone else use? Architect is saying shingle! but this isn't stable. 'Normal' houses wouldn't have this and they would be surrounded by the earth that surrounds the foundation so do we put that back in? Its quite claggy and lumpy though. We were thinking type 1 with some French drains. Any advice welcome. W did out own groundworks so I have no one to ask. Thanks for any help.

Hi Dave. Nothing against and I want wide boards. See other replies for reasons.

Thanks. Can't actually believe we have done it. It's like a dream. I am going to wake up like Bobby in Dallas!

its complicated but i need a thicker piece of wood to maintain a level threshold. most engineered is fairly thin, 14mm or so and 20 mm thickness is more expensive. We are running out of money and are looking to keep the cost down. I can et to 25mm and save money by buying a solid wood floor so its all down to cost really. Nothing against engineered. The look is the same. I am just worried about humps if I use solid wood as i experienced previously albeit in a different kind of house .

Any pointers on where to buy engineered? Internet is a mine field!

Nothing against engineered but looking at possible ways to bring the cost down and we have a 25mm gap to fill. Many thanks for your reply!

Hi everyone. Long story short, we know we should use engineered wood over our wet UFH but we want to use solid wood. I know we are not supposed to as solid wood will expand/contract and we may get humps appearing and potentially cracking of walls. I know this is true as have had it in another house - huge humps appearing overnight. However, the old house was block and brick and draughty and the underfloor heating was driven by a gas boiler at a much higher temp. The flooring was also quite new. We are now nearing the finish of our MBC new build with airtightness at 0.73 and a GSHP, providing UFH that will probably hardy ever be on and when it is at a much lower temp, am I safe to go with solid wood? Anyone help from anyone that has done this or any reasons why we shouldn't would be gratefully received. Many thanks!

I too would really appreciate some guidance on this if anyone has a spreadsheet or similar they could share? I am scared of making rookie errors by booking trades too early or too close and getting in the way of others and annoying everyone. Eg can I put the screed board in for soundproofing the first floor whilst the first fix plumbing and electrics is going on or should that wait till later on towards the end? I have a window of opportunity with my carpenter... Any help would be great. I can find very generic things on the internet but nothing detailed. I know i am talking about an ideal world scenario and its never like that but I need some kind of plan. Thank you !

Thanks ProDave. I take your point, but if an MCS installer is installing the kit and I can claim that legitimately then why would I not do it, is sort of my question? The RHI claim is made on the expected usage. We don't have the expertise to do what you have done then we have no choice but to pay someone and claim the RHI as far as I can see? 16k goes a long way to offsetting our costs. Could I ask from your comment what needs to be changed every 10 years? The pump itself?

I am at risk of sounding like a complete idiot, but here goes...... We are building through MBC. Not PH but close. We have plenty of outdoor space to do GSHP and a digger to do the groundworks ourselves. The cost of the kit and installation for ASHP and GSHP is roughly the same. The RHI savings calculated by our engineer and Nuheat come to 15k over 7 years for GSHP and £6.9k over 7 years for ASHP. It seems to be a no brainer to put GSHP in. However, I have been on this forum extensively over the last few weeks and seen many of you did not opt to get certified and claim RHI. Could I ask why not? I think Jeremy in particular said it was not worth the cost of the certification ( but I might be wrong - can't find the post now). I have double checked these figfigurese on the Govt website and with Nuheat. What am I missing here? Why would someone not try to claim the RHI?