Mat1

Because the stairs are in the kitchen (open plan downstairs) the hallway is no longer considered an escape route. The window which would normally be the alternative means of escape is not suitable anymore due to the glass side return directly underneath. To give this room an escape route they want us to put in a small door into another room to avoid the hallway altogether ?

We have inadvertently created an inner room from one of our bedrooms upstairs. This is due to our open plan layout downstairs combined with a side return extension. To create a protected escape route we would need to create a small hatch between this room into another. I really don't want to do this. Given we don't actually intend to use this as a bedroom are we able to designate this as a dressing room?

Thanks guys just to clarify it's rads upstairs. Forgot to add that!

I'm renovating a small 2bed victorian. The ground floor is open plan so just a single zone screed UFH system. 3 radiators in the 2 bedrooms+bathroom upstairs. Boiler is half installed waiting for other work to finish. Do I need a thermostat for each floor? I've got a google Nest ordered. Can I just use that downstairs for the UFH and some sort of programmable TRV setup for the upstairs bedrooms? I've never actually lived in a house with a thermostat.

Great do you remember what depth you went for?

Bit the bullet, now we're replacing the entire ground floor with concrete as was suggested by you guys way earlier. Sometimes you just have to come to things in your own time ?? Just trying to figure out the ufh screed situation so we're not waiting months for it to dry but that's another thread!

I believe NHBC (whatever that is) requires 100mm of concrete and a DPM for new suspended floors?

Thanks. The void was more for services and in case anything is screwed up along the way. There is room for 100mm insulation between the joists. 18mm Ply ablove the joists, 15mm UFH boards then 14mm engineered wood to finish.

Hi mate, so this design should work?? 200mm - Filling+concrete DPM - Void - 150mm Joists with insulation in between - (or add insulation to the void?) Thanks

The void is 400mm deep (I think). They've suggested reducing the void to 50mm by filling the bottom of the void with 200mm of concrete+DPM and dropping the joists. The concrete section will be the same and the joists will be extended all the way along. Insulation will still be inbetween the joists. Won't the ventilation be a bit rubbish with the void reduced from 300mm to 50mm?? For some reason I have an irrational fear about replacing the suspended floor with concrete slab! Feels very invasive somehow ?

The builders want £6000 to level the ground floor with ply and screed over the existing joists. I can't imagine what they would want to do something like that!

Definitely do not want a step up! I'm assuming there isn't a good solution for lowering the section on the right by 60mm? If there was there would be enough room for a vapor membrane, 100mm insulation and screed. My builders are trying to make up for lost work due to coronavirus so I'm fully expecting a silly number if I go in unaware.

Sounds about right. Bit worried about costs though so if there's any other solution I'm open to it!

I think the plan was just to build up the existing concrete. Dismantling and relaying floor a big job?

Hi, I'm currently in the midst of a full renovation on a victorian terrace house. The previous kitchen area has concrete floor as you can see on the right hand side of the picture. The side return area on the left is also concrete. The previous kitchen area is about 5cm lower than the suspended floor and the side return is about 10cm lower. We'll be laying Nu-Heat overlay UFH with Engineered Oak on top throughout the ground floor, 100mm insulation between the joists. I'm unsure as to how we should be treating the concrete area so we don't have problems with the UFH, damp or the wood flooring. I'm getting different views from builders. One builder just wants to build up the concrete area so it's level with the rest of the ground floor while another wanted to demolish the whole area and lay a new solid floor to building regs standard. Nu-heat said I shouldn't worry about insulating the slab as the loss is very small. My gut tells me at a minimum there should be some sort of Damp proof membrane. What do you think?