Mind you, for a 60sqm bedroom wing, I'm looking at about £1.2k for the styrofloor thing, or as little as £800 if I buy xps and chipboard separately... Appreciate this is not comparable to 10cm PIR, but will probably feel better than 2mm LVT glued to concrete. I imagine at the rate we're going, this time next year we'll be paying £800 for a tank of diesel.

Biggest issue is the 4-6cm reduction in door height.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by tetris

18 minutes ago, tetris said:

carpets in a corridor won't survive a fortnight.

You do have to pay more for hard-wearing, which will last years.

If you don't mind the utility look then carpet tiles . In office quality they will last you out, and allow kids' wheely toys, and for any accidents, plasticine or damage, can be taken outside to clean.

I have some salvaged from an office after 7 years of heavy use, used in a corridor, gym, workshop area. It is on an uninsulated concrete slab. I put an underlay of 10mm down first. The theoretical insulation (by U value) is low but much better than nothing, and the effect on feet comfort and warmth is significant.

Not sure this really makes sense in your situation but throwing it out there just in case:

If you are thinking about putting thin polystyrene in the floor and boarding over it, then think about whether you could use one of the thin UFH products (pregrooved polystyrene that acts as a template for the pipes). That might solve your radiator issues (and generally UFH will be cheaper than buying a load of vertical rads).

Important note is that the insulation layer is not thick enough for an external floor (would be very expensive to run), but if all you have below the floor is another habitable room then the small amount of insulation might not be a big deal. It would certainly solve the cold feet issue.

The floor still won't be as good as a screeded ufh setup but everything is a compromise.

The biggest issue in your case @tetris is likely that you want to do this quickly while living in the place and doing that with the floor might be tricky and certainly requires careful thought.

Thank you - it's a bungalow, and I've read (on this forum if memory serves me right) that unless you have 10cm PIR below UFH, all you're doing is heating up the floor void.

Just now, tetris said:

Thank you - it's a bungalow, and I've read (on this forum if memory serves me right) that unless you have 10cm PIR below UFH, all you're doing is heating up the floor void.

Doh! You are correct. Sorry I think you mentioned that in a previous post. I was thinking this was a first floor.

Edited just now1 min by -rick-