Advice on underfloor heating

realslyshady · 7 January 2018 at 5:54PM

Hi all! Just joined after browsing the forums and not quite finding what I'm after.

I'm currently buying a large Victorian semi-detached house that needs mountains of work doing to it. I've renovated old properties before, but this is different — it needs the works. Half the ground floor is damp and needs to get to ripped out, and we want to open the two ground floor rooms into an open plan living area. My builder plans to damp proof by tanking the walls, and has suggested taking up the entire suspended timber floor and replacing with a solid floor, along with underfloor heating. I'm pretty keen on the idea, but I can't find out some of the things I'd like to know. Can anyone help, or point me in the right direction? For info, there has been historical movement in the property, but it seems to be settled now.

1. Do I need planning permission for replacing the floor?
2. Do I need a plans from a structural engineer etc.?
3. Are there any potential issues with the neighbouring property, Party Wall Act etc?
4. If underfloor heating isn't an option in the upper floors, is it ridiculously expensive to run two systems from one boiler? I.e. one for the UFH, one for the radiators.

Sorry if I seem like a jumbly — would appreciate any advice from people who know about these things and have installed UFH or replaced suspended timber with solid flooring.

Thanks!

aneary · 7 January 2018 at 6:01PM

My parents have underfloor heating in their house it’s amazing but they don’t have it upstairs. They only put the radiators in upstairs last year as they plan on selling it and can’t without the radiators. They haven’t needed them in 8 years and have only switched them on to see if they work.
Ensure upstairs is well insulated and you may not need to use the upstairs heating.
Only not of caution in the winter underfloor heating is great however late autumn and early spring it can be a bit of a pain it takes two hours to kick in and the same to cool down so you can be cold or too hot if you dont get the timing right.

NeilCr · 7 January 2018 at 6:16PM

aneary wrote: »

Only not of caution in the winter underfloor heating is great however late autumn and early spring it can be a bit of a pain it takes two hours to kick in and the same to cool down so you can be cold or too hot if you dont get the timing right.

Absolutely this. I have it downstairs and it is good. But regulating it is a work of art. I tried leaving it on all through the winter last year and it was lovely but slowly upstairs got warmer and warmer. And I like a cold bedroom. So there is a bit of turning it off and on.

On the other side of the discussion my cat loves it!

realslyshady · 7 January 2018 at 6:23PM

Thanks NeilCr and aneary! I'm pretty sold on the idea of the underfloor heating, but definitely anxious about the installation...

blackshirtuk · 7 January 2018 at 6:54PM

Cannot answer comprehensibly for 1,2,3 but wouldn't think you would need planning unless listed?

4
Our ground floor is part underfloor heated. All heating runs from 1 boiler with 3 zones
1 zone for hotwater
1 zone for radiators
1 zone for underfloor heating.

All controlled by a 3 way programmer and with both heating zones having their own thermostat.
The only extra expense is the extra zone valve and a 3 way programmer (as ours was 2 it needed changing)
You can control when each zone comes on so our ufh comes on a bit earlier than the radiators as it does take longer to warm up, but aso goes off earlier too.

Tom99 · 7 January 2018 at 7:34PM

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The fact your builder is going to tank ground floor walls would worry me.[/FONT]

Slithery · 7 January 2018 at 8:04PM

That's exactly what I was thinking....

daveyjp · 7 January 2018 at 8:14PM

My parents did this in their bungalow, so no upstairs to worry about. They were also fortunate that the under floor void was just the right depth and it was a convenient place to reuse a lot of bricks they had to build up the solid floor.

It was a fantastic decision. No radiators givimg flexibility where furniture can go, individually heated rooms and once up to temperature the floor keeps warm for days.

creditscoremeansnothing · 7 January 2018 at 8:16PM

Me 3 about the tanking, be careful op as this just usually hides the problem.

camptownraces · 7 January 2018 at 8:32PM

Hope your builder can point you to successful projects which he has done nearby, so you can go and see the installations and talk to his clients.

A relative moved into a victorian terraced house with UFH in the kitchen, installed in 2010. Under a floor covered with tiles about 18" square. Looked lovely.

Within 2 weeks of moving in, the gas main under the floor had fractured, and so had the water main.

Don't these projects require building control approval?

realslyshady · 7 January 2018 at 8:34PM

Thanks for the advice, folks!

Might be doing my builder a disservice — he suggested tanking as an option when I was set on repairing the suspended floor. Have since come round to his first suggestion that we build up void with hardcore/insulation/UFH/screed. I'll look into the tanking — we know there's a damp problem, and I'm hoping the opportunity to put in a new floor is also a chance to put it right. Advice on this also welcome!

Any thoughts on points 1, 2 & 3?

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Advice on underfloor heating

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free