Pied Piper of Brighouse

Now that the roof is on and the building is water tight work can begin in ernest on the inside. We have been remarkably lucky weather-wise with the build so far. In fact this has been one of the driest summers I've known for Halifax in quiet some time...let's hope it stays that way.
First job on the list is installing the Under Floor Heating (UFH). After weeks of umm-ing and aaarrggh-ing coupled with the excellent progress we have made we decided to plump for UFH instead of the more traditional radiator heating on the ground floor. Although Derek has done a fantastic job with the build thus far, the fact that we haven't hit many issues has meant that we haven't eaten our contingency so we thought we'd have a little luxury.

The configuration we've gone for is UFH downstairs and traditional radiator system upstairs. This means that there are now effectively 5 different heating circuits - 4 UFH circuits downstairs for each of the main living rooms and a single radiator circuit upstairs both controlled separately so we have gots lots of scope for how we configure our heating needs.  We will also supplement this with a wood burning fire in the main living area too especially given that gas prices are set to rise even higher over the next few years.

There are lots of different UFH systems but we've gone for the plastic water filled coils. This particular system is from Germany and is guaranteed for a minimum of 25 years. The system is typically installed on concrete block flooring like ours and comprises a layer of insulation followed by a layer of screed into which the UFH pipework is laid and then on top of this is the floor finish. In our house we are finishing with oak flooring but more on that later.



Mick gets to grips with laying the UFH pipework in the hallway.



The Manifold - the brains of the UFH

Spot the deliberate mistake in the picture above - the blue vapour barrier should have been installed over the top of the Kingspan insulation but under the UFH pipework so that the screed is effectively "floating"

What was I saying about not many issues and having contingency budget available - well this will mistake set me back a full day with a team of 4 plus a plumber. If only Mick had listened to Derek who questioned the installation at the time!

Anyway we couldn't hang about because the screed delivery was due same day but a few frantic phone calls and Derek managed to avoid numerous tons of screed being delivered to the site which would have had to have been dropped somewhere at cost to me, then we would have had to pay again to have the hardened screed taken to a landfill after which we would then need a re-order - several thousand quid down the swanny - I owe you big time Derek! Anyway after a days hard graft the guys finally get their act together and get the installation put right...well everyone except Paddy that is...



Whilst everyone else was hard at it putting right the UFH installation Paddy slept oblivious and awoke only to find that the UFH pipework had been laid around him!


After an eventful day everyone has gone home absolutely knackered but happy that the UFH is now ready to receive the screed tomorrow.