Flooring and damp solution

[Rosecottageglos]

Yeah our UFH is mostly installed over concrete with one room having a suspended floor. The original suspended floors were removed and the gap filled in and then covered in asbestos tiles at some point in the past, we simply layered on top. There was no point removing the old tiles or the concrete. The suspended floor had no original bits either - it's chipboard over beams on concrete plinths. Walls are breathable now to accommodate any moisture forced up. We had to replace several parts of the sole plates though, that wasn't cheap.

Thank yiu

 

[Cubist]

I wonder if an ufh mat coukd go on existing terra cota tiles ? Then flags ?

No. Same reasoning as before - the tiles and earth floor below would operate to leach some/most of the heat from where you want it.

A quick word of caution. Flagstones are usually a minimum of 40mm deep, and some old antique ones 100mm and have very irregular undersides. If you are hoping to replace the tiles with the minimum of fuss then your best chance would be to look at some of the mass produced stone pavers from the likes of B&Q which are typically around 20mm thick. These would give you a chance, when bedded in a thin mortar, of avoiding the need to reduce the height of doors and adjusting architraves and skirtings - but there is some still risk.

A tip though to save your back - you should be able to remove the front cover of an old storage heater to then individually remove the thermal bricks inside, they're perishing heavy and the cabinet itself is then easy to handle. BUT - watch out for asbestos fixed to the interior of the rear panel. Keep the bricks though - they can be great used in an outdoor pizza oven.

 

[Rosecottageglos]

Yeah our UFH is mostly installed over concrete with one room having a suspended floor. The original suspended floors were removed and the gap filled in and then covered in asbestos tiles at some point in the past, we simply layered on top. There was no point removing the old tiles or the concrete. The suspended floor had no original bits either - it's chipboard over beams on concrete plinths. Walls are breathable now to accommodate any moisture forced up. We had to replace several parts of the sole plates though, that wasn't cheap.

No. Same reasoning as before - the tiles and earth floor below would operate to leach some/most of the heat from where you want it.

A quick word of caution. Flagstones are usually a minimum of 40mm deep, and some old antique ones 100mm and have very irregular undersides. If you are hoping to replace the tiles with the minimum of fuss then your best chance would be to look at some of the mass produced stone pavers from the likes of B&Q which are typically around 20mm thick. These would give you a chance, when bedded in a thin mortar, of avoiding the need to reduce the height of doors and adjusting architraves and skirtings - but there is some still risk.

A tip though to save your back - you should be able to remove the front cover of an old storage heater to then individually remove the thermal bricks inside, they're perishing heavy and the cabinet itself is then easy to handle. BUT - watch out for asbestos fixed to the interior of the rear panel. Keep the bricks though - they can be great used in an outdoor pizza oven.

Thank you , fountain of knowledge and tips you are , wood floor we will remove on Saturday , no architrave or skirting to worry about …. The wall mounted or f/s electric heaters are quite expensive but I don’t see any install cost unless we hard wire them ….

 

[fernicarry]

im going to investigate replacing the three existing wall mounted storage heaters , which are not on Wi-Fi and are very bulky to something more modern technically but aesthetically pleasing

I just replaced some 40 year old storage heaters with new HHR -- high heat retention -- ones and I'm bloomin' impressed by how well they work. Light years ahead of the old ones with the mechanical controls that barely put out any heat in the evening. They now have better insulation and electronic controls that release the heat only when programmed. One caveat though, the big one does need a couple of days to fully charge up from a black start so temperatures are a bit tepid for the first 12 - 24 hours. As noted they are incredibly heavy but you can move the bricks separately. You will also require an extra power connection from the "normal" size of the meter in addition to the existing off-peak connection.

I also fitted matching panel heaters in the bedrooms. Also very effective as they have both a convecting element and a radiating element and some smarts to decide which to use and for how long so bring the room up to temperature quickly and then keep it there.

They all have internet controls (via a hub) and an app that shockingly is actually quite nice to use! A nice feature is that you can invite other users to give them access to control the system. Pleased with the result although somewhat pricey. I shopped around on a well-known internet auction site and got them at a lot less than retail.

 

[Cubist]

I just replaced some 40 year old storage heaters with new HHR -- high heat retention -- ones and I'm bloomin' impressed by how well they work. Light years ahead of the old ones with the mechanical controls that barely put out any heat in the evening. They now have better insulation and electronic controls that release the heat only when programmed. One caveat though, the big one does need a couple of days to fully charge up from a black start so temperatures are a bit tepid for the first 12 - 24 hours. As noted they are incredibly heavy but you can move the bricks separately. You will also require an extra power connection from the "normal" size of the meter in addition to the existing off-peak connection.

I also fitted matching panel heaters in the bedrooms. Also very effective as they have both a convecting element and a radiating element and some smarts to decide which to use and for how long so bring the room up to temperature quickly and then keep it there.

They all have internet controls (via a hub) and an app that shockingly is actually quite nice to use! A nice feature is that you can invite other users to give them access to control the system. Pleased with the result although somewhat pricey. I shopped around on a well-known internet auction site and got them at a lot less than retail.

I have been toying with moving to an all centric heating system to get rid of our wet CH and perhaps kill off one of our wood-burners. Would you be kind enough please to share the brand and model details of the system you installed?

Cheers in advance,
Steve

 

[Rosecottageglos]

I have been toying with moving to an all centric heating system to get rid of our wet CH and perhaps kill off one of our wood-burners. Would you be kind enough please to share the brand and model details of the system you installed?

Cheers in advance,
Steve

I’d love to know the make and model too please , thanks

 

[fernicarry]

The storage heaters are Dimplex Quantum and the panel heaters Dimplex Q-Rad.