Screed sandwich

Due to the height constraints of the building we came up with a somewhat unusual floor makeup. Sound proof dense plasterboard was laid straight on top of the oak beams, followed by 22mm chipboard and then a 40mm screed through which the services run, finished with a top of 18mm chipboard ready to take the carpet.

The result is a structurally solid, acts as a thermal store, and is acoustically isolated.

The studs float on top of the screed at the exact right height. To achieve this we came up with a pegging system. We used a liquid screed from Lidstones the pegs came out and the holes are filled in.

We don’t know if anyone else has come up with such a sandwich construction, most probably, but for us it was the right solution for this build. Another plus was a considerable reduction in the first fix labour, with a combined saving on plumbing (M&M Plumbing) and electrics of a massive £4000 across the whole build. All the cables and pipes are simply clipped to the floor and run into any studs or wall chases; no drilling through beams, feeding cables and pipes, joints or awkward corners.

      

Birthday boys

 

The uncomfortable truth

A lot of old buildings, even those given a clean bill of health by a “surveyor” can have horrors in store. I this case no foundations and floor levels excavated under the stone standings were not picked up by a local well respected one.

Whenever we uncover a sight like this one can’t help being filled with a bit of dread. Usually though there is a cost effective, structurally sound, naturally insulated breathable solution if you can think out of the box a bit, (and sometimes there has to be a little concrete in the mix).

We will do some diagrams/cross-sections of our solutions at a later date… until then here’s a bit of an idea.

   

See here is Kieran on work trial, getting nicely stuck in.