Planning Officer Site Visit

    Today the council planning officer came to inspect the site. He took a good look at where the extension was being proposed and took plenty of photographs. I asked if there were any potential issues or concerns and he did mention that the neighbours had been in contact. They were concerned about how the room above the garage would impact their light on the 1st floor room they have. According to our architect, there should be no problem as the extension falls outside the 45 degrees from their window. Now we have to wait and see what the council will decide.(Insert photos)

While we've been waiting for the planning permission, its given us lots of time to think about windows, bi-folding doors and underfloor heating. With the extension the intention was always to install underfloor heating within a screed, as the walls will be well insulated. We were debating whether to extend the UFH throughout the entire ground floor and possible upper floors too. This would require the solid walls of the existing house to be insulated and also add significant cost to the project. Nevertheless, considering just the ground floor, the existing property has timber floors which require a different approach to UFH than a solid floor.

1. Remove floor joists and replace with concrete floor with UFH within screed. Not feasible.

2. Install UFH between joists using aluminium spreader plates. Would require some sort of insulation under the floor. Costly and requires lifting the floor boards.

3. Install UFH using overlay boards (insulated boards with grooves for the ufh pipes). These boards are 22mm thick and can be tiled over directly. http://www.wundafloorheating.co.uk/systems/ or carpeted over with an intermediate layer.

Option 3 seems to be the most optimal solution and it may be worth adding an intermediate layer such as cement boards that can also act as a good conductor of heat. (http://www.sts-uk.com/boarding-products). The cement boards come in 6mm and 9mm thickness which would take the build-up height to 28-31mm. This would require the floor of the new extension to be raised by the equivalent height to provide a seamless level surface.


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