The End of Gas for new homes

[gensetsteve]

True, I'm currently building a new workshop for her indoors. 64m2 and no heating. All of her heating requirements will come through solar gain and body heat. Timber built, but with a massive, 16 inch thick concrete slab for the floor with 8" of celotex underneath it to act as a heat synch. 8" of celotex in the walls and ceiling with a 1" service gap and 1" celotex backed plaster board to finish.

Should be toasty.

 

I have never been warm stood on a concrete floor unless it was heated. I would be looking into a false insulated floor above the concrete but I am no expert I imagine you have done your research.

[Amelanchier]

Following a conversation with my local stove installer he informed me that from 2016 new homes will no longer be supplied with a gas main, I didn't believe it until further research which it appears to be true!

 

Good news for all us firewood suppliers

 

Gas to be banned in new houses in UK | Current Events | Fun Trivia Community Forums

 

 

I suspect your stove installer is suffering from a combination of Chinese whispers and wishful thinking. There simply is no plan to ban gas for new homes. Homes built from 2016 will be free to have gas as an energy source but they will have to meet the stricter efficiency targets of the zero carbon homes policy and its related regulations.

 

Its light on sensationalist sound-bites but the facts (damnable accursed facts) are here.

 

http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/sn06678.pdf

 

Perhaps the stove supplier / fitting industry should stick to to their usual shtick of predicting an imminent ice age rather than making up disprovable govt. policies.

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

True, I'm currently building a new workshop for her indoors. 64m2 and no heating. All of her heating requirements will come through solar gain and body heat. Timber built, but with a massive, 16 inch thick concrete slab for the floor with 8" of celotex underneath it to act as a heat synch. 8" of celotex in the walls and ceiling with a 1" service gap and 1" celotex backed plaster board to finish.

 

Should be toasty.

 

 

I'm just about dig out old concrete slab in cow shed (now workshop) and replace with effective DPC, radon barrier, slab & insulation etc. been looking at the various options...

 

Question: why did you decide to do slab on top of cellotex rather than cellotex on top of slab?

 

Understand the thought that slab may act as a 'storage heater', but surely that'll take a lot of warming esp in winter? Wouldn't cellotex on top of slab be better?? This is a question I'm mulling prior to starting mine.

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

I have never been warm stood on a concrete floor unless it was heated. I would be looking into a false insulated floor above the concrete but I am no expert I imagine you have done your research.

 

 

Just seen yr post Steve! That's exactly the question I'm trying to decide on! I've got an architect mate but I tend to glaze over after he's been techno-babbling for 10mins!

[Bren.]

True it will take a long time to heat, but will also take a long time to cool. My other half is a book conservator and whilst old books can tolerate heat changes, they do not react well to rapid changes (apparently). My mate (also an architect), who designed it, assures me that solar gain will be enough to keep the place warm, even in the winter, but that the large store of heat in the floor slab, plus the heavy insulation, will prevent any changes in heat from happening too rapidly.

[openspaceman]

I'm just about dig out old concrete slab in cow shed (now workshop) and replace with effective DPC, radon barrier, slab & insulation etc. been looking at the various options...

 

I thought radon needed to be ventilated?

 

Question: why did you decide to do slab on top of cellotex rather than cellotex on top of slab?

 

My take would be it is do do with occupancy period, a building only used for a short time needs to heat up quickly so low thermal mass. A building occupied most of the day needs a stable temperature so can have a long time constant, typical when using underfloor heating with polypipe embedded in the concrete. Underfloor heating tends to feel more comfortable at a lower overall temperature.

[devon TWiG]

It is also cheaper for a developer / builder not to have gas in each house and to supply the development if multiple houses , they will have electricity anyway !

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

I thought radon needed to be ventilated?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My take would be it is do do with occupancy period, a building only used for a short time needs to heat up quickly so low thermal mass. A building occupied most of the day needs a stable temperature so can have a long time constant, typical when using underfloor heating with polypipe embedded in the concrete. Underfloor heating tends to feel more comfortable at a lower overall temperature.

 

 

Sorry, my typo! I (think) I meant vapour barrier / radon sump... That'll all get sorted anyway, it was the concrete/insulation v insulation/concrete issue I was interested in.

[Alycidon]

I did a quote for a stove the other day for a new passive property, heat requirement for the whole property was to my mind unbelievably tiny.

 

A

[peatff]

As a form of heat, is there any mileage in the idea of an underfloor space to be filled up with wood chip in the autumn and emptied onto the garden in the spring? I always think that's a good if old idea, certainly for a shed/workshop.

 

Keep a few pigs in the floorspace, that will warm it up and you'll get bacon as a by product