Building a house

[redzone]

A plumber told me it takes roughly £0.70 of oil to heat the hot water tank. If his sums are correct u would be waiting 20 + years to get your money back alone

[theskull1]

Whats the cost effective way to insulate part of a single skin block built garage (creating a separate room) so that it insulates well enough and won't suffer condensation issues? Currently no ceiling (open trusses) in case that's a factor in regard to venting.

[LeoMc]

A plumber told me it takes roughly £0.70 of oil to heat the hot water tank. If his sums are correct u would be waiting 20 + years to get your money back alone

Oil is still supposedly the most economic heating out there. The key with new houses is insulation and the better the insulation the slower the returns on any renewable investments.

On this topic I have a couple of queries.
1. Insulation. Does anyone have any opinions or data (cost v benefits) regarding cladding the inner wall v using thermal (clinker) blocks and on bead fill v board fill for the cavities?

2. Back boilers. I am fitting OFCH but will have a wood burning stove in the living area. Will I get much cost benefit from having a back boiler fitted or will the increased output required mean I will be carrying wood full time?

[laoislad]

Whats the story with laying patio slabs over existing concrete.?
I have decking at the back of my house but have a pain in the nuts keeping it maintained every year and it's also a death trap in wet weather.
I want to rip the whole thing up and lay patio slabs. Underneath the decking is a concrete path that you would have around any semi d house.
Will I need to rip up the concrete or can I lay directly onto them with the appropriate paving sand underneath obviously.
Would I need to drill holes into the concrete for drainage or would the sand be enough to soak it up and the rest would drain off into the garden?

[DrinkingHarp]

Whats the story with laying patio slabs over existing concrete.?
I have decking at the back of my house but have a pain in the nuts keeping it maintained every year and it's also a death trap in wet weather.
I want to rip the whole thing up and lay patio slabs. Underneath the decking is a concrete path that you would have around any semi d house.
Will I need to rip up the concrete or can I lay directly onto them with the appropriate paving sand underneath obviously.
Would I need to drill holes into the concrete for drainage or would the sand be enough to soak it up and the rest would drain off into the garden?

When you say decking, is it some type of treated lumber?

If so you can look for this product
http://www.trex.com/build-your-deck/diy/resurface/

If you tear off the decking look at this product for the concrete to top it, it provides drainage and is slip resistant. I am meeting with their National Sales Manager in the morning to bring this product on for the company I work for. I'll ask if there is anyone in Ireland/UK as a installer.
http://www.porouspaveinc.com/

[DrinkingHarp]

Whats the story with laying patio slabs over existing concrete.?
I have decking at the back of my house but have a pain in the nuts keeping it maintained every year and it's also a death trap in wet weather.
I want to rip the whole thing up and lay patio slabs. Underneath the decking is a concrete path that you would have around any semi d house.
Will I need to rip up the concrete or can I lay directly onto them with the appropriate paving sand underneath obviously.
Would I need to drill holes into the concrete for drainage or would the sand be enough to soak it up and the rest would drain off into the garden?

When you say decking, is it some type of treated lumber?

If so you can look for this product
http://www.trex.com/build-your-deck/diy/resurface/

If you tear off the decking look at this product for the concrete to top it, it provides drainage and is slip resistant. I am meeting with their National Sales Manager in the morning to bring this product on for the company I work for. I'll ask if there is anyone in Ireland/UK as a installer.
http://www.porouspaveinc.com/

No dealer/installers in Ireland or the UK for Porous Pave yet, they are looking for a company or an individual in the area so if anyone has an entrepeneur background might be worth looking at.

[StGallsGAA]

Whats the story with laying patio slabs over existing concrete.?
I have decking at the back of my house but have a pain in the nuts keeping it maintained every year and it's also a death trap in wet weather.
I want to rip the whole thing up and lay patio slabs. Underneath the decking is a concrete path that you would have around any semi d house.
Will I need to rip up the concrete or can I lay directly onto them with the appropriate paving sand underneath obviously.
Would I need to drill holes into the concrete for drainage or would the sand be enough to soak it up and the rest would drain off into the garden?

If it's just a path you should have no issue.  Most surface water will run off the patio anyway  and whatever seeps through will make it's way to wherever it's currently running off the path to.  Drilling holes wouldn't make much difference as they'd soon silt up and the water will find an easier path down.

[illdecide]

Whats the story with laying patio slabs over existing concrete.?
I have decking at the back of my house but have a pain in the nuts keeping it maintained every year and it's also a death trap in wet weather.
I want to rip the whole thing up and lay patio slabs. Underneath the decking is a concrete path that you would have around any semi d house.
Will I need to rip up the concrete or can I lay directly onto them with the appropriate paving sand underneath obviously.
Would I need to drill holes into the concrete for drainage or would the sand be enough to soak it up and the rest would drain off into the garden?

Where does/did the water go before on your path? Firstly your concrete path is fine to lay pavers onto, these are normally laid with a bedding fine sand but in this case i'd use a weak sand cement mix for bedding. Using normal sand the water will filter down to the concrete path and will want to go somewhere and eventually it will take the sand particles with it to wherever it goes and then you will get some of your pavers dropping or uneven to look at (of course this will not happen for quite a while). If you were really fussy like me you'd check the path for levels and find it's low point and put a we aqua channel at the low point and connect it into a drain (storm only) this sounds like a lot of work but is very easy to do.

[johnneycool]

Whats the cost effective way to insulate part of a single skin block built garage (creating a separate room) so that it insulates well enough and won't suffer condensation issues? Currently no ceiling (open trusses) in case that's a factor in regard to venting.

I'd say you'd have to batten it out first with lathes to allow the block to breathe and then fix your insulation to that, or use the insulated plasterboard for a more cultured finish.

[johnneycool]

A plumber told me it takes roughly £0.70 of oil to heat the hot water tank. If his sums are correct u would be waiting 20 + years to get your money back alone

Oil is still supposedly the most economic heating out there. The key with new houses is insulation and the better the insulation the slower the returns on any renewable investments.

On this topic I have a couple of queries.
1. Insulation. Does anyone have any opinions or data (cost v benefits) regarding cladding the inner wall v using thermal (clinker) blocks and on bead fill v board fill for the cavities?

Don't know much about clinkers, but on the board fill vrs bonded bead I was told that to get the same insulation rating as the 70mm foil backed boards I'd need to open the cavity to 150mm and fill it with bonded bead. A lot of the issues with either type of insulation is how well its fitted and installed. My brickies hated the 70mm foil backed stuff, but I did most of the cutting around sills and heads to make sure it wasn't just bucked in with big gaps.

2. Back boilers. I am fitting OFCH but will have a wood burning stove in the living area. Will I get much cost benefit from having a back boiler fitted or will the increased output required mean I will be carrying wood full time?

Depends on the size of the room. I've a biggish stove with a back boiler which heats the radiators in the bedrooms (6 rads all in) and it doesn't throw anywhere near as much heat out into the room as the DA in laws which is smaller but no back boiler. Its a balancing act.

[illdecide]

Here's the thing lads and i know women are to blame for 90% of it but i think as a nation we go over the top about the heat in our homes, let be honest we get about 4 weeks of the year where it is really cold and we all have word burning stoves as well as our heating systems (oil or gas burners) and i think it uncalled for TBH. If in the "cold spell" turn your heating on for a while longer but we're all listening to them poxy women too much and our homes are like furnaces.

[DennistheMenace]

Here's the thing lads and i know women are to blame for 90% of it but i think as a nation we go over the top about the heat in our homes, let be honest we get about 4 weeks of the year where it is really cold and we all have word burning stoves as well as our heating systems (oil or gas burners) and i think it uncalled for TBH. If in the "cold spell" turn your heating on for a while longer but we're all listening to them poxy women too much and our homes are like furnaces.

This made me laugh, so bloody true 

[blewuporstuffed]

Here's the thing lads and i know women are to blame for 90% of it but i think as a nation we go over the top about the heat in our homes, let be honest we get about 4 weeks of the year where it is really cold and we all have word burning stoves as well as our heating systems (oil or gas burners) and i think it uncalled for TBH. If in the "cold spell" turn your heating on for a while longer but we're all listening to them poxy women too much and our homes are like furnaces.

+1000

[Canalman]

Yep, remember as a kid at times  waking up in the morning in winter time with ice on the inside of the windows.

Member of a generation where the parents watched the heating like a hawk.

[illdecide]

FFs if i go into my Mums house and put her heating on she grumbles..."i'll have no oil left, that heatings never off...lol". For a laugh i'll turn her stat up to 22 and then next time i go back into house it's back down to 20.5.

I've tried explaining about the benefits of putting the heating on for 3-4 hours instead of boosting it for an hour at a time but she'll not listen...Old School.