cold floor

[joeturbo]

Hoping for a bit of advise.

I live in a first floor flat, the ground floor beneath me is an open air carport so as soon as the cold weather hits the floor in the apartment is very cold.

I believe there is concreate base, then 50mm polystyrene, then 20mm chipboard, then my underlay (Cloud 9 Cumulus PU (11mm), then my 12mm carpet.

Is there another type of cold resistant board I can lay over the chipboard? The wife wants vinyl/laminate but i'm hesitant as will make the flat even colder

 

[The Samaritan]

Hoping for a bit of advise.

I live in a first floor flat, the ground floor beneath me is an open air carport so as soon as the cold weather hits the floor in the apartment is very cold.

I believe there is concreate base, then 50mm polystyrene, then 20mm chipboard, then my underlay (Cloud 9 Cumulus PU (11mm), then my 12mm carpet.

Is there another type of cold resistant board I can lay over the chipboard? The wife wants vinyl/laminate but i'm hesitant as will make the flat even colder

Hi

I too fear it will feel a lot colder no matter what underlay etc you used.

A client of mine their own falt, a flying freehold over access to their apartments rear car parking.

He wanted to cut the noise and the cold during winter.

I was there to carry out a sco serv assessment to build rapport talked about his nice flat and he told me his soloution, under floor heating, you can get the electric type if you dont have gas but please research as i dread what happens if the circuit breaks under the fllor.

 

[joeturbo]

How about if I take up the chipboard? Is there a better product to replace the polystyrene for?

The coldest flooring seems to be the hallway and one of the boards is squeaking so was thinking of replacing this board anyway. While at it we will be able to confirm exactly what is under there.

But would like an idea what is the ideal product to be installed (if not basic polystyrene?)

 

[Mr Chibs]

Is it your carport below?

if so perhaps applying insulation to this side may help reduce the cold making it’s way through.

Insulation won’t create warmth, but will keep heated rooms warmer for longer.

celotex is thermally more efficient than polystyrene.

 

[joeturbo]

Yes carport is below, I did look into insulating the ceiling of the carport but when removing one of the ceiling boards it was just concrete above

Attached is what I think is between my carpet and the carport, a photo showing above the carport ceiling board and an old photo showing what’s under my carpet (have replaced laminate and green fibreboard with carpet)

 

[JohnD]

if there is truly 50mm of polystyrene between the concrete slab and the chipboard, that is pretty good floor insulation.

are you sure that is true?

Are there any cold draughts, especially under the skirtings? Cold air will come up through any gaps, typically around pipes and cables.

if you have an unfilled cavity wall, cold air will come through any gaps, usually in unplastered parts of walls where shoddy joints are not hidden, such as behind skirtings, between floors and ceilings, and in utility cupboards or plumbing ducts.

There is no point in taking up 50mm of polystyrene and fitting 50mm of Celotex. The difference is too small to be worth the effort or cost.

 

[The Samaritan]

Btw, important info. If it's a leasehold place and you don't own the freehold, you will need to seek consent if to replace the floor.

 

[joeturbo]

if there is truly 50mm of polystyrene between the concrete slab and the chipboard, that is pretty good floor insulation.

are you sure that is true?

Are there any cold draughts, especially under the skirtings? Cold air will come up through any gaps, typically around pipes and cables.

if you have an unfilled cavity wall, cold air will come through any gaps, usually in unplastered parts of walls where shoddy joints are not hidden, such as behind skirtings, between floors and ceilings, and in utility cupboards or plumbing ducts.

There is no point in taking up 50mm of polystyrene and fitting 50mm of Celotex. The difference is too small to be worth the effort or cost.

the only place I had access to the polystyrene was under the kitchen cabinet where the floor board didn’t join right up the to wall so was just about able to get a measurement. I don’t think it’s fully packed out though as some was polystyrene, some was nothing there.

without taking up the flooring I won’t know if it’s fully insulated on not. On a side project I would like to run a drain pipe from hallway cupboard into bathroom sink so can install washer/dryer in cupboard so another reason to take a look under the floor board to see if possible.

 

[joeturbo]

Btw, important info. If it's a leasehold place and you don't own the freehold, you will need to seek consent if to replace the floor.

I asked the management company previously who said that from their point of view they are happy for me to go ahead and install insulation to either the carport ceiling or under the apartment chipboard. Suggested that I speak to the maintenance team for advice on what would be best to use.

They also mentioned the plasterboard carport ceiling is not standard boarding, is fire rated etc so would be expensive to replace

 

[Deleted member 174758]

They also mentioned the plasterboard carport ceiling is not standard boarding, is fire rated etc so would be expensive to replace

It's exterior, so if the building is relatively modern it may well be cement fibreboard rather than plasterboard, although it could also be something else such as Supalux. For a 1 hour rating there are probably 2 or 3 layers of board there in any case. That is done so the building achieves alevel of certain fire resistance, so if you replace the stuff you'll need to at least match the fire rating first and foremost, as well as ensure that the installation is correctly done (i.e to Building Regs spec). I honestly think that puts it outside the scope of DIY and quite probably into the orbit of Building Control (because I am concerned that these works would be notifiable a car park probably being classed as a public area)

If you are going to improve insulation I think it will need to be on the inside of the building

 

[joeturbo]

It's exterior, so if the building is relatively modern it may well be cement fibreboard rather than plasterboard, although it could also be something else such as Supalux. For a 1 hour rating there are probably 2 or 3 layers of board there in any case. That is done so the building achieves alevel of certain fire resistance, so if you replace the stuff you'll need to at least match the fire rating first and foremost, as well as ensure that the installation is correctly done (i.e to Building Regs spec). I honestly think that puts it outside the scope of DIY and quite probably into the orbit of Building Control (because I am concerned that these works would be notifiable a car park probably being classed as a public area)

If you are going to improve insulation I think it will need to be on the inside of the building

I posted a photo of my car port ceiling, it is only 1 board attached to the ceiling with a 80mm void behind it, could potential fill the void but don’t know if that would achieve anything, wouldn’t consider replacing the boarding as you say it would be a certain reg

I think the only option really is to lift some of the chipboard flooring inside the apartment and see if the insulation has been laid equally. (Which I assume it’s not)

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Sorry I missed that

What colour is the insulation and does it have a silver foil surface? It looks like white polystyrene to me from the 2nd photo (sorry to ask but some people refer to Cellotex or Kingspan as "polystyrene" and I am on a mobile phone screen at the moment). If that stuff is Jablite (which looks like white polystyrene) it has an R value of around 2.63m2K/W., which means that it has a higher R value than Cellotex or Kingspan. Jablite doesn't work well if it has been crushed...

 

[joeturbo]

The polystyrene under my flooring has no silver foil, it just looks/feels like basic hard white polystyrene (like you find in tv packaging for example)

 

[Diver Fred]

Think you have to balance costs. Short term - cheap to sort out the internal floor; but the floor will heat up and cool down quickly and probably never feel warm to the touch. Long term - insulate over the ceiling of the garage area, expensive; but once the floor material has warmed up the internal floor will feel much warmer and the temp will vary less.

 

[joeturbo]

Think you have to balance costs. Short term - cheap to sort out the internal floor; but the floor will heat up and cool down quickly and probably never feel warm to the touch. Long term - insulate over the ceiling of the garage area, expensive; but once the floor material has warmed up the internal floor will feel much warmer and the temp will vary less.

So it would be worth filling the 80mm void above the carport ceiling board? If so with what? Sounds like a good sping/summer diy job as I can get to it myself

The insulation under my floor chipboard will be a bigger job as I am now fully carpeted but we was particularly looking to change hallway to LVT (as carpet can get grubby) so thinking at some point get a chippy to cut some of the hallway chipboard out and confirm if they can put polystyrene throughout the whole lot or not