House build

[Archie_tect]

Never seen an in-situ first floor cast on a house without permanent profiled steel shuttering!

It's a very different construction process though I did once have a builder who wanted to build;d using the thin joint aerated clay blocks in lieu of a cavity masonry wall.

I have used 150mm foamed interlocking insulation for many years- it gives a wall u-value of between 0.12 and 0.15 W/sqm.degC depending of the wall make-up.- at least the concrete is inside the insulation so there'll be no cold bridge- do they take the insulation 150mm below the ground floor slab edge?

 

[Colin Grigson]

Never seen an in-situ first floor cast on a house without permanent profiled steel shuttering!

It's a very different construction process though I did once have a builder who wanted to build;d using the thin joint aerated clay blocks in lieu of a cavity masonry wall.

I have used 150mm foamed interlocking insulation for many years- it gives a wall u-value of between 0.12 and 0.15 W/sqm.degC depending of the wall make-up.- at least the concrete is inside the insulation so there'll be no cold bridge- do they take the insulation 150mm below the ground floor slab edge?

I’m not sure I understand all of your post … is the u-value good or bad ?. Yes, you’re spot on with the insulation - exactly 150mm below
Thanks for looking in

 

[Archie_tect]

I’m not sure I understand all of your post … is the u-value good or bad ?. Yes, you’re spot on with the insulation - exactly 150mm below
Thanks for looking in

The lower the u-value the better the protection from heat loss when it's cold outside [or heat gain in the summer].
100mm insulation would give around 0.25 U-value. 50mm used to have a U-value of around 0.6. Having all the heavy, dense masonry and concrete inside the insulation provides thermal mass, ie keeps the internal temperature fairly even throughout the year and through the day/night.

 

[jowwy]

i have just seen the blocks you used in your build, for the first time in the UK on an old episode of Grand designs from 2007.........even though its 14yrs old, i have never seen those blocks used in any episode since and i have watched them all.

 

[Colin Grigson]

I wonder why they used them in U.K. . More usual is cavity wall construction using the much smaller ‘normal’ brick isn’t it?. Although I recall seeing the large developers using the large concrete blocks too when I lived in U.K. - I think they then finished with a ‘pretty’ facing brick so it all looked nice when complete.
What sort of structure did they build with the blocks in Grand Design?

 

[jowwy]

I wonder why they used them in U.K. . More usual is cavity wall construction using the much smaller ‘normal’ brick isn’t it?. Although I recall seeing the large developers using the large concrete blocks too when I lived in U.K. - I think they then finished with a ‘pretty’ facing brick so it all looked nice when complete.
What sort of structure did they build with the blocks in Grand Design?

it was an eco home and they believed it was quicker and more thermal efficient to use that type of block

 

[Colin Grigson]

it was an eco home and they believed it was quicker and more thermal efficient to use that type of block

Thank you Jowwy - Our’s is supposed to be ’eco’ in terms of energy usage, definitely not ‘eco’ as in economical to build

 

[Nortones2]

it was an eco home and they believed it was quicker and more thermal efficient to use that type of block

Is there a name for the block? Asking as my son in law is a minor-key property developer.

 

[Archie_tect]

Thermoplan Ziegel is one thin mortar bed clay block unit:
https://www.greenspec.co.uk/green-p.../details/ziegelwerk-thermoplan-ziegel-blocks/
Another is the Wienerberger Porotherm system:
https://www.wienerberger.co.uk/tips...t-is-porotherm-and-why-should-you-use-it.html

Both systems need to be insulated and rendered externally and carefully detailed around openings, piers and lintols to ensure that the blocks aren't crushed under point loads.

Due to the high humidity of our maritime climate the innovative blocks haven't really taken off here- people are wary of not having a cavity still.

 

[Colin Grigson]

Builders have been back, they’re slowly building up the walls upstairs whilst keeping as much weight as possible off the central parts of the new floor. The supporting shuttering will be removed next week, by which time the concrete should have reached around 75% of it’s strength. Once the shuttering is away we can start the stairs which will make everything we do much safer …
We also started a small 4m x 2.5m garden shed that will house the pool technology (a future project), our dog and the bbq in winter. A good week overall

 

[Colin Grigson]

A little more progress this week, mainly removing the bulk of the shuttering that was forming the first floor level. The slab for the shed is complete too ready for bricks next week. The builders are back to ‘brick-laying’ next week in preparation for the roof … which has already been pushed back a couple of weeks. The weather‘s getting distinctly nippy now so we need to get a move on - we must have a roof for winter.

 

[Colin Grigson]

Some progress over the past ten days or so … downstairs shower room wall is going up, chimney is up through first floor, upper floor outer walls are up some way, all the window openings are formed now so we’re waiting for confirmation on previous (from plans) quotes for those - easily the largest single expense in the whole build. The small utility room within the ’garage’ (too small to be called a real garage) is being walled too so it’s starting to look a little like a house in places

 

[Colin Grigson]

I had an unexpected delivery of wood today, the roofers are obviously preparing to move onto site in the next week or so, some monster pieces in there !.

 

[jowwy]

I had an unexpected delivery of wood today, the roofers are obviously preparing to move onto site in the next week or so, some monster pieces in there !.
View attachment 617449

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that would make you a millionnaire in the UK, with timber prices currently lol

 

[Slick]

Nah, we don't have anyone who would know what to do with that without someone turning that into trusses first.