Day 444 - Screed aftercare

The weather was very hot and sunny yesterday (33 degrees).  To prevent the screed from drying out too fast we will hose the slab down for about 3 days.

Day 443 - Laying the lime screed part 1

The first bay of screed is complete after about 1/2 day.

A piece of timber is used to form a temporary edge to screed up to, where there will be a movement joint in the screed.

The scaffold pole removed and screed being filled in.

The screed progressing...

Leveling out the piles...

The mix is laid very dry.

Loading up with the screed - mixed by the big green limecrete machine!

Scaffold poles are set level with the top of the finished screed, these will be used as a level.

The Limecrete Company are back today to start laying the lime screed.  First step is wetting down the limecrete slab.

Day 437 - Underfloor heating pipes pressure tested

Underfloor heating pipes connected up to the manifold and pressure tested.

The pressure has settled at 1.5 bar.  It was pressurised to more than this but as plastic tubes give a little bit it causes the pressure to drop.  The pipes will remain under pressure while we lay the lime screed.  If the pressure drops to zero then the pipes have been punctured - we hope to avoid this!

Under floor heating pipework is now laid and ready to be pressure tested.

Pipe is sleeved with conduit for 300mm either side of all movement joints (such as in this doorway), to prevent the pipe from being put under stress as the different bays of screed on either side move differently.

We took extra time when we were laying the clip track, ensuring that it was all in the right place and was in line.  It paid off today - laying the pipe was quite straightforward!

It was a bit like doing dot to dot!

We finished laying the clip track for the under floor heating yesterday and are making a start on laying the pipe today.

Day 424 - sliding doors completed

Double sliding doors are now completed and glazed.  It seems very light inside now!

Day 422 - Underfloor heating clip track

Bits of blue edge insulation were really good for marking where the pipes will go!

Next task was setting out and fixing down the clip track which we will clip the underfloor heating pipe into.  Self tapping wood screws seemed to do the trick, although the harder bits of limecrete we did have to drill first.

Day 420 - preparing for the underfloor heating

The underfloor heating manifold is put up in the utility room.

The edge insulation is fitted around the timber plates which will form the internal walls.  It will stop the timber drawing the moisture out of the lime screed too quickly when it is laid, and also provide an expansion gap around the edge of the screed once it is dry.  It is also fitted around the external walls, (along with additional insulation), against the blockwork, to try and reduce heat loss.

The edge insulation supplied with the underfloor heating.