Lounge overhaul

[Tigger90]

I am going to overhaul my lounge, with insulation, multifuel stove, new ceiling, walls, floor etc, do the below points all seem reasonable?

1. remove old open fire, open out to the builders opening, to be replastered for the stove to be fitted.
2. remove all the old plaster, it will be like 130yrs + old, what is the best way to remove it?
3. the floor has floorbords and a 2ft void underneath, does it make sense to remove the floorboards, fit insulation between joints, lay ply and then fit engineered floor afterwards? dont really want to refit the current floorboards as they have random traps in the room from when electrics etc have been fitted over the years.
4. fit the room out with plasterboard with the insulation fitted?
5. remove and fit a new ceiling
6. the room is rectangular, approx 12x15 with the fireplace on a 12ft wall, the door off centre on the opposite wall and 2 windows on one of the 15ft wall. Where would you say is the best place to fit the radiator? At the moment it is on the blank 15ft wall, but then a sofa gets stuck in fronyt of it and that to me defeats the object!
7. the light fitting I would like to fit, weights about 30kilos, the ceiling would just require some extra bracing?

What do you think? All OK? or any daft ideas?

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

I would consider sand and cement render for the fireplace as heat transmitted will crack your standard gypsum plasters. You could well get away with the chimney breast if the stove is recessed well withing the fire place, but the recess will need to be sand and cement render.

To knocking the plaster off, should be quick and easy, if as you say it is very old.
Hammer and wide/bolster chisel will do the job, but you could use a SDS hammer drill with SDS chisels.
If any of the internal walls are lathe & plaster, that could be a sledge hammer job and very messy, if you take one side out first, you can then remove the other side from the inside out (hope you understand that)

Be careful of electrical cables and pipe work when doing this.
Plus get yourself kitted out with PPE(steelies, hardhat, dust masks, gloves, goggles/safety specs etc...) it will be messy and you will be surprised at the volume of stuff that is going to come off, so plenty of rubble bags at hand or good steady traffic of the wheelbarrow.

If it is the ground floor it would make sense to insulate within the floor void. (any electrical cables most not be totally surround by insulation, it effects it's current carrying capacity) This also goes for any stud walls.
If you are going to re-floor with wood any access to the joints within the cables will go, it could be worth having a PIR(periodic inspection report) on the electrical installation to see what condition it is in, you don't want be doing all this work to find out you electrics are due for an upgrade.
If an upgrade is needed the electrics should be installed, so cable jointing is not made in inaccessible locations.
A ceiling brace would be advisable for heavy light fittings, this will need to be measured and placed in the correct location. You brace it with extra well fitted noggins or you could consider bracing it with 18mm ply supported by noggins, so the area is covered better. (hope you understand that too)

I would start with removing all plaster from wall and ceilings before the floor is done.
Then board the ceiling up before you re-plaster walls.
Remember staggered joints for your boards on the ceilings.
http://www.zurich.co.uk/NR/rdonlyre...DE0F7CFBC0/0/PlasterboardCeiling107782A02.pdf

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Delete
duplicated post

 

[Tigger90]

Thanks for the advice.

The walls are all brick, old red ones and one granite wall that had been lined with a tongue and grouve wood...

I was going to get the electrician in first to remove the one double socket and light fitting, as they do all need replacing, not too old, but want all new sockets fitted all over the room!

With chimney liners are they a difficult item to fix? The chimney must be about 7.5 metres from fireplace to the chimney pot, how long would you expect one take to be fitted ? By a professional off course, just so I know what labour to expect on the quotes.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

There are a couple of types of flexible chimney liners, depending on the type of stove you are having fitted.
For solid fuels/wood burners, you need a double skin or multi fuel burning liner.
For gas and oil a single skinned liner will do, but If you decided to upgrade your fire to a solid fuel burner this would need to be changed to a doublre skinned liner. double skinned liners can also be used on gas and oil burners. So logic would say go for the double skinned one, in case of possible upgrades in the future.
They will not take to long to install, a little bit preperation, dropping pull rope, measuring up, removing pot etc...Then the liner can be dropped down your stack, will need a couple of pair of hands though.
Also make sure the chimney was been swept first, you could consider a smoke test to see if your chimney is fit for the stove without the need of a liner.
If you live in West yorkshire? I know a good installer!

 

[Tigger90]

Would you say a days work? Nope sorry live in Guernsey!

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Would you say a days work? Nope sorry live in Guernsey!

Half a days work each for two lads.

 

[Tigger90]

My lounge project has started... the builder has been in and removed the fireplace, widened the opening, fitted a lintal and the plaster is going off now.
My next job is to remove the floor, insulate, board and flooring. But when I phoned the local supplier of Kingspan, I was told I need the U value to ensure i get the correct thickness of insulation. I have googled and got a "u value app" but I did think if the joints were say 150mm I would use the maximum amount of insulation taking into consideration the battens. So I would have 125mm of insulation?
Is the supplier correct? Or should I just buy the maximum thickness I can for the joist size?

 

[mointainwalker]

I don't know about required U values for floors ? Are you sure there is one since heat rising doesn't make heat loss downwards very logical.

There is however a good possibility of draughts from the floor void and it is a good idea to insulate agaiinst those. Personally i favour fibre -wool as it does not need accurate ctting, can be stretched to fill in gaps and is only 10% the cost of Celotex if subsidised by the energy companies.

 

[Tigger90]

I was going to go for the panel insulation as thought it would be easier to fit, rather than trying to fit chicken wire under the floor. Also, I have a large concrete enclosed main waste drain going straight through the room, so not sure how much gap would be there for fitting the wire.

I am in Guernsey, and we don't any subsidies, just have to pay the regular prices, we do get VAT off but then have to pay shipping costs on top, so it all works out roughly the same as UK prices!!

 

[Tigger90]

Well the lounge floor is coming up this weekend, how long would you expect 16sqm of pine floorboards take to lift?
Then how long to fit the same amount of 70mm kingspan?
Any tips on cutting kingspan?
I am then going to fit ply over the floor ready for a new wooden floor, what thickness ply would you use??
Thanks all and I do hope there are no spiders !!