Things/services to consider with Finished floor

Conman1

Hi Everyone,
I am starting a new build in a few weeks and I am putting in a finished floor.
That is, 150mm concrete slab above the floor insulation. I come from a heavy civils background myself so not to up to speed on house building and what service penetrations i should be including in the floor / insulation. More of a 6" x 3" and 4 inch nail type myself.:)
Obviously all the wastepipes for toilets, sinks, etc. External air intake for stove. I have talked to an electrician I know who said that there is no panic with him laying service ducts in the underfloor/insulation, although im not to sure about this. He says that the floor can be chased if need be. I think this is defeating the whole purpose of the finished floor.
All advice from all the experienced heads on here very much appreciated.
thanks in advance.

AckwelFoley

I never put in the finish floor first, i always leave it until the house is up. It too difficult to maintain while all the heavy work is being done and you spend endless amount of hours sweeeping up after you.

I personally prefer to either put down a re inforced subfloor with the insulation in it and a screed afterwards when the house is built.

dan_d

Leave pop ups for pipes as you have said.

But as snyper says, finish floor is not great. What will you be laying on it? If it's carpet or tiles, you're going to have to go to a serious amount of effort to make sure it's level - particularly carpet. If you don't get the concrete perfectly level, you'll end up grouting it to level it up, and honestly your head will be wrecked. I'm in building myself, and we had this problem on a recent job. I've no doubt you know exactly how hard it is to get a concrete pour milimetre perfect! You'll run into trouble when you hang doors aswell, if the floor isn't good - you'll end up either grouting or chasing down the floor.

The other thing about pouring a screed on the slab is it will give you time to sort out with the electrician what kind of services penetrations you'll need and he could possibly just lay them in the screed.

Don't go chasing the floor out. Your head will be wrecked with that too! Also don't forget to check if penetrations are needed for Gas for heating etc, water, ESB and data cables such as eircom/ntl whatever. (obviously don't know what way your house is laid out!!) Check how they're being fed in and where you want them to go in the house.

Poor Uncle Tom

Don't forget your heating pipes.

mickdw

Ive never seen it done successfully on a one off build. Ive seen it work out ok in a housing estate where a number od identical units were built. Needless to say the first units required alot of chasing etc. Also these units had electric heating only making the process much simpler. My Opinion is that it is not worth the hassle, subfloor & screed easier all round.

Poor Uncle Tom

It can work out very well and I have seen a good number of cases where it worked out.
Just something to remember, it is worth taking a lot of photos of the pipework before you pour the concrete, it could be quite a while before you need to locate some of the pipes again.

Alan666

I saw I local guy build many houses so meticulously and one of the little but important things was always cover his drains and open pipes with pre cut Plywood pieces to stop debris getting in when next build phase was underway. Its so basic and simple but almost never done. The amount of problems Ive seen down the line later when all sorts of junk ends up in your piping. Even seen animals nesting in them. Good luck