Renovation help

Brenk39

Hi Guys.

I'm hoping you'll be able to help me out.


Im about to start renovating an 80 year old farm house in the coming months. I'm planning on heating it by using an air2water pump with a wood burning stove in the living room.

We will also be adding 80m2 of a new extension as well. Traditionally built block walls with as large a cavity I can get away with filled afterwards with insulation either beads or foam.
Instead of externally insulating the old house to reduce interstitial condensation I'll be insulating the house internally with 200mm of Rockwood and a double vapour barrier.

Problem 1..
I want to install a mhrv unit but I'm not sure if it possible to do with standard 9x2 joists between ground and first floor. The old house will have 2 bedrooms & a bathroom upstairs and 1 bedroom and home office down stairs. The extension will have everything else - kitchen.dining room,living room all open plan as well as utility, W.C and en-suite for down stairs bedroom.
I know fitting it In the extension won't be a problem and to the upstairs rooms as I'll be able to run the ducts in the attic space and once fully fitted bury everything under 3 to 400mm of insulation.


Problem 2 - The other half
She likes to open windows ( don't they all ) and we both like sleeping in a cool bedroom.
I was thinking of only installing underfloor heating in the tiled areas of the house - en-suite, utility, kitchen dining and the hallway and then using the hrv unit to distribute the warm air to the bedrooms. Could this work or would I be better off installing rads to the bedrooms and just turn them off until they are needed?

Sorry if I haven't explained myself 100%.

Thanks for the help

BryanF

You have the insulation back the front external is better than drylining

Brenk39 wrote: »

Hi
Instead of externally insulating the old house to reduce interstitial condensation I'll be insulating the house internally with 200mm of Rockwood and a double vapour barrier.

Problem 1: is just a routing problem, bulkheads can be created, fitting furniture can hide etc.
Problem 2. Opening windows is not a sin. Go with Rads (HP suitable) in bedrooms - unless your going to properly model heat loss & heat gains

Brenk39

BryanF wrote: »

You have the insulation back the front external is better than drylining
Problem 1: is just a routing problem, bulkheads can be created, fitting furniture can hide etc.
Problem 2. Opening windows is not a sin. Go with Rads (HP suitable) in bedrooms - unless your going to properly model heat loss & heat gains

Hi Bryan.

I would love to do the external insulation but the funds won't stretch that far unfortunately, but I might get a few more quotes and see.

I presume aluminium rads are the most suitable kind for a heat pump?

Water John

Look at the SEAI website for grants, that may be applicable, to you. Old house, would go for exsulation, if at all possible.