Insulating solid floors in listed buildings: Problems and opportunities

Abstract

This paper seeks to assist in the surveying of listed properties and the considerations that may be taken when addressing whether to insulate solid flooring and, if so, how to go about it. The author seeks to address a variety of potential problems and opportunities that may be found when assessing the property and does not consider this paper to cover all eventualities. One of the main things the author is aware of is the merit of each property needing to be assessed as a unique and individual entity. In many cases, it may also be worth looking at areas within the property itself; different rooms will have different needs, uses and potentially differing existing flooring and will therefore need to be addressed on a room-by-room basis. As the author runs a company that specialises in limecrete flooring, she is aware of her own potential bias and the weighted information that she will provide in her own specialist field. Therefore, this paper does not aim to suggest a single answer approach to the question of insulating solid floors in listed buildings; however, more detail will be given with regard to an insulated limecrete flooring approach. The author does not hold any design liability, and any design ideas described in this paper are based upon her knowledge and experience in the field. In particular, when it comes to limecrete floor design, she is drawing on designs that her company has been given by their customers to work on and the opportunities this has given for consideration in this paper.