New central heating system - Please please help !!!

[Doctor Drivel]

There are some head bangers here, he is one of them. It is amazing. People come here and ask advise and some actually believe him. I am a heating pro BTW. Any mis-information I pounce on. The know-it-all amateurs are mainly cranks.

Even the Collins DIY book recommends this.

The house is designed to distribute its weight downwards, not sideways. Foam insulation that is for underground use is very rigid indeed. Some houses are built of it and the centre of the foam poured with concrete. It is not the stuff mattresses are made of.

No. see above. In areas of high water tables they put gravel next to the foundations to keep the water away from the foundations. It drains away quicker.

Many people have paving slabs or stones around the edge of the house. This means the foam insulation can go up to slab or stones level. Also it is best to have gravel between the foam insulation and the earth as this keeps water away from the foundations. So you can kill two birds with the one stone. Best do it in stages of say 2 metre lengths at a time and work your way around the house. Assuming you have a solid floor of course.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

What has that got to do with heating?

BTW since you need educating, if you wish to use a low pressure design because of looks etc, you simply add an inexpensive pump. However, don't attempt this yourself as it requires rudimentary plumbing and wiring skills. Ask an expert to do it for you.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

An amateur's book?

[Doctor Drivel]

It must be time for his cocoa. I hope he cleaned the dog shit off his shoes.

[Doctor Drivel]

Yes, only a fool would say that. He listens to Frank Ifield LPs you know. Sad isn't it.

[Warwick]

In the local rag this week there is an example of why I'd worry about heading down to foundation level close to a building.

'm afraid you'll have to put that URL back together after the wrap.

The neighbour was digging a foundation for a fully legal extension. The ground slumped and it appears that next door tried to join in the fun and games. The load may be designed to go down, but if you take out the side support even a distance away you risk problems. It appears that the affected building may have to be pulled down.

The problem is pretty basic. Mark out a 1 foot square. Drive a spade in at the edges of that sqare vertically to a depth of a foot. Try to extract that square of earth. Do you have a 1 foot deep square hole? No. You probably have a 4" deep roughly conical shaped hole. It'll be square at the top though. Get a trowel and extract stuff until you do. It'll take a while and the sides will fall in a lot.

Earth moves and not just when you want it to for SWMBO. Leave the hole for a week (as per SWMBO instructions)... is it still a 1 foot cube hole of did loads of stuff fill it up a bit?

In this area, when the foundations go in they go down to the required depth and that involves machines digging out clay. They then rest on clay. Nice solid stuff until you introduce water to it. If I dig a trench 3 feet deep around my house then next door will be heartily pissed off when my house collapses when the foundations slip. I'm not sure how well my wife and toddler would take it either. The insurance company would probably declare the policy void. I'm not going to undermine my foundations.

Warwick

[Doctor Drivel]

You dig around in stages, backfilling when insulation is installed, then dig the next stage.