Page 5 of 6 |
Ok, so let's get into some of the details of the construction.
The ground floor is a traditional T-section beam and block construction. The beam is pre-stressed (meaning that it has thin steel wires running through it, adding strength). Because they are pre-stressed, they contain a smaller cross-sectional volume of concrete, thus reducing the amount of aggregate and chemicals needed in the manufacturing process. As you may be aware, for every tonne of concrete that is produced around one tonne of atmospheric emissions are released, so the less concrete we can use, the better it is for the environment.
The blocks used on the floor are aerated. This means that they have good insulation properties because approximatly four fifths of the block consists of pockets of air. Therefore, only one fifth of the atmospheric polluting concrete material is required in each block.
On top of the floor blocks lies a radon barrier, followed by 100mm closed cell insulation system which is non-moisture absorbing and therefore remains efficient at all times.
On top of that sit the under-floor heating pipes which are then covered with a 65mm La Farge Givlon screed.
On top of the screed we have the tiled finishing layer. These are large-format (400mm x 400mm) quartz-based diamagnetic tiles. I chose to use the large format tiles because it meant I could use fewer joints between them, and that meant I could maintain a larger surface area of the very dense material to add to the thermal mass properties of the building. The tile joints incorporate an anti-bacterial agent and the system also incorporates tile skirting, so they are very hygienic and easy to clean.
Page 5 of 6 |