We have engineered wood (floating over cement floor) throughout the ground floor and love it - it's easy to keep clean and looks fantastic. I've had a few hot oil splashes in the kitchen and it cleans up just fine. My husband fitted it (experienced DIYer) and he says it was easy and straightforward, he followed the same logic - you can rectify a disaster with floating floor, whereas once glued there is no going back. I've also noticed the floor contracting /expanding a tiny bit throughout the year which I'm not sure how would work out if it was glued down. The only thing I'd say is make sure you cement underfloor is as level as possible, and then level it out some more - we didn't bother too much and the floorboards do squeak in one place over a slightly uneven bit. We got the best insulation we found and I'd never noticed it being particularly cold. We are moving next year and having the same floor but with underfloor heating and no radiators - it'd be fabulous! Good luck on your project!

Hi Julie. I'd suggest that if your planning and building consultant are unable to answer this question then they may not be the right consultants to deliver your project adequately for you. Ask the consultants you have employed already to start with and if they don't know and can't get someone else who is more specialised involved, then you might be better off seeking an alternative building consultant. You could take a look at the Green Register for their list of eco-refurbishers, who will be more able to help you. You can go with a retrofit suspended timber ground floor insulation and underfloor heating system for what you have described. It's a bit fiddly but doable. There are several retrofit product versions on the market. It depends on how responsive you want the heating to work as to which system you go with. This is likely to be determined by how much time you spend at home. If you want to heat the house up quickly in the morning before you go to work and then quickly in the evening for a few hours once you return home from work then you may prefer a more responsive system than if you work from home, or spend more time at home, perhaps with young children, etc. You could replace the whole ground floor with a ground bearing slab of concrete over insulation with wet system underfloor heating, or you can use a limecrete with foamed glass - look at Ty-Mawr for this, these options will give you a higher thermal mass. This type of underfloor heating works most efficiently if kept on most of the time with a relatively low temperature. The thermal mass of the concrete/limecrete gives a time lag for heating and cooling. There are many ways to insulate suspended timber ground floors, depending on many variables. There are also many different insulation types. There is a move away from the petrochemical based insulations like celotex for people like myself who recognise that a "breathable" build-up with vapour permeable properties gives a healthier indoor environment and protects the building fabric more. So although celotex type insulations have relatively high thermal efficiency with a relatively low thickness of material, its impermeability can create other problems if used in the some situations. Retrofit insulation with underfloor wet-system heating to suspended timber floors is generally more responsive but not quite as efficient, as there is no thermal mass, so it acts like a large radiator. You can use a "pipe in pug" system to suspended timber floors, which gives some thermal mass and can be a reasonable compromise option. However, the "pug", which is a dry sand and cement mix that slowly hardens over time with atmospheric water, will add weight to the timbers so you are best to get the strength checked by a structural engineer to make sure they can take the extra weight. Its a slightly complicated technical problem and to give you the solution that works best in your case then you would need to have someone take a look at it who can assess both your building and how you want the heating to work. Hope this helps.

I have only been reading into this recently but I came across a website that sells wall, floor and ceiling acoustic boards. It also has information about each application. I couldn’t lift my floorboards. I don’t want to risk damaging them and I doubt I would be allowed to because this house is listed. I am considering putting them on the ceiling between the ceiling joists. They have one type of board that you can fit without removing the ceiling and isn’t too thick so wouldn’t compromise the appearance of the joists. The website is http://www.noisestopsystems.co.uk/domestic-soundproofing-materials I understand British Gypsum also makes acoustic boards but I haven’t checked that out yet. Hope this is of some help.

I have got some samples in - one company I’ve found have two that could work. Definately not local bricks as they aren’t nice I have it as brick in the dining area on my picture but was planning on putting it in the kitchen as the dining area will be more glam than industrial. I just wasn’t sure if I should just have it in the kitchen (against the dark shaker hnits to soften them up) or in the dining area as well. Kitchen would be a priority as less tiling than the dining room - so cheaper