Internal Finishing, Under Floor Heating and Screed

It has been a busy month at Dianthus. A lot is going on at the moment. In summary, we’ve been busy with M&E coordination and have progressed to sign off most of the design. Dianthus has a few M&E elements which include, lighting controls, smart home features, Audio Visual for Snug Room, Mechanical Ventilation and Heating Recovery (MVHR) which, removes stale air from a Passivhaus and ensure it’s got fresh air all the time, the Ground Source Heat Pump and all the relevant underfloor heating pipes that comes with it.

One critical milestone was getting a date from our Electricity Distribution Network Operator. SSE to connect a new three phase power and cable to Dianthus. This is going to happen on the 27th of May. Once that’s done, I’ll get a new smart meter installed by Octupus Energy who supply the electricity to our single phase connection. We’re going to need three phase for the M&E equipments, for EV Charge Points as well as pushing excess energy from our GB Sol Solar Slates back to the grid under the Smart Export Guarantee Scheme.

We’ve had a beehive of activities to get the underfloor pipework completed, the plant room riser and slab penetration for the various cables and ducting required in the plant room. In addition to that, the screeds to the basement and ground floor has been completed with Lewis deckings on the first floor. Lewis Deckings provide great acoustic properties to minimise the risk of squeaking and noise penetration through timber frame floors. They’re also great for fire protection and good for underfloor heating.

On the outside, the Bentley team have been busy with installing the battens that the Vastern Timber British Oak cladding will sit on. The cladding are on site ready for installation. They’re drop dead gorgeous. I can’t wait for them to go on and take the photo of the house with the flint pointed with lime mortar.

As a reminder, the Vastern Oak Cladding will sit alongside the flint cladding to give the house that mix of Hampshire traditional barn house with the oak cladding giving it a Modern twist.

Vastern Timber British Oak Cladding and Flint Cladding

The mason’s are finishing the flint installation. It’s just the rear of the house specifically the top of the pavilion to finish now.

The steel bridge that the balustrade will sit on upstairs landing has been installed as well. The Cantifix Skyframe door that the glass was broken in transit has also been installed in the last few days.

Finally, the field shelter foundation will be installed next week. The area has been marked up ready to go.

I’ve got a couple of video and loads of photos from the last month. I may wait for the pointing of the flint to be completed and the cladding to be done before I post more photos.

More importantly, I’m pleased we’re now progressing with internal finishing and first fix. Exciting. It’s exhilirating walking around the space thinking wow, we designed this. A long way to go still as we’re looking at end of September finish never mind a couple of planning permissions to come.

Underfloor Heating Pipes and Screed to Floor Walkthrough of Basement and First Floor