Hello
Ive been asked to do a basic cellar conversion to be used only as a basic utility room for a washing machine, dryer, and a bit of storage. The owner would like a few different options but wants to keep the budget to a minimum because they are not having it converted propertly.
There is one cellar room roughly 4m x 4m, a smaller room which is roughly 1.2m x 4m, and the stairway going down into the cellar.
There isn’t any visible water or physically damp/wet walls to the touch, but its not a dry cellar and there is the typical salts and bubbling paint along the walls.
The floor in the main 4x4 room slopes quite a lot from all 4 corners into the centre of the room where there is an open drain. The floor looks to just be bricks on end placed onto clay/soil with limited mortar between them. Without further inspection I don’t know if the drain works, if the drain is damaged or how the floor is constructed.
Here are the issues/decisions that need to be made.
1. The costs need to be kept to a minimum (within reason).
2. There is the typical damp mouldy smell in the cellar, and it can sometimes be smelt in the entrance hall above the cellar upstairs.
3. The room is only to be used for sort of a basic utility room, not a habitable room.
4. What to do with the floor
5. What to do with the drain
6. What to do with the walls
Lets start with the floor. Can I have some suggestions? There is just about enough head height as it is and so I cant really increase the floor height that much more. The cost of excavating the floor out, moving/repairing the drain, installing a sump pump with perimeter drains and installing a new slab is going to be too much for what is wanted but how far do you go?
If you go to the effort of excavating the minimum to install a new level slab should you go the full way and do as above?
How far do you go with the floor for the most basic conversion?
This is a hard decision because the floor is quite badly unlevel, its not even in a reasonable condition, and you cant really put anything over it as it is. Something does have to be done with the floor it cant stay as it is. Any ideas on the cheapest most cost effective way of making the floor useable?
Walls: A habitable room would need cavity drain membrane going into the perimeter drains going into the sump pump but that’s not what we are after. How far do you go with this then?
The owner would ideally like plasterboard walls however will accept other options.
Im thinking that the expense of cavity drain membrane is a bit pointless unless the room and floor is done properly.
If they do insist on plasterboard walls then they will either have to be installed onto battens, or the walls covered with a dmp then battens and then plasterboard.
Id like a few ideas or a bit of advice here with what other would suggest.
The two options I can think of are to either use some sort of pvc wall cladding, or if they want plasterboard then possibly dmp on the walls with battens fixed over the dpm and then plasterboard ontop but I don’t think this is a long term solution and might eventually suffer from damp.
Window: At the front there is a large air vent which used to be part of the old coal shoot or what ever was there. The owners said they wanted this opening up slightly and a window installing which can be done fairly easily however this would remove the ventilation to the cellar. I would think some extra ventilation would need installing, but whats the best thing to do if the customer doesn’t want the draft?
Heating: The owner asked about having a radiator installed but I said it wasn’t a good idea unless it was being converted properly.
Smell: Im not sure on this one. Unless a complete conversion is done then I doubt the smell will go. Sorting out the floor and walls might help a little but it wont remove the smell.
Ceiling. The old lat and plaster ceiling will be removed and a new plasterboard ceiling installed.
This is sort of a trade off between making it useable and not spending too much, or they may aswell spend a bit extra and get it done properly.
Ive been asked to do a basic cellar conversion to be used only as a basic utility room for a washing machine, dryer, and a bit of storage. The owner would like a few different options but wants to keep the budget to a minimum because they are not having it converted propertly.
There is one cellar room roughly 4m x 4m, a smaller room which is roughly 1.2m x 4m, and the stairway going down into the cellar.
There isn’t any visible water or physically damp/wet walls to the touch, but its not a dry cellar and there is the typical salts and bubbling paint along the walls.
The floor in the main 4x4 room slopes quite a lot from all 4 corners into the centre of the room where there is an open drain. The floor looks to just be bricks on end placed onto clay/soil with limited mortar between them. Without further inspection I don’t know if the drain works, if the drain is damaged or how the floor is constructed.
Here are the issues/decisions that need to be made.
1. The costs need to be kept to a minimum (within reason).
2. There is the typical damp mouldy smell in the cellar, and it can sometimes be smelt in the entrance hall above the cellar upstairs.
3. The room is only to be used for sort of a basic utility room, not a habitable room.
4. What to do with the floor
5. What to do with the drain
6. What to do with the walls
Lets start with the floor. Can I have some suggestions? There is just about enough head height as it is and so I cant really increase the floor height that much more. The cost of excavating the floor out, moving/repairing the drain, installing a sump pump with perimeter drains and installing a new slab is going to be too much for what is wanted but how far do you go?
If you go to the effort of excavating the minimum to install a new level slab should you go the full way and do as above?
How far do you go with the floor for the most basic conversion?
This is a hard decision because the floor is quite badly unlevel, its not even in a reasonable condition, and you cant really put anything over it as it is. Something does have to be done with the floor it cant stay as it is. Any ideas on the cheapest most cost effective way of making the floor useable?
Walls: A habitable room would need cavity drain membrane going into the perimeter drains going into the sump pump but that’s not what we are after. How far do you go with this then?
The owner would ideally like plasterboard walls however will accept other options.
Im thinking that the expense of cavity drain membrane is a bit pointless unless the room and floor is done properly.
If they do insist on plasterboard walls then they will either have to be installed onto battens, or the walls covered with a dmp then battens and then plasterboard.
Id like a few ideas or a bit of advice here with what other would suggest.
The two options I can think of are to either use some sort of pvc wall cladding, or if they want plasterboard then possibly dmp on the walls with battens fixed over the dpm and then plasterboard ontop but I don’t think this is a long term solution and might eventually suffer from damp.
Window: At the front there is a large air vent which used to be part of the old coal shoot or what ever was there. The owners said they wanted this opening up slightly and a window installing which can be done fairly easily however this would remove the ventilation to the cellar. I would think some extra ventilation would need installing, but whats the best thing to do if the customer doesn’t want the draft?
Heating: The owner asked about having a radiator installed but I said it wasn’t a good idea unless it was being converted properly.
Smell: Im not sure on this one. Unless a complete conversion is done then I doubt the smell will go. Sorting out the floor and walls might help a little but it wont remove the smell.
Ceiling. The old lat and plaster ceiling will be removed and a new plasterboard ceiling installed.
This is sort of a trade off between making it useable and not spending too much, or they may aswell spend a bit extra and get it done properly.