Hello all
I’m hoping to get some advice from some of you on how to insulate and reduce moisture levels in my cellar. Hopefully making the room more usable as a universal space for living/office/guest room type area.
The gist: Our house is 260 years old and has a cellar approx 6.5 meters x 7 meters with a concrete floor laid on a DPM that has approximately 6-8 inches untrimmed coming up the walls.
The cellar has no damp or flooding problems, there is a deep 3-4 foot deep pit with a plumbed in sump pump to take away water. The cellar has been used by previous occupiers as a computer home business and a home mini cinema, so I know it has not flooded in the last 25 years. We have also lived here through the wettest summer and wettest winter on record and it did not let in a drop. Although there are a few areas on the walls that feel damp to the touch and a bit of damp where the wall meets the floor, it has none of the usual problems associated with basements/cellars of this age.
I want to cut down the humidity and insulate 2 of the walls. Currently it takes a lot of energy to heat the room and 20 minutes after the heat is turned off the room is cold again.
I have chosen not to go down the cement-based tanking route for various reasons. The two options I am considering about are as follows:
1. Would it be enough to batten out the walls fitting celotex or some such material between batons and plasterboard over? Would this make what little damp there is worse?
2. The second option is to line these 2 walls with a dimpled cavity membrane tucking and taping the bottom of the membrane behind the 6-8 inches of floor DPM overhang. Then fix a stud wall in front, fixed to the floor and ceiling, again fitting insulation between studs then plasterboard over. Is this “over kill” for what is actually quite a dry cellar? Or could I dispense with the cavity membrane if the damp is not actually running down the walls.
The cellar already has central heating and a 6” extractor fan. No windows as it entirely underground, with internal and external stairs. I am also planning to run a small dehumidifier more or less continuously down there draining into the sump-pump pit.
I would value your thoughts and any other ideas/comments on this issue.
Regards
Laurence
I’m hoping to get some advice from some of you on how to insulate and reduce moisture levels in my cellar. Hopefully making the room more usable as a universal space for living/office/guest room type area.
The gist: Our house is 260 years old and has a cellar approx 6.5 meters x 7 meters with a concrete floor laid on a DPM that has approximately 6-8 inches untrimmed coming up the walls.
The cellar has no damp or flooding problems, there is a deep 3-4 foot deep pit with a plumbed in sump pump to take away water. The cellar has been used by previous occupiers as a computer home business and a home mini cinema, so I know it has not flooded in the last 25 years. We have also lived here through the wettest summer and wettest winter on record and it did not let in a drop. Although there are a few areas on the walls that feel damp to the touch and a bit of damp where the wall meets the floor, it has none of the usual problems associated with basements/cellars of this age.
I want to cut down the humidity and insulate 2 of the walls. Currently it takes a lot of energy to heat the room and 20 minutes after the heat is turned off the room is cold again.
I have chosen not to go down the cement-based tanking route for various reasons. The two options I am considering about are as follows:
1. Would it be enough to batten out the walls fitting celotex or some such material between batons and plasterboard over? Would this make what little damp there is worse?
2. The second option is to line these 2 walls with a dimpled cavity membrane tucking and taping the bottom of the membrane behind the 6-8 inches of floor DPM overhang. Then fix a stud wall in front, fixed to the floor and ceiling, again fitting insulation between studs then plasterboard over. Is this “over kill” for what is actually quite a dry cellar? Or could I dispense with the cavity membrane if the damp is not actually running down the walls.
The cellar already has central heating and a 6” extractor fan. No windows as it entirely underground, with internal and external stairs. I am also planning to run a small dehumidifier more or less continuously down there draining into the sump-pump pit.
I would value your thoughts and any other ideas/comments on this issue.
Regards
Laurence
