cellars

[frazzled74]

we have a large cellar with steep stone steps and low height. It has radiator and window and is dry. Has any one converted a cellar like this into a decent room? and how much did it cost, how much work was involved etc?

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Depends what you want to do with it. We have a similar one but no window, I would guess it is about 7' x 9'. We just had the walls drylined, some sort of sealant put on the floor (made of bricks), put in power points and lights, a ceiling, radiator and boxed in some pipes, etc. Paid someone to put down carpet tiles and painted it ourselves. It was a few years ago but I think the total cost was about £2k. If you are looking to lower the floor to increase the ceiling height that is a big job and you are probably looking at tens of thousands then...

We spent about 7k on converting our coal cellar (windowless apart from a small vent under the front step) into a utility room/cloakroom.

The walls, previously brick, were sealed and then plasterboarded/skimmed. The floor (bare earth) was tanked and then lined and boarded. New staircase because old one was hazardous. Loo and butlers sink plumbed in, drained via a saniflow pump. Big cupboard at end with pumping system for the water to the rest of the house.

Gas meter was resisted outside.

Including painting and finishing (is rather like 2 rooms - a wc and then the open plan utility. Not very big really, about 12ft by about 5ft.

My BIL had his cellar converted (not sure how much cost). It was larger than our one, and he had it finished like ours with plastered walls, tanking and so on and installed a projector TV, sofas and an office space.

Did you put a window in yours Pooka?

One of the main reasons we bought where we are is the basement conversion - evryone who sees it is amazed it has - one large play room (3m x 4m), one 'snug' room we use for kids tv / games room (has sofa and couple of arm chairs in), first spare bedroom, small bathroom (shower / loo on a saniflow job) and final small bedroom for ds1.

Its all boarded out done ny previous owners BUT we had to rectify quite a few problems where it wasn't done right. Had to replace some of the linings on new frames so there was no bridges between the outer wall and the new inner, the electrics had issues - damp coming into wrongly placed sockets on the wall. Found out a few years ago some blokes dug it out deeper and put in 'wells' for the lights. Its a great space but the damp has to be managed - its fully heated and we use a good dehumidifier to keep it aired. This week poor Ds1 has been a bit cold because of extreme temp drops but usually he's fine. Couldn't say how much it costs but I'd say get in a few firms to quote and follow up with any work they have done to get recommendations etc. Some of the new walls I replaced with special boards ussed for showers which is guaranteed not to take on damp. Normal plasterboard / gypsum finishes just LOVE to soak up damp. Ours was bodged (like many jobs on this house by ex owners - its fun sorting out all the problems. I don't think you need planning permission but would need to conform to building regs.

No - is windowless, but as is a utility room, window not really necessary. Have recessed spot lights, lots of, and external ventilation duct.

Did need building regs approval but no hassle. All parts and fittings were installed with the potential for damp in mind. However, we are fortunate in that our cellar was very very dry and have never had any flooding here.

We're currently in the process of converting our cellar into: playroom, study area, loo/shower room and utility room. We had to have Building Control approval but not planning permission. The cellar was probably the kitchen (and coal cellar) originally. It had some electrics, no heating and is very damp.

The work is costing us c.£35-40k. This is to have the floor dug out, a state of the art tanking sytem installed for the floor and walls, a perimeter drainage system installed, and then a new floor, the new rooms created, new plasterwork throughout, enlarged window, electrics and radiators.

It's a minefield TBH. Our work involves no underpinning to the house's foundations, which would significantly increase the cotss. I recommend you get at least 3 quotes from builders, talk the work through with them to really understand what they're proposing to do, and ensure they have experience in cellar conversions: if you do a "quick fix" you could end up with damp problems in the future and further costly remedial work.

glad to read that Fayrazzled. We had quote about 18 months ago for our modest cellar approx 15ft x 15ft. The quote included the same process that you describe, but is obviously a much smaller area. Quote was £20,000. Was beginning to think that we had been had! Haven't found the cash yet!

nigglewiggle, our cellar area is probably two lots of roughly 15 x 15, so your £20k sounds about the same as my quote.