putting dcs in cellar

[frazzled74]

not as bad as it sounds,
Have got 3 bed terrace, ds 16 has own room and dd6 and ds3 share. Their bedroom is really cramped, no room to play and bedtimes are hard, they keep each other awake etc.Have thought about loft conversion but tbh, just cant afford it within next year.
We have a cellar which is only 5'6" high. It has steepish stairs, window, radiator, sockets etc.Would it be wrong to turn it into bedroom for dd.If carpeted, stairs would be no steeper than some terraces that i have visited, its not damp, I could put in a baby alarm so that i heard her if she woke in night.thoughts please?

LOL at "not as bad as it sounds"
It's not damp when you go in there atm but is there "residual" moisture that may make it too moist to sleep and play in.
I guess you'd need to think about fire escape issues

Can you ask someone to come and assess it?

Also would you be keeping DD awake by getting on with your usual evening activities - is cellar below kitchen (dropped saucepan lid, scraping chairs on floor?) or under tv room?
hth

can eldest ds have his bedroom in the cellar?

tbh i wouldnt put a 3 year old in the cellar, just too far away in an emergency and as lola says, if you needed to get out quickly...

I would be cautious tbh - sounds like it was originally built as a coal cellar due to the low ceilings? We have converted ours into a room but it does get very cold in winter, even with a rad on full blast. People have slept there the odd time but I don't think I would use it as a bedroom all the time... It has also flooded, long story, but this is the aspect that would worry me most.

You probably would find that if you came to sell you wouldn't be able to claim it as a habitable room, but you may not be worried about that...

How much light comes in the window?

As a teenager I had to live in a basement room with only minimal natural light and a low ceiling, and it was absolutely awful -- looking back I am quite shocked that my dad and stepmother thought it was OK for us (my cousin also lived down there for a while, in room beside mine).

I got very depressed for a while, and I do think it was partly because I was living in a damp-ish dark room. I started to become very messy and not clean the room enough, eg left apple core in the bin and got ants! I know that sounds like typical teen stuff, but in my case it was extremely out of character.

I would just think twice about it and get proper professional opinions on dampness &c.

use it as a playroom instead ie shunt all toys out of bedroom to leave more space?

doesn;t solve bedtime dilemma though

6 yr old not the 3 yr old, its def not damp, we have been storing books and clothes down there for 3 yrs and all fine.my 16 yr old is 6ft and i think he would get fed up of stooping.Would look into fire issues.
I suppose i could do it as a playroom for dd (girly and her own space) but have her sleep in ds room til a bit older and we get a feel of the room.?

why dont you sleep in the cellar?

My friend's DS (8) sleeps in their cellar room. It is properly tanked and was their office previously. He loves it - can hide away from his small sisters!

Can you swop rooms with the dcs if yours is a bit bigger? You only need your bedroom to sleep in, so as long as you can fit in your bed and some clothes storage... might give them more floor space?

I am still dubious ... it could be ok but it really depends on the cellar, hard to say online.

Can I just ask again, how much light comes in the window? Can they see out at all?

I would have thought building regs wouldn't allow it because the ceiling is so low.

We have a properly converted cellar - fully tanked, heating, dug down to get extra ceiling height - and we now have a guest room as one of the three rooms. BUT, I wouldn't feel comfortable about a younger child sleeping there. It is noticeably colder than the rest of the house, so they would need to be able to use the heating system themselves. I would also be worried about fire escape and just the distance from me if they needed anything in the night.

It would probably suit some teenagers as it is quite self contained with a loo and door to the garden, but it is the self contained-ness of it that would put me off using it for a younger child.

We use the rooms as occasional guest room, piano room/toy storage and utility room.

Yes swap your bedroom with the dc's current bedroom.

cant fit double bed in their bedroom, have already thought of that. The playroom idea is probably best for time being.If all the toys were out of bedroom, i could probably design it so that they had their own space.Also may think about us sleeping in cellar but doubt if dh would go for it.The window is quite small and no view, was thinking with white walls and good lighting would be bright enough.thanks for all the comments, really helpful.

I think if you say your dh wouldn't sleep in it himself, that is your answer...

I'd say don't do it (I know I am biased based on personal exp, but still, there you go)

Hope you find a solution

dh wouldnt sleep in it because he wouldnt be able to stand up in the room, he already has a bad back.DS1 says that if he wasnt so tall he would really like it because its big and would be a good den/room.
I have decided to do it as a playroom but put bed in it, smoke alarm, carbon monoxide detector etc,and see how room evolves .At least it will be more useful than keeping all our old rubbish in it.