[Ivor the Engine]

Am converting my basement into an AV room - loads of big plans, little cash.

Have taken an internal wall down upstairs and was wondering what I could do to stop the draught coming from the crawl space below. We plan to sand the floorboards. I'm thinking of putting some insulation - celotex perhaps, or some silver insulation from Wickes between the joists. Has anyone got any ideas?

[louishm]

when i converted my cellar we had polished floor boards in the living room above. So when i was preparing the cellar ceiling i used kingspan/celotex and then a layer of rockwool and then double plaster boarded.


hope that helps

[albriscoe]

Originally Posted by Ivor the Engine

Am converting my basement into an AV room - loads of big plans, little cash.

Have taken an internal wall down upstairs and was wondering what I could do to stop the draught coming from the crawl space below. We plan to sand the floorboards. I'm thinking of putting some insulation - celotex perhaps, or some silver insulation from Wickes between the joists. Has anyone got any ideas?

I would follow louishm`s advice but wouldn`t use wickes or B&Q`s own brand of insulation as its just "not up to it" if you know what I mean. Also check the price of acoustic plaster board before fitting double layers of normal board and don`t use 9mm boards only 12.5 mm ones as it will def give you a better ceiling finish.

By the way if you have a magnet joinery near you they have just started a we will beat anybody policy and believe me they are doing by a landslide.

cheers Allan

[inzaman]

Do you mean the floorboards above the cellar or the floorboards above the space where the internal wall has been removed i.e. the back room?

[Ivor the Engine]

Yeah, that was a little unclear. It's the floorboards in the back room.

[inzaman]

Originally Posted by Ivor the Engine

Yeah, that was a little unclear. It's the floorboards in the back room.

For this in our house, our back room (or dining room as we use it for) is not above the cellar, and we have sanded floorboards. What we did prior to sanding the floorboards was fill all of the gaps, even the ones with no draught, with a flexible wood filler from B&Q. This sands great and once sanded and varnished looks fine. We did use a coloured varnish though as we had to replace some floorbaords as they were broken, splintered etc.

I personally did not want to take all the baords up and insulate them as it would be a big job and i didnt want to restrict the 'natural airflow' under the floorboards, i just wanted to stop the draught's from the tongue and groove.

[Ivor the Engine]

Sounds like a good idea.

When I did the hall I used a papier mache with wood varnish. Not bad, but a real sod to get in and clean up.

There is a huge crawl space below the dining room and there is access through previously removed floorboards.

I, like you, want to keep the airflow, certainly below floor level.

I might well look into that filler, but put it in pre-sanding.

Cheers.

[inzaman]

Pre-sanding is definitely the way to go as the finish once sanded and varnished looks excellent imx. If i get chance this weekend i will take a picture of a section and post it so you can see the finish.

[Ivor the Engine]

Thanks, that would be really kind and tremendously useful in persuading the wife that I don't need to be on my back in the crawl space.

I was just looking at doing the same thing (subject to funding!) and came across the following case study which seems to cover everything except the insulation - Cinema Basement Conversion

However I phoned their technical department and they suggest a product called Knauf Polyfoam Board. On the ceiling you can just push it between the joists before fixing plasterboard.

[Ivor the Engine]

I asked about sound proofing and insualtion in a separate thread on the DIY section, where I got some really useful advice

I am ordering my plasterboard, mineral wool, resiliant bars etc next week. Will let you know how I fare. I may even get round to putting some pics up.

For information I am using a company called custom audio designs.

[inzaman]

Heres two pictures.

[Ivor the Engine]

They look good. I presume the filler will take on some, if not all of the wax / varnish colur.

Thanks for putting the pics up. Greatly appreciated.