Big project - Tiny budget garage/basement conversion

Seventy1

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Hi everyone,

First of all I'm going to state that the layout of my house is far from ordinary, but thanks to everyone posting their projects on this forum I've decided to convert the space under my house into an entertainment area.

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The basics
The house is an end terraced house that is 5 floors high (built on a hill) you walk in from the main street onto the ground floor and then there are 2 floors above you and 2 floors below.

Currently the only way to access the 2 floors below is to go outside and walk round the back of the property then enter through the garage door.

I plan to add access from the main house down into the 2 floors below and convert the 3 rooms on the lower floor into a small bathroom, kitchen and home cinema.

A gentleman 3 doors along has done a conversion already and its outstanding.



The current state
Currently the lower 2 floors haven't had anything done to them since I bought the house 4 years ago. There is a fair amount of water coming into the back room, all the walls are bare, but there is basic electrics and cold water running down there. From what evidence I've seen the previous owners grew a lot of illegal plants down there. :nono:

Background info
I'm a video and media designer from Yorkshire in my 20's, I'm on a very modest salary and I'm funding the whole project myself so I aim to carry out most of the work myself (which can be done legally) and with help from friends.

I'm very fortunate to have a lot of friends in different trades who have agreed to either do the work I need at 'mates rates' or for free.

The aim
I'm hoping to achieve this conversion on a very small budget and if I succeed in doing so I hope that this thread will showcase the project to help others in a similar situation.

Whats been done already
The back room where the 1st set of stairs are going to be was waist height in junk, rubble, bricks, wood, coal, dirt etc so me and a few good friends helped me fill a skip and clear the room.

I've spoken to planning and an architect and I just need to go through building regs and not planning for this project. The architect is coming round this week to measure up. Once we've finalised the plans and they've been approved I aim to install a damp proof membrane and sump pump to stop the water.

I don't want to ramble on too much so I'll post some pictures and videos so hopefully you'll get a better idea. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

David
 
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I'll try not to post too many pictures.

This is where the staircase is going to go on the bottom floor. All of this was waist high and spanned across the length of the room. It was a lot of work to clear out.
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This is the main room where the home cinema will go. This will be bricked up and have a window and door installed.
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Doorway that goes from the cinema room to the back room which will be the kitchen
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My friend who's a brick layer taking out some of the rotten joists and stone slab floor above while standing on all the rubbish.
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Sawing away.
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Below my existing kitchen and where the stairs will go (in the corner)
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Found this in the room upstairs (which will be the bathroom). Its going to be a beast to remove! Wish it was on the ground floor.
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Half of the mess in the back gone. Still a lot more to clear out.
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Just some of what we removed.
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Better picture of where the stairs are going. Pretty much 2 floors underground here.
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Could finally see the stone floor once I'd cleared the last of it! A fair bit of water coming in from that wall though.
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Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwozO_5-Fbw

Thats all I have so far. I've downloaded google sketchup today so once I get the hang of that I hope to upload a rough plan of the house so it will hopefully make a lot more sense to you guys.

A friend of mine used to work for a damp proofing firm so he's guiding me through the process, but I just need to buy the actual membrane. I've seen this TWISTFIX > Waterproofing Membrane Kit for Tanking Basement Walls
Has anyone here used it and does it look sufficient?

Many thanks in advance.
 
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With regards to that membrane it looks okay but you will need a sump/pump as well as it will not hold back a head of water. I am no expert but had my cellar converted just over 6 years ago and used a very similar membrane but also had drainage and a sump/pump installed.
 
With regards to that membrane it looks okay but you will need a sump/pump as well as it will not hold back a head of water. I am no expert but had my cellar converted just over 6 years ago and used a very similar membrane but also had drainage and a sump/pump installed.

Thanks Inzaman, I plan on installing a sump/pump where the majority of water is coming in, then running the channels from the other rooms to the pump. My friend who used to work for a damp proofing firm is assisting me. He also lives in the flat sandwiched between my property so he doesn't have far to go to look at it.

The architect has just called and he's coming round to measure up on Tuesday. :)
 
Looks like this will be well worth the watch. Good luck and post as MANY pics as you want. pics are great ;)

Thanks austcy, but don't tell me that because I get far too excitable and will end up posting loads! ;)

Builder is due to pop round this week to give me a quote in certain aspects of work that I can't do.
 
The more pics you post the better! you will have more followers like me who have nothing better to do than drool over AV & Home Cinema setups.

More pic please...
 
The more pics you post the better! you will have more followers like me who have nothing better to do than drool over AV & Home Cinema setups.

More pic please...

Oh go on then :smashin:

This is the room that you can't see on my video which is 1 floor up (under my kitchen). By the looks of things it won't be a big job plumbers to install the hot water etc to this room and the one below (proposed kitchen).

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Surprising what you find....I found a 3.5p KitKat wrapper, a page 3 from 1970 (I won't post it as I don't know what the rules are when it comes to light vintage porn on the forum ;) ).

Heres the KitKat wrapper. Anyone remember this? I don't.

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I'll post some more interesting pictures once more work has been done :)
 
That Kit Kat wrapper is awseome :cool:
 
The Kit Kat wrapper is going in a frame along with all the other random things I've found :)

I've just had this said to me from someone I know when I mentioned the pump system etc:

"Put a dimple membrane on the walls all the way down to the footin, then thick gauge tarporlin on the muck on the ground and lead that up the edges then concrete over the tarporlin
all the water will run at the back of the membrane into the ground
with noway of gettin into the room"

I can see where he's coming from, but if that was so effective then why would majority of conversions have the channeling and a sump pump?
 
Good grief I remember Kit kats at that price :eek:
Oh go on then :smashin:

This is the room that you can't see on my video which is 1 floor up (under my kitchen). By the looks of things it won't be a big job plumbers to install the hot water etc to this room and the one below (proposed kitchen).


162901_10150118039148933_511948932_7595181_1189724_n.jpg



Surprising what you find....I found a 3.5p KitKat wrapper, a page 3 from 1970 (I won't post it as I don't know what the rules are when it comes to light vintage porn on the forum ;) ).

Heres the KitKat wrapper. Anyone remember this? I don't.


168624_10150118039358933_511948932_7595188_3782052_n.jpg



I'll post some more interesting pictures once more work has been done :)
 
This thread has all the hallmarks of greatness ahead of it...I can feel it.

Really looking forward to it progressing.

Thanks! Optimistic, I like it! Makes me feel a bit better about embarking on such a project. :smashin:

I've got a builder coming round either tomorrow or Saturday and the architect round on Tuesday.

There are a lot of stone flags to take up in the back rooms so we can dig up the floor. I wonder if I'll get much for the stone flags.
 
Looks like you have a lot of work ahead of you, but it will be well worth it when its all done. Good luck with it!
 
my project looks easy compared to yours :) good luck mate. I look forward to updates.
 
What a fantastic looking project! I'd love to have something like that taking up my time.

Out of curiosity are you going to decouple the cinema room from the rest of the house? I'm sure your friend with his room right above wouldn't want to hear your movies and it would be best to decouple the side walls to avoid flanking noise doing the same thing.

Also, what are the dimensions of the room?
 
more importantly where's the page 3;)

A censored version of the page 3 will be posted to celebrate the completion of the project. So keep watching the thread. ;)

my project looks easy compared to yours :) good luck mate. I look forward to updates.

Thanks, I can't wait to see your updates too.

What a fantastic looking project! I'd love to have something like that taking up my time.

Out of curiosity are you going to decouple the cinema room from the rest of the house? I'm sure your friend with his room right above wouldn't want to hear your movies and it would be best to decouple the side walls to avoid flanking noise doing the same thing.

Also, what are the dimensions of the room?

Thank you! :smashin:

I don't know the exact dimensions but its roughly 14ft by 12ft. Architect came round this morning to measure it up. He also had to measure the rest of the house too. I'll post the plans once I get them.

I have thought about sound proofing solutions. As one of the reasons I'm doing the conversion is because my current setup is above his flat bedroom and now I'm going to be moving it under his flat.

From what I've seen there has already been some work converting the room at the front and the ceiling in there has been plasterboarded and the floor has been concreted.

I've got the builder coming round soon to give me some quotes on the work I can't carry out myself.

Exciting times!
 
Stairs
So the builder came round and recommended that I have a spiral staircase from my kitchen to the upper floor of the cellar/garage. This was music to my ears because thats what I want ideally, but the architect seems to be pushing for me to have some stairs parallel to my 1st floor stairs, which will mean I'll lose a lot of kitchen space.

Damp proofing?
So I posted a damp proofing query earlier on in the posts and I'm guessing no one on the forum had any suggestions. It was pretty much creating a waterproof barrier to stop the water coming in without the need for a channel and a sump pump.

The builder said in previous conversions he's done he's used a waterproof board (sorry I don't know the name) on the walls which directs the water to the ground which has also been treated. Then he said to attach plasterboard with insulation directly to the waterproof board.

I did question it a lot due to seeing other peoples conversions on here all with membranes, channels and pumps and he said he did a cellar conversion 13 years ago with that method and its still fine. I'll also get a guarantee with it. What do you guys think?

Wall removal

I've asked for a quote to remove and open up the whole upper level of the garage and replace the wall thats supporting the kitchen with an RSJ. Quote will be in next week. Fingers crossed its not ridiculous!
 
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Stairs
So the builder came round and recommended that I have a spiral staircase from my kitchen to the upper floor of the cellar/garage. This was music to my ears because thats what I want ideally, but the architect seems to be pushing for me to have some stairs parallel to my 1st floor stairs, which will mean I'll lose a lot of kitchen space.

Damp proofing?
So I posted a damp proofing query earlier on in the posts and I'm guessing no one on the forum had any suggestions. It was pretty much creating a waterproof barrier to stop the water coming in without the need for a channel and a sump pump.

The builder said in previous conversions he's done he's used a waterproof board (sorry I don't know the name) on the walls which directs the water to the ground which has also been treated. Then he said to attach plasterboard with insulation directly to the waterproof board.

I did question it a lot due to seeing other peoples conversions on here all with membranes, channels and pumps and he said he did a cellar conversion 13 years ago with that method and its still fine. I'll also get a guarantee with it. What do you guys think?

Wall removal

I've asked for a quote to remove and open up the whole upper level of the garage and replace the wall thats supporting the kitchen with an RSJ. Quote will be in next week. Fingers crossed its not ridiculous!

trouble with a spiral is when you want to get anything up/down the bleedy thing!

We had a steel lintel put across of about 8ft cost us around £1000 was about two days labour as the wall was solid stone and we had to have two old concrete lintels removed,bit of a job!

Looks a bit of a job, a little like mine was

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now looks like this


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Damp proofing?
So I posted a damp proofing query earlier on in the posts and I'm guessing no one on the forum had any suggestions. It was pretty much creating a waterproof barrier to stop the water coming in without the need for a channel and a sump pump.

The builder said in previous conversions he's done he's used a waterproof board (sorry I don't know the name) on the walls which directs the water to the ground which has also been treated. Then he said to attach plasterboard with insulation directly to the waterproof board.

I did question it a lot due to seeing other peoples conversions on here all with membranes, channels and pumps and he said he did a cellar conversion 13 years ago with that method and its still fine. I'll also get a guarantee with it. What do you guys think?

Having lived with a cellar conversion for the past 6 years (pump, sump, and membrane) and having had it flooded in November (burst pipe) i would recommend 'erring' on the side of caution and ensure it is tanked properly.

Once you have it carpeted and have your equipment in there it is unreal how much damage water can do. Also even if you get very light damp it could smell fust pretty quick unless you have adequate ventilation.

It is obviously up to you however and your builder has seen the state or otherwise of your cellar. I suppose if there is not much water ingress then a sump/pump is like an insurance policy but one i would take out. Our pump does get used a couple of times a year that i see.
 
trouble with a spiral is when you want to get anything up/down the bleedy thing!

We had a steel lintel put across of about 8ft cost us around £1000 was about two days labour as the wall was solid stone and we had to have two old concrete lintels removed,bit of a job!

Hopefully mine won't cost so much as it'd eat into a lot of my budget. Mine is a single brick wall.

Excellent transformation in your pictures. Thanks for posting them :)
 
Having lived with a cellar conversion for the past 6 years (pump, sump, and membrane) and having had it flooded in November (burst pipe) i would recommend 'erring' on the side of caution and ensure it is tanked properly.

Once you have it carpeted and have your equipment in there it is unreal how much damage water can do. Also even if you get very light damp it could smell fust pretty quick unless you have adequate ventilation.

It is obviously up to you however and your builder has seen the state or otherwise of your cellar. I suppose if there is not much water ingress then a sump/pump is like an insurance policy but one i would take out. Our pump does get used a couple of times a year that i see.

That is a good point. I think if I went with my builders method it wouldn't be a massive job to get channels running to a pump and at least I'll feel a little bit more confident about it all. Thanks.

Have a read of this thread and if you can PM the OP as he is an expert in damp proofing basements and has advised several forum members.

Thanks! Very useful. I have checked it out :smashin:
 

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