cellar rebuild

[norty mart]

OK, where do you start these things!

Been browsing these forums for a couple of years and figured since I'll no doubt have some questions to bug you lot with I'd better post something first.
About to start on a cellar build, below are a few pics so you know what I'm waffling on about...I'll add more as and when there's something new to see.

First off the beginning: an homage to Ikea if you like...thrown together to give me somewhere to play & watch movies...

After the great flood...nowt to do with Noah, just the aftermath of our neighbour's problem.
She didn't know anything about it until we found water coming through the adjoining wall a couple of months ago and knocked to ask her to check it out...at the time we just had wet carpet, she had 3ft deep indoor pool!
We had a pump doing what it could to limit the damage but by the time she sorted her side out, the plasterboard and insulation behind had soaked up enough water to mean we had to tear out what were perfectly good walls.

Finally (for now) a quick Sketchup model of what I've got in mind (although subject to change as ideas pop in/out of my head, normally fuelled by what you lot get up to!). Plan to tank the cellar (dimpled plastic membrane stuff) and fit a sump & pump just in case it happens again. Once done I'll move the radiator to the right hand wall and flush mount the TV above where the radiator is now. Since the waste pipe from the pump will run up the wall in the left alcove, I'd like to build in some shelves for my console collection and similar in the fireplace to house the AV equipment...speaking of which we'll run all necessary cables for current and future connections. Not too sure what to do under the stairs yet, most likely storage as it's an old cottage and cupboard space is at a premium. Dimension wise it's a little under 4m x 3m and (this incident aside) totally dry...one of the things that sold the place to us.

Dimension wise it's a little under 4m x 3m and (this incident aside) totally dry...one of the things that sold the place to us.

Apol's for the links, don't seem able to post images.

[GavT]

I'm no expert but is that radiator big enough for the room? Using this site (Radcalcs radiator btu sizing site) to calculate the BTU required might be a good idea (BTU is basically the heat output the radiator is capable of)..

Just did new radiators in my cinema room using pukka BTU calculations and now it's beautifully cosy.

Other than that, design looks great - clean lines, nice.

Gav

[albriscoe]

This could be a gooden

to host images its easy mate, open a photobucket account (free) and upload them to there, then simply copy paste the image link into your text.

Meerkat...............simples

infact don`t do any more posting until you`ve done this or we`ll make you do it all again

Al

[norty mart]

Trust me, radiator's more than adequate (4 columns chucking about 1100 watts)...in the depths of winter it's barely on easily and toastily warm down there...my misses can't stand the cold.

Reason is the ceiling is only 6 1/2ft so nowhere near as big as a conventional living room...was thinking of installing underfloor but even though neither of us are giants, a few extra inches would be taking it a bit too low

Thanks for comments on design...it's about the only thing I've had straight in my mind since we knew to had to be redone so hopefully will turn out as shown - currently playing with ideas for skirting...possibly floating slightly with lighting concealed behind for an untra-thin floor level glow.

[norty mart]

cheers albriscoe...will sort out an account tonight

[norty mart]

It's been a busy couple of weeks so time for a quick update.

Six car loads of the old walls bagged and taken to the tip later, the cellar's clear enough to make a start.

Membrane, sump & pump delivered a week ago and after a couple of trips to B&Q/Wickes, our house is more like their warehouse than a home - don't think we'll ever be rid of the dust!

The membrane is great to work with, thankfully we have sandstone walls too so the drilling isn't too bad - my patience is at full stretch though, knowing it's only a few hours away I just want to get on with the stud work and see things take shape!

First things first, lets make a hole for the pump...only problem is the concrete is an inch thicker than my cutter will go.

Cutting concrete in an enclosed room isn't for the faint hearted, that glow is a 500watt site lamp...4ft away!

6" of sandstone isn't what you want to find after hammering your way through the last inch of concrete!

Pump fitted...just need to wire it up and test when I connect the pipework to a drain.

And we're off...hanging the membane with minimal plugs initially so I can mark the rest out from the studwork...just makes locating the plugs easier when framing out the room for plasterboard.

Positioning studwork so I can mark where to drill...easier than trying to find the plugs with the end of a screw afterwards. Floor membrane still to go down at this point because I want to clean the dust up before laying the floor...prevents any water carrying the dust into the sump.

[norty mart]

Finishing the membrane and getting the flooring down has gone surprisingly well past couple of days. Gone a bit overboard on the floor joint and where it joins to the wall seals but don't fancy having to strip everything out again if it ever does go horribly wrong.

Chipboard nicely in place, even managed to get all the cutouts around the chimney and wall under the stairs right first time...normally I get to lift, trim and refit boards a few times before they fit snugly.

Nicely topped off with the flooring. It's only layed out, needs lifting tonight then laying properly once the studwork is in place, it was getting late so figured since the floor was clear I'd cut the boards to length and get it out of the way rather than start on the studwork.

[Tyler Durden]

Interesting project!

Out of curiosity, what is the budget for just making the cellar warm and dry?

[norty mart]

For our 4mx3m room, the costs so far come to around £1200 for the membrane & pump (you get all the sump/tape/plugs etc. as part of the package). If you can drill holes and cut straight lines with a stanley knife, you can do this yourself.

On top of that, we've spent around £100 on timber so far (floor & stud) - plasterboard should come in around £70 with finishing on top.

Since it was a room already, we already had central heating down there so moving the radiator's just going to cost the price of a roll of 10mm copper pipe.

[albriscoe]

Hi Mate

first of all the photo`s are great

secondly, its really starting to come on and the tanking/pump job you seem to have made look really nice and easy, hopefully all the other members thinking of doing this will take note so good of you to post the pics.

Have you left a channel all the way the room for drainage purposes or is it dry anyway, sorry if I missed it earlier.

Anyway battle on you`re doing a great job

Al

[norty mart]

thanks Al,

That stuff is really easy to use and far less messy than coating it...reckon it's a good 2 days work from start to finish...I was fitting it in around work so took a little longer.
We didn't go for a drainage channel around the edge as the room is pretty dry normally and really didn't fancy cutting my way around the room after digging through the concrete for the sump!
...but in case something ever does go wrong, I dug a drain in the lowest point to feed the sump then (to be sure) spread a thick coat of levelling compound to unlevel the floor and scraped a herringbone pattern in with some plastic pipe to help guide any water to the drain. Should have got a photo of that thinking about it...just too keen to crack on finishing the membrane!

The bulk of the work now is studwork, wiring, bit of plumbing & drylining it...playing with some ideas for a sliding door at the moment, depends on whether the fittings are up to the job though (cellar steps are open to the room above).
Ordered myself some new toys yesterday, will keep them until nearer the end though

[albriscoe]

seems like you`ve thought it out then drainage wise

looking forward to seeing it all come together in the next day or 2

Al

[norty mart]

Few pics from the over the w/e...was my birthday so family & friend visits hampered progress a little but it's starting to look more like a room now

With so much to do, wasn't too sure where to start...so went for the fun stuff and got the TV mount up.

Plan is to hide the sub (ugly silver thing) behind a frame covered in fabric and build storage in the spaces around the TV then cram insulation into any remaining gaps to counter any audio nonsense (the wall behind is internal so don't really need it for its thermal properties).

Haven't decided what kind of doors etc. to have to close everything in with so all ideas welcome

...figured I'd best check the TV fits while things were exposed enough to make any adjustments - lugging that thing down and back up 2 flights of stairs on my own wasn't much fun so thankfully it went in nice and easy with an even gap all around the edge.

Wrapped up the w/e with some niches for the speakers & the framework & boxes for the open shelves that'll fill the alcove...had forgotten how must sawdust MDF generates!

Plan for the rest of this week is to spend my evenings finishing off the framework around the room, box out the storage areas, run the cables & get everything ready for boarding out over the w/e.

[Docta teef]

Seeing a thread like this brings it all back to me all the hours i spent running cables ect when i had my cellars converted. And your collection of games machines makes mine look tiny

[The_Wizard]

Nice, seems to be moving along quick and fairly pain free for you. Good work