Cellar Conversion Re-generate an old or tired space and give it a fresh breath of life. Click here for answers, information and tips

[Tim46]

I live in a listed house which has some fantastic but ancient cellars which I would like to convert for additional space. The problem is that they have great architectural features such as old bread ovens and barrel vaulted brick ceilings. Conversion using a membrane would cover all this up and basically ruin them. The level of damp in the cellar is low so the question is is there a technology that would adequately damp proof them whilst retaining the features, perhaps some kind of moisture resistant coating, I know moisture cure polyurethane was used for this in the past but I don't know how available or effective this technology now is.
Any comments would be most welcome.
Tim46

[the specialist]

Hi,

There are cementitious systems which can be used to follow the profiles which you want to retain. I would still use a cdm sytem for the walls and floors. Greatest risk of water penetration is at the wall to floor junction as this is the point where hydrostatic pressure is the greatest. Releiving pressure at this point reduces the risk of failure higher up the wall.
Obviously you will lose the aesthetics of the brick face but it will still retain character.

Also don't make the assumption that because its fairly dry it will never flood. I spoke with someone yesterday about converting his basement and he told me it had only flooded twice in 20 years. The point being that it can flood if weather conditions are adverse enough for long enough.

Aidan

[TheDoctor5]

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[Perry525]

Unless a cellar is waterproof when built, it is very expensive to make it dry enough to use as a living room. Coatings have no mechanical strength and cannot keep water inside a wall.
What do you intend to do with it?

[the specialist]

[quote="Perry525"]Unless a cellar is waterproof when built, it is very expensive to make it dry enough to use as a living room. Coatings have no mechanical strength and cannot keep water inside a wall.
What do you intend to do with it?[/quote]

Which is why I recommended using a cdm (cavity drainage membrane)system on the walls.