Retrofit basement

[MarkW]

Bit of an odd one this, but has anyone ever had a basement room added to their house? Rough estimates suggest that for a Victorian mid-terrace like ours it would cost about £3k per square metre fully fitted out, which is considerably cheaper than moving to something a bit bigger here in posh old Harrogate.

We're just kicking the idea round at the moment and looking for info, but don't know anyone who's had it done.

[Joeman]

great way to piss off your neighbours, and crack all the plaster off their walls!

[rennie]

We had a cellar in one of the married quarters in Germany,

full sized groundfloor lay-out and steps up to the back garden.

It was marvellous!

[Mr Fro]

Preparing for when the "element" take over eh Mark?

[Joeman]

I watched a good documentary on basement conversions.

Basically it only made financial sense to do it in London where the price per square meter of completed basement was higher than the cost per square meter to excavate and construct.

Course if you're not doing it for a quick profit that might not be a concern, but it's not like a loft conversion where youre virtually guaranteed to add more than the construction costs onto the value of the house.

[Grumpy Old Git]

Dig deep enough and you could have your own London Underground Station.

[klingelton]

my sister and brother in law moved into a house in leeds where similar had been done. they had to abandon the kitchen in the basement as it became obvious it had been DIY'd on the cheap!

assuming you don't need to underpin, you need to excavate so you get the headroom. then it will need to be tanked (which isn't cheap) then battons, insulation and boarding. then skimmed, concrete floor will need to be poured. I really can't see it costing any less than 10k for a small basement - if you don't need to underpin. even more if you do!

If you like the area you're in, you neighbours and you're keen to stay put - it might be cheaper than buying a new house. But you won't get any of that money you spend back when you come to sell.

[Joeman]

10k???

That might just about cover the cost of taking away the earth.

When you're digging out, the previously compacted earth swells up to about four times its previous volume. That's a lot of skips required!!

[Oasis]

I already had a basement but it only had a 6ft ceiling height and the damp course started around a foot below the ceiling/floor. So I dug small inspection holes every few meters to check if I would need to under pin. Luckily I didn't have too. I tanked the walls using a special membrane thst looks like bubble wrap. This allowed water to drain down into a gutter in the floor that all ran into a small reservoir and then pumped out by an automatic bilge pump from a boat. Plasterboard then covered the walls and a wooden floor was put down. Coast me 4 grand but I did everything myself and dis have to move huge amounts of earth out.

Edit: I dug down an extra 3ft.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[MarkW]

Thanks guys.

A back-of-an-envelope calculation suggests it'll be around £75k to add a substantial size basement, but there's no way to get a comparable increase in usable space for the same money by moving around here. Ours is just a run-of-the-mill Victorian mid-terrace, but it has properly high ceilings, massive windows and loads of light, all of which we love. The only way to get a similar increase in floor space as the basement build would be to move into a modern house which has none of those things, and which would cost more than the value of our house plus the conversion.

A basement would also allow us to move the washer, dryer and a load of storage out of the room adjoining the kitchen and then knock through and do a proper kitchen re-fit, which would be nice.

If we do get a basement done, my wife has already given it a name: The Fritzl Suite.

[Oasis]

If it's financialy doable Mark, get it done. Sounds like you love your home so it makes sense compared to if it was an investment.

Plus there's something about basement rooms that just feels cool. Maybe it's the kid in me seeing it as a highly polished and painted bat cave [emoji38]

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[JRH]

Something like this Mark.

[MarkW]

Something like this Mark.

That's a bit OTT to be honest: who needs four trees in their garden?

[eastanglianbiker]

read this http://metro.co.uk/2015/11/26/3-8million-house-in-london-falls-in-on-itself-during-basement-works-5528488/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[JRH]

Have you looked into the council planning side of things? Following bad press in London the local boroughs there are beggining to stop or severely restrict planning approvals for basements.

[JRH]

read this http://metro.co.uk/2015/11/26/3-8million-house-in-london-falls-in-on-itself-during-basement-works-5528488/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

I nearly posted that EAB but I went for the OTT plan instead.

[MarkW]

read this http://metro.co.uk/2015/11/26/3-8million-house-in-london-falls-in-on-itself-during-basement-works-5528488/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

I nearly posted that EAB but I went for the OTT plan instead.

It's only the garden that's OTT - I'm keeping the multi-level layout and swimming pool!

[JRH]

read this http://metro.co.uk/2015/11/26/3-8million-house-in-london-falls-in-on-itself-during-basement-works-5528488/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

I nearly posted that EAB but I went for the OTT plan instead.

It's only the garden that's OTT - I'm keeping the multi-level layout and swimming pool!

 

Swimming pool! I thought that was where the rain water from the leaks ended up

[NearOn]

We had a cellar in one of the married quarters in Germany,

full sized groundfloor lay-out and steps up to the back garden.

It was marvellous!

 

Aren't the Germans great, I grew up in two married quarters in Germany, one had a useable cellar with 4 very large rooms. We used them for a kids toy room, utility room, storage room and final one an air rifle range it was that long!

In our second quarters it was so good that my brother had the cellar as his bedroom. It was huge and perfect for a teenager who didn't see much daylight!

I love that country! They just do everything properly, especially pot holes, our pot hole filling system is caveman like compared to theirs. Anyway getting off topic now, I best shut up

[rennie]

Yes! if we had visitors they slept in the cellar

[Six30]

Don't use these fooker's .. O' Rieley Builders , this is my house after 2 days of them starting my basement job .

[MarkW]

Plus there's something about basement rooms that just feels cool. Maybe it's the kid in me seeing it as a highly polished and painted bat cave

Did you ever see The Andromeda Strain, where the entrance to the underground Wildfire Lab was via a secret elevator in a store room? I wonder if I could do that in my understairs cupboard...

[Oasis]

Plus there's something about basement rooms that just feels cool. Maybe it's the kid in me seeing it as a highly polished and painted bat cave

Did you ever see The Andromeda Strain, where the entrance to the underground Wildfire Lab was via a secret elevator in a store room? I wonder if I could do that in my understairs cupboard...

Lol Admit it Mark, you just want a fireman's pole [emoji12]

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[MarkW]

Lol Admit it Mark, you just want a fireman's pole

[Six30]

Plus there's something about basement rooms that just feels cool. Maybe it's the kid in me seeing it as a highly polished and painted bat cave

Did you ever see The Andromeda Strain, where the entrance to the underground Wildfire Lab was via a secret elevator in a store room? I wonder if I could do that in my understairs cupboard...

Lol Admit it Mark, you just want a fireman's pole [emoji12]

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

Perhaps he's Batman