While we’re still busy insulating our cellar ceiling/ground floor floors, we thought it would be a good idea to share our plans for the cellar with you.
We had the insulation delivered today and it’s completely taken over our house.
I think we’d better get a move on!
Long term, we’re not planning anything fancy for the cellar, really just some extra usable storage, maybe a little workshop style place where we can store tools and building materials and maybe some sort of wine room storage – although that’s kind of in the luxury cellar version.
Anyway, there is a huge amount to do before we can even start to think of actually using the space. It’s really nasty down there at the moment. It’s damp, in parts there’s no proper floor and no heating and the electrics could probably do with a check and sort, too.
This is the floor plan/ furniture layout we’re thinking of going with.
As you come down the stairs, you walk towards our electricity meter and fuse box. We’re hoping to have the boiler moved from the 4th bedroom to the same wall in the cellar, soon. It would be great to have some sort of cupboard to hide all of the clutter and have some decent built-in storage.
For the second cellar room we’re planning some wall to wall storage. Yep, we’re storage junkies. But let’s be honest, you can never have enough storage!
The largest room is at the back. A nice workbench, some proper lighting and a peg board would be great in here.
There are a lot of things that still need to be sorted in the cellar before we can even start to think about building shelves and actually storing things down there without it going mouldy.
On the list of things to sort out are damp proofing, insulation, flooring, replace the windows, sort the electrics and heating, lighting,… oh and then everything will of course need painting, too.
Do you have a cellar? Is yours as damp and miserable as ours? Are you storage junkies like us?
Mike says
Hi!
We have a very similar house to yours, with an almost identical layout. We’re not too far from you (we’re just about the peak district).
I’ve just started looking at tidying up our cellar. I’ve been looking at using Tanking Slurry for the walls and floor. Is this something you considered to keep the damp out?
Christine says
We had considered using a slurry, but discounted it for a few reasons. For us, most of the water and damp was coming up through the floor (which had about 5 different levels and floor finishes) and the walls weren’t too bad. We knew that we would have to sort the floor, so figured that it would be best to replace it and properly damp proof it. Another reason that we discounted the slurry for the walls was because we were worried what would happen with the moisture. Sealing the wall would essentially mean that we would be trapping the moisture in the brickwork and we were worried that it could damage it in the long term.
Our cellar by any means still isn’t the driest of places, but with the help of the new floor and a dehumidifier it’s fine for storage. Good luck with your cellar!
Cx
Sarah says
Haha, I saw the pictures of your cellar and almost thought it was mine! I too, have dreams of a storage/workshop paradise in our musty basement. But for now I like Louise’s solution: “close the door and forget.” Unfortunately, our laundry room (or what passes for it) is down there, so I can’t avoid it as much as I’d like.
Christine says
We’ve been closing the door and ignoring it for the last 3 years, so it’s probably about time we started to do something down there. As much as we’d like the workshop and pretty storage, there are really about a million other jobs that are higher on the priority list.
Cx
Magali@TheLittleWhiteHouse says
I don’t have a cellar, but I have a garage at the back of the garden that I use to store all the china for my shop. Unfortunately, because I live so close to the sea, every winter, it gets to damp in the garage and all the china has to come back in the tiny cottage… My dream is to redo properly the garage… But it’s way down in the to-do list… I’d like a kitchen before!!!
Christine says
At least we’re not the only ones with damp problems! It’s funny how the kitchen seems to be top of everyones priority list!
Cx
Louise says
We do have a basement. But everything organic is off-limit down there. We are pretty close to the ocean so the ground water level is high, every now and then water sips up from the cracks in the concrete floor. Making it a usable space would require laying drainage around the house (digging deep into unstable clay), insulating on the outside and laying a new concrete floor since this one is alkalined. So, for the unseable future it will be the home of ladders, paint and christmas lights in tightly sealed boxes. We have a moist monitor in place that sends data on the RF. If it looks ok during two years we will take the leap and insulate the floors. Probably with something moist tolerant as flax. For now, we close the door and forget…
Christine says
I just had to laugh at you’re comment – your cellar is a pretty perfect description of ours! In the middle cellar room there isn’t even a floor! Having a moist monitor down there is a really good idea – I think we’ll try that for a while, too!
Cx
Charlotte Cox says
So happy I have stumbled across you wonderful blog! So much inspiration for our renovation project! C x
Christine says
Thanks Charlotte! Hopefully you’ll be able to avoid some of our disasters!
Cx