The floor is in!
After weeks of digging in our damp and smelly cellar, we finally have a foor! I had no idea we could get quite this excited about a bit of concrete, but for us it means that we’ll soon have some decent storage without having to worry about things getting damp or smelling musty.
Already the cellar feels much more usable. The floor used to be about 5 different levels with 4 different finishes, which made almost impossible for me to walk through it without tripping and it was very damp.
One of the biggest problems down there was that the middle section of the cellar only had a brick floor and this seemed to be the main cause of our damp issue (the bricks were so wet, that they were dripping when we removed them).
Now it’s transformed into one smooth and flat surface. We’re now (not so) patiently waiting for the floor to dry so that we can seal or paint the concrete. Not only will the floor look better, be dampproof and safer, it’ll hopefully also be much easier to keep clean, too.
I can’t wait till all of our junk and tools are back where they belong. Who knows, with some proper storage, we might be able to actually find what we’re looking for without rummaging and arguing about who had a tool last and where it disappeared to! Most importantly though, having the cellar finished means that we can clear our loft in preparation for the loft conversion.
We always like to break big jobs down into little easier to manage jobs, so here’s how far we’ve come in our cellar damp proofing plan and what’s still left to tick off our to-do list.
- Clear cellar & remove old floor – done.
- Level and compact floor ready to receive new concrete – done.
- Add damp proof membrane – done.
- Lay concrete floor – done.
- Remove loose paint and clean walls & ceiling – totally miserable job, but started.
- Repair stairs
- Paint walls
- Paint floor
- Add storage
- Move boiler
- Paint door
- Tidy electrics
- Add lighting
- Add wine storage
Whilst our box ticking isn’t going as quickly as we’d like, the biggest and dirtiest jobs of the project have already been completed and I’d guess we’re about 65% finished with this project.
Sorting the cellar is probably a project that we should have done much sooner. It’s not pretty and we didn’t think it would improve the way we live hugely, but looking at it now, we sure it will make a huge difference to have some decent storage. And knowing that the cellar is safe, clean and maintained is really comforting, too.
The next jobs are to repair the floating stairs and finish removing any loose bits of paint from the walls and then we can finally start to paint the walls!
Do you have any good storage solutions or systems you’d recommend? How do you store your tools and DIY materials? We’ve still not decided on what kind of storage to have, so any recommendations would be really helpful!
paulo says
you know i’d be really interested to know how much your home was worth when you bought it, how much you have invested into it and how much it’s worth now.
me and my wife are currently going through the process of buying our first home and this blog has really inspired me to be able to get a modest fixer upper to save a few £’s and perhaps make some change too when developing it.
regards
Christine says
We’ve still not got round to adding up the final numbers but we did make a good profit, Paulo. It was a lot of work but for us, it was the onöy way to get a house that was like we wanted it to be.
We’re total believers in DIY but it is important to be realistic and do your exact calculations before you buy somewhere. Things usually have a tendency to cost more than you think they will!
Cx
Ragnar says
Just stumbled across your blog yesterday (randomly googling around) and just couldn’t stop reading!
You’ve done an incredible amount of work with an amazing love for small details!
Anyway, a question and a comment on this project. Do you intend to remove the two studs holding up the board with the socket? I guess if you leave them they’ll eventually rot away at the bottom. Reading the German timberframe restoration blog for a while got me pretty paranoid about rotting wood and fungi that grow through brick walls trying the devour any timbers they can find!
Regarding your paint issue I’d use a plain old whitewash, i.e. lime putty and water. I doubt the walls will ever be 100% dry if only because of condensation on humid summer days and whitewash is pretty tolerant since it’s completely mineralic. It’s also mould-inhibiting for a while.
Christine says
Aww, thank you so much Ragnar!
We have actually already removed the timber posts you’re referring to! Although the posts were fine (the walls aren’t too damp) the plasterboard that was on them had gone mouldy.
We’re already in the middle of painting the cellar (hopefully we’ll be able to share more next week). I’d considered a white wash, but the walls were already painted so we decided to paint over what was already there. Can’t wait to get this project finished – don’t know how much longer I can live in such a mess!
Cx
Lucy says
It’s coming along brilliantly! And it sounds like it is definitely going to improve the way you live massively if everything has it’s place! Looking forward to reading about the rest of your progress, and about the loft when you get there :)
Christine says
Thanks Lucy! As always it’s taking a bit longer than we’d like, but it’s great to be seeing some progress. Can’t wait to get everything painted, still waiting for the floor to dry though…
Cx
Jessica@CapeofDreams says
Can you sandblast the walls? It’s a big mess, but would be the easiest way to remove the paint.
Christine says
Ohhh, that’s a great idea Jessica! Wish I’d had it – especially as we spent all weekend down there scraping old paint off the walls! ;)
Next time!
Cx
caitlin says
Wow. What a big and satisfying project. You impress me, as always. What do you do with the waterproof barrier that is still protruding? Does it get trimmed flush or do you hide it behind baseboard or leave untrimmed or what? I am curious about how that has to be finished if at all.
The brick is going to look awesome painted white and you are going to have SO much storage space. The state of the rest of your house had me chuckling -don’t worry it’ll be over soon and then you can mess it up again with the loft project…
I am a huge fan of pegboard for tool storage.
8FOOTSIX.com has a superbly organized storage room that is worth checking out for inspiration.
Christine says
You’re right, it’s sooo satisfying and I can’t wait to get all of our junk back down there. We’re still waiting for the floor to dry fully and then we’ll remove the excess damp proofing membrane.
We’d love a pegboard (it’s like you’ve read my mind)!
Cx
Stacey at Dohiy says
That looks so great! Congrats! We’re in the process of clearing our loft for remodeling, and our basement is FULL, but still a little damp, so dry storage makes me super envious. We built some racks for storage in the driest corner that work with plastic storage bins and crates, and that has been a good system for us so far (under normal storage conditions, anyway — it’ overwhelmed by junk from the loft right now).