Basement/cellar

J&M Electrical · Jun 23, 2012

Guys,

We have just bought another house to renovate, its a 3 storey terrace with large basement, and at back of the basement there is an outside stairwell up to the back garden. The basement has a full size door and window. My question is, will this need tanking? Or just a Damp proof membrane and stud frame set off the external walls? There is no water down there, and even today after the months worth of rain in 24hrs its dry.

My thinking is that because there is the stairwell, full size window and door then it shouldn't need doing as technically there are no external walls in that bit of the basement touching the earth outside.

The Houses next door have all got rooms in their basements and i will ask them when we go back next, but I'm just curious NOW

topquark · Jun 23, 2012

Given what you've described I doubt it would need tanking. I'd be going along the street and knocking on the neighbours doors (particular the older folk, who've prob been there a while) and see if anyone has had a problem in the past.

Depends what sort of use you plan on making of it. If it's just for storage then not too bad if not tanked and there was a problem later. If converted to a kitchen then it would be a much bigger expense if you got a problem later. With the overall downturn and summer coming up you might get a very good deal on a tanking installation.

J&M Electrical · Jun 23, 2012

Its gonna be turned into the kitchen/diner. I hope your right about getting a good deal on a tanking install because we are on a budget. I'm pretty sure its ok with the water table aswell as there is a beck running along the back of the garden and that beck is about 6ft down from the floor of the basement

Doomed · Jun 24, 2012

J&M Electrical said:
Its gonna be turned into the kitchen/diner. I hope your right about getting a good deal on a tanking install because we are on a budget. I'm pretty sure its ok with the water table aswell as there is a beck running along the back of the garden and that beck is about 6ft down from the floor of the basement

Water tables can be tricky things, depending on the rock / soil types the water table can have a steep slope up from streams / rivers etc, there was a large element of hydrology in my geology degree many moons ago, but one thing I do know is water can take some odd routes.