Latex - Where do you get it? (converting cellar into room)

[greeboid]

Does anyone know where I can get Latex or a similar floor levelling compound in the Medway, Kent area? I need to level my cellar floor and in places it's up to an inch deeper than in others.
Also, to cover an 11 foot square floor from nothing to 1 inch thick how much Latex will I need to buy?

In case anyone is interested in the details:
I have a cellar approximately 11 feet square. There was some damp problems, as you would expect, so to get around this I first cleaned all the walls of any of the previous renders and stabilised any powdery surfaces with a strong PVA solution.
I then painted three coats of bitumen-based paint on the walls down to ground level and up to the joists of the floor above the DPC level.
I then used premixed waterproof tile cement to glue plasterboard to the walls.
The floor was laid with a DPM then ready-mix concrete was laid above that. (Unfortunately it is none too level) The bitumen paint was used to create a seal with the DPM.
To ventalate I installed a 9 inch extractor fan (OTT I know but it actually does an adjoining cellar of similar proportions and so far (about a year on) it is dry as a bone!

 

[dphomes]

So the damp remains hidden behind the plasterboard. You have not solved the damp problem but just covered it up.

Sorry but in a few months time when you get the heating in place the damp will remind you that it is still there. You will get a strong musky smell and it will get worse.

I think you should have treated the damp first before you did any work.

It is very likely that your house surface drainage system is causing the damp or you have rising damp if it goes up over 1 metre.

Cellers are very expensive projects and there are many issues you have failed to consider before even puting your PVA solution onto the walls.


You should have obtain a structural engineers report to establish if it was practically affordable. Some cellers are best left alone to breath. If you really want to add space you should have gone for the loft.

You must first eatblish where the water is coming in from because one day you may find the room half full with water.

If you block up the water in the cellar where will it go next?

You may find that you have to look where rain water goes down the side walls of your houses. Does the garden have suitable drainage and is it seeping into the cellar, If it is rising damp what affect would this have on the structure of the house would it undermine your foundations.

What you have done so far may have been a waste of time and money.

You should have obtained quotes from professionals and to establish the work that is really envolved.

 

[il78]

dphomes, I'm trying to convert the basement area into a computer / home cinema room, so far the floors are down (4x2 joist with chipboard sheeting covering, all treated wood) although the ground below the floor is damp / soil / mud etc, the brickwork to the front of the house is damp due to a neighbours faulty guttering which has now been sorted with no further ingress of water although bricks still damp. I was thinking about installing a timber frame around the rooms (not touching the brickwork) filed with rockwool and plasterboarded with ventillation around the rooms (air bricks from outside etc) and installation of extractor fans, the cinema room will be fully carpeted (walls & ceilings) and access will be of a stepladder type staircase via a hatch under the stairwell to the 1st floor (ie, considered as storage space)

What problems do you think I will encounter ?

The project itself may take me ages to complete as its an ongoing thing

(celler height is 7ft lenght 16ft width 14ft)

Regards

Ian

 

[breezer]

access will be of a stepladder type staircase via a hatch under the stairwell to the 1st floor (ie, considered as storage space)

What problems do you think I will encounter ?

trying not to spill the popcorn and soft drink on the way down the stairs will be a pain

 

[AdamW]

I am glad to see that none of you are considering turning your cellars into bedrooms. I had a basement bedroom in a Victorian building for a year: it was the sickest year of my life. The room didn't appear to have damp problems, but ventilation is quite poor when you are almost entirely underground. So, I permanently felt rotten.

Did any of you see Property Ladder (Sarah Beenie? Woof woof!) when she followed two ladies doing up a house with a basement? They got a proper builder in for all the work, but didn't want to pay thousands for a full-on cellar conversion. The room looked nice when it was finished, but the damp smell remained and it didn't add any value to the house.

I don't want to discourage you of course! I would certainly investigate the possibility if I had a basement, especially for a home cinema (very dense walls, great starting point). Just asked a colleague of mine who lives in a converted factory which has the kitchen in the basement. Despite being a proper no-expense-spared conversion, he has had occasional damp problems caused by poor air circulation (i.e. from the inside rather than perculating from the outside).

 

[dunc21]

Our house was built in the 30s (London) and has a large underfloor cavity of about 3 feet or so. During WW2, someone dug out the central part along the length of the house and lined it with cement/concrete (haven't investigated) so the depth is now about 5 feet 6 - I think it was an air-raid shelter for them.

Anyway, when we bought the house at the back end of the 80s, it was sold to us with a dry cellar - and it was (they had a big jug of coffee on the go when we viewed mind). After completion we went back to measure up a few things and I noticed a small puddle down one end of the 'cellar' to which the seller said "had a bit of rain - think the drain must be blocked".

For a couple of years it remained dry'ish and I had stored quite a bit of household stuff down there until we could find somewhere to put it (nothing expensive, just wanted). But the wettish part of dry'ish got the better of some of my stuff and it had to be thrown. I salvaged a few books and bits and bobs, but the rest was too smelly to bring into the house proper - it has stayed down there since (just in case I really do need it - duh?)

I have considered doing exactly what this thread started off with, but have never found the time OR the right products to seal off the water ingress. In my case I have seen the original plot deeds showing farmland where my house is (and a pond). We are actually up on a ridge and the garden runs away down hill, but we have clay and I assume that retains any rain that falls until the water plane fills above my 'cellar' floor, when it then seeps through the walls.

It never gets very deep (deepest was about 3 inches once), but it means we can't really use it for anything useful.

I did buy a bilge pump and float switch to automatically pump out from the lowest point (would need to dig a drain pit to fit the pump into), but couldn't decide to do this before or after or during sealing the walls and floor - so it never happened.

Lots of plans - still wet.



Then

 

[masona]

I had a basement bedroom in a Victorian building for a year: it was the sickest year of my life. The room didn't appear to have damp problems, but ventilation is quite poor when you are almost entirely underground. So, I permanently felt rotten.

My Uncle in London who have a chemist shop with a massive cellar for storage ( I never seen anything like it, 60' x 30' ! ) and agreed I cannot be there too long as you cannot breathe properly, unless you can bring blowing air into the cellar somehow.

 

[dphomes]

Ian

There are two main damp proofing systems.
1) Structual Waterproofing System (SWS)
2) Oldroyd Xv

Structural waterproofing system is a highly effective waterproof
treatment process of sound stable surfaces normally encountered within
building structures. SWS Slurry is a pre-mixed formulation of plastic
modified hydraulically setting powder. When mixed with water and applied to a masonry substrate, silicate salts form at the interacting faces which enter and fill the pores and capillaries of the substrate and form a monolithic bond thereby blocking the passage of water as well as becoming an integral part of the structure.

The Oldroyd Xv Cavity Drainage Membrane system provides an
exceptionally fast, convenient method of waterproofing walls, floors and
ceilings on new build and refurbishment projects. The membrane is attached to walls and ceilings by means of special sealed fixing plugs. While on the floor there is normally no need for any form of fixing.
Oldroyd Xv can be covered with plasterboard, dry lining, screed or a floating timber floor. If any free water enters the cavity behind the membrane then a drainage facility, incorporating a sump and pump, will need to be built in.

 

[AdamW]

My Uncle in London who have a chemist shop with a massive cellar for storage ( I never seen anything like it, 60' x 30' ! ) and agreed I cannot be there too long as you cannot breathe properly, unless you can bring blowing air into the cellar somehow.

Is that one of those cellars which extends under the street? Those are quite common in some parts of London due to the premium on space. They can sometimes be identified by small translucent squares in the pavement to let light in.

I once stored a bass guitar in the sub-basement of my old Physics lab (level 3 was street level, my locker was on level 0 i.e. the 3rd storey underground!!!) for 3 months and it was still perfectly in tune when I came back to it, but being a laboratory building it had forced ventilation systems so wouldn't have got dank.

 

[masona]

My Uncle in London who have a chemist shop with a massive cellar for storage ( I never seen anything like it, 60' x 30' ! ) and agreed I cannot be there too long as you cannot breathe properly, unless you can bring blowing air into the cellar somehow.

Is that one of those cellars which extends under the street? Those are quite common in some parts of London due to the premium on space. They can sometimes be identified by small translucent squares in the pavement to let light in.

Yes it's in London NW8, the famous Abbey Road near where the Beatle's crossing is.

There's not one property under £1,000,000 in the area

If you want to rent a 4 bedroom flat £11,000 per month

 

[AdamW]

There's not one property under £1,000,000 in the area

Damn, what kind of drugs does your uncle's chemists sell?!

Much of London is like that. I used to live on George Street, which is in the vicinity of Oxford Street/Baker Street. Lots of really nice expensive houses, but they almost all had c**p cars outside presumably because the owners would have huge mortgages that made them bleed money out of every orifice. I remember hearing someone say when I was little, "people who have million pound houses don't have mortgages"... how times have changed!

 

[masona]

Damn, what kind of drugs does your uncle's chemists sell?!

That's the trouble, my uncle has enough because he already has 3 break in and a shotgun down his throat since under Labour

 

[AdamW]

The crooks no doubt see it as "easy pickings", being an affluent area. After all, a shopkeeper in a rough area is probably more likely to have a bat or gun under the counter for such occasions. Thieves aren't well known for their bravery, courage or sense of fair play.

However the expression "thick as thieves" works no matter what definition of "thick" you use.