Making an opening to an existing cellar

[scoobasteve]

Hi,

I'm thinking of having some work done and wondering how much of it I could do myself and what I will need to pay for!

I have a circa 1890 terrace house, walls are approx 15-18inch thick, I have a cellar which runs under the back rooms of my house which used to have external access but not anymore which I would like to have opened up for storage.

Is it possible to make the opening from the outside only as there is no access from inside (Solid oak floor which I don't want to lift!).

What would the process be? Cut the lintel into the outside brick work then do the inner wall afterwards?

Any advice appreciated.

 

[scoobasteve]

Hi all - does anyone have any advise on this at all?

Guess my main question is is it possible to make an opening in the outside wall of the house without having access to the wall on the inside or do I need to be able to get inside the cellar before anything can be done?

Cheers
Steve

 

[themiddleagedun]

You'd probably need access from both sides really. Why don't you cover your oak flooring with an old carpet or similar, and chuck a cheap sheet of plywood on top?
You might need to extend the flooring to meet the new door frame when you've done the knock-through.

 

[scoobasteve]

Cheers for reply - just to clarify the oak flooring is in kitchen/diner above the cellar area which is why I'm wondering if access into cellar can be done entirely from the outside of the house.

I would need to lift some of the flooring to get down into the cellar inside i.e. through the kitchen floor.

 

[john4703]

I have a cellar which runs under the back rooms of my house which used to have external access but not anymore which I would like to have opened up for storage.

Can you see where the external access used to be? Is there still a lintel in place? If so it should be easy to open up the old opening from outside.

 

[scoobasteve]

Unfortunately not - the access used to be directly underneath where my current back door is.

There are now some some steps down from the back door into garden (approx 4ft high). I removed one of the steps to look underneath 'hoping' to see some original steps down to the cellar and a breeze blocked opening but there's not. The new steps are built on some hefty concrete footings which have been poured into the original void down to the cellar, the outside wall is bricked up and can't see the area where the lintel would be - it's possible the 'lintel' is actually my current back door step if that makes sense?

If I 'knew' the lintel was there and I could reinstate the original opening easily I would remove the steps down to garden and crack on but if it isn't there I may as well leave the steps alone and have a new access put in somewhere else along the back wall.

Think I need to lift some of the oak floor and get down into cellar for another look and get a builder to advise.

 

[dann09]

It would help your cause if we could see some pics of the rear area exterior.

Perhaps you could carefully remove a little masonry in the proposed door area, and get your head and a light inside the cellar - report back here on what you see.

As a general rule, it's bad practice to have inaccessible voids in a property - esp. a basement.

 

[scoobasteve]

I will take some pics tomorrow and post - appreciate the point about voids if you are referring to the cellar itself as the void but it was done circa 30 years ago (25 year or so before I bought the house)!

 

[big-all]

can you not convert your under stair cupboard into the stairs assuming you have one

 

[dann09]

Good point Big-all, i missed it completely, and its the first place to look for a trap - unless the the spandrel's gone and the oak runs under the stairs.
Or maybe the cellar only voids under the kitchen area?
Whatever, the OP needs access if he has suspended floors beyond the cellar.

 

[scoobasteve]

Cellar is only under back of house (kitchen and diner), support wall across middle of house forms front wall of cellar, staircase and cupboard are at front of house other side of support wall.

Also, really only want it opened up for secure bike storage etc so outside access is more practical.

Dann09 - what do you mean by suspended floors beyond the cellar?

Cheers

 

[dann09]

That you have wooden floors, not concrete, beyond the kit/dining area. Typically, you can crawl under and do wiring and piping etc. below the floor.

 

[scoobasteve]

Yeah it's all wooden floor throughout, very small amount of crawl space under front of house though.