Archives of September, 2017
Earlier in the year, a Georgian terraced house which belonged to a former Phones4U CEO collapsed without warning. The owner was having a cinema, gym and wine storage room built in the basement when both an outer wall and two storeys fell into the street. Luckily there were no injuries, but let’s hope the owner was fully insured. Not that …
It is remarkable how many ideas start amongst Londoners, are derided as mad by the rest of the country, and are then slowly adopted nationwide as the population at large catches on. This is certainly true of the excavation of basements to create extra living space. Whether it is a billionaire in Belgravia wanting a fully-functioning spa and pool or …
Basements are particularly prone to being damp or suffering from flooding because they are below the ground and water cannot always drain away effectively. If you are converting your basement area into a useable living space, it is essential that you take the appropriate measures to protect it from the damp. How can water affect a basement? When you check …
While drainage, ventilation and damp-proofing are important factors in basement design they are technical challenges for which there are now routine solutions, and those solutions are largely invisible. Lighting is different – it cannot be invisible. Far from being an afterthought, consisting of just wires and light bulbs, lighting should be intrinsic to the entire design. In order to be …
There are some jobs around the house that you can carry out yourself if you have the necessary DIY skills. However, for other projects it’s essential to get the right professional advice, to ensure that the work is conducted to the necessary safety standards and abides by legal requirements. This includes having your basement converted and there are a number …
The majority of London houses were constructed without indoor bathrooms. Almost all have since had modifications to rectify this, but often at the cost of an internal room that was once living space. Modern homeowners looking for more space often realise that moving facilities like bathrooms, toilets and laundry rooms to a basement level is, on the face of it, …
