Just looking at a house... Is is OK for a cellar to be damp? Obviously
it's underground so water is going to get in.. Does it matter? Damp to
touch. Paint bubbles off the walls. Plasterboard on ceiling gets black
mould if left. Actual drops of water on one wall after it's been raining.

OK, so storing stuff down there will mean it gets damp; paper will wilt;
tools might rust. Does it matter to the house? Or, since it's been
standing for 60+ years can it be left as-is?

[Sorry if this is a repost.. Can't see the original - doesn't seem to
have hit the newsgroup]

On 19/12/2013 20:00, Andrew Baker wrote:

Just looking at a house... Is is OK for a cellar to be damp? Obviously
it's underground so water is going to get in.. Does it matter? Damp to
touch. Paint bubbles off the walls. Plasterboard on ceiling gets black
mould if left. Actual drops of water on one wall after it's been raining.

OK, so storing stuff down there will mean it gets damp; paper will wilt;
tools might rust. Does it matter to the house? Or, since it's been
standing for 60+ years can it be left as-is?

[Sorry if this is a repost.. Can't see the original - doesn't seem to
have hit the newsgroup]

It has to depend on the degree of damp but I should think a majority of
cellars get damp to some degree, unles they're in newer builds and have
been tanked or some such.
A number of houses I looked at had sumps in the cellar with pumps to get
rid of the water when it rains.
My cellar gets slightly damp sometimes when it rains heavily for a while
but is generally dry. I wouldn't store anything vulnerable there
though. A friend of mine gets knee-deep water when it rains. Both
houses have stood for 150 years-ish so it can't really be that much of a
problem.

On 19/12/2013 20:00, Andrew Baker wrote:

Just looking at a house... Is is OK for a cellar to be damp? Obviously
it's underground so water is going to get in.. Does it matter? Damp to
touch. Paint bubbles off the walls. Plasterboard on ceiling gets black
mould if left. Actual drops of water on one wall after it's been raining.

OK, so storing stuff down there will mean it gets damp; paper will wilt;
tools might rust. Does it matter to the house? Or, since it's been
standing for 60+ years can it be left as-is?

[Sorry if this is a repost.. Can't see the original - doesn't seem to
have hit the newsgroup]

Natural order of things. A cellar should dry out in fine weather
providing there is adequate ventilation, but continuous damp would ring
alarm bells. Just don't imagine it will be in any way useful unless you
spend a pile of money having it "tanked"

On 19/12/13 20:00, Andrew Baker wrote:

Just looking at a house... Is is OK for a cellar to be damp? Obviously
it's underground so water is going to get in.. Does it matter? Damp to
touch. Paint bubbles off the walls. Plasterboard on ceiling gets black
mould if left. Actual drops of water on one wall after it's been raining.

OK, so storing stuff down there will mean it gets damp; paper will wilt;
tools might rust. Does it matter to the house? Or, since it's been
standing for 60+ years can it be left as-is?

[Sorry if this is a repost.. Can't see the original - doesn't seem to
have hit the newsgroup]

It all depends if you WANT a damp cellar

It its below DPC it will be damp unless it was designed with an
impermeable barrier .

You can retrofit such by using eg DPM and render over, then creating a
new interior with insulation inside, if you want 'habitable space'




--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

In message , stuart noble
writes
On 19/12/2013 20:00, Andrew Baker wrote:

Just looking at a house... Is is OK for a cellar to be damp? Obviously
it's underground so water is going to get in.. Does it matter? Damp to
touch. Paint bubbles off the walls. Plasterboard on ceiling gets black
mould if left. Actual drops of water on one wall after it's been raining.

OK, so storing stuff down there will mean it gets damp; paper will wilt;
tools might rust. Does it matter to the house? Or, since it's been
standing for 60+ years can it be left as-is?

[Sorry if this is a repost.. Can't see the original - doesn't seem to
have hit the newsgroup]

Natural order of things. A cellar should dry out in fine weather
providing there is adequate ventilation, but continuous damp would ring
alarm bells. Just don't imagine it will be in any way useful unless you
spend a pile of money having it "tanked"

The mention of mould on the plasterboard does suggest there might not be
enough ventilation.

We have a cellar in our house (circa 150 years old), it's a bit damp as
expected - you can notice it in the floor especially which gets damper
and dries out in response to the weather. It had previously flooded, the
previous owners left a pump which they had used when it had flooded a
couple of times - but not since we have been here (8 1/2 years). But it
has obviously varied over time, we have a copy of the sale particulars
from the 1960's which trumpets a DRY CELLAR (quite what that means
though ?I don't know, might just means it doesn't flood.)

They did have to have some of the ground floor timbers over the cellar
repalced because of rot and said that after that they had removed the
doors (there were a couple of doors down there) and made sure that the
little window was always left open bit, and the coal hole lid replaced
with a ventilated wooden cover to give some through flow of air.

Seems to have been fine since (20-25 years)


--
Chris French

"Andrew Baker" wrote in message
...

Just looking at a house... Is is OK for a cellar to be damp? Obviously
it's underground so water is going to get in.. Does it matter? Damp to
touch. Paint bubbles off the walls. Plasterboard on ceiling gets black
mould if left. Actual drops of water on one wall after it's been raining.

OK, so storing stuff down there will mean it gets damp; paper will wilt;
tools might rust. Does it matter to the house? Or, since it's been
standing for 60+ years can it be left as-is?

[Sorry if this is a repost.. Can't see the original - doesn't seem to have
hit the newsgroup]

Depends on the age of the house.
In days of yore, some cellars were meant to be damp, a form of refrigeration
for food storage.


Modern cellars/basements should not be damp.
If there is a timber joist ceiling/plasterboard, definitely not, it is a
defect.
It might be just condensation. It takes expert assessment to determine this

If water/damp is coming through the walls/floor,
Expensive to fix.
There may be hidden rot/damage.
Leave alone unless you are desperate for the place.
You need to get some idea of costs before buying, will not be cheap.

On Friday 20 December 2013 10:06 chris French wrote in uk.d-i-y:

In message , stuart noble
writes
On 19/12/2013 20:00, Andrew Baker wrote:

Just looking at a house... Is is OK for a cellar to be damp? Obviously
it's underground so water is going to get in.. Does it matter? Damp to
touch. Paint bubbles off the walls. Plasterboard on ceiling gets black
mould if left. Actual drops of water on one wall after it's been
raining.

OK, so storing stuff down there will mean it gets damp; paper will wilt;
tools might rust. Does it matter to the house? Or, since it's been
standing for 60+ years can it be left as-is?

[Sorry if this is a repost.. Can't see the original - doesn't seem to
have hit the newsgroup]

Natural order of things. A cellar should dry out in fine weather
providing there is adequate ventilation, but continuous damp would ring
alarm bells. Just don't imagine it will be in any way useful unless you
spend a pile of money having it "tanked"

The mention of mould on the plasterboard does suggest there might not be
enough ventilation.

Might be worth the OP borrowing a dehumidifyer to guage the seriousness of
the problem. Having damp that cannot dry out doesn't always corrolate with a
massive influx of water/water vapour.

--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://squiddy.blog.dionic.net/

http://www.sensorly.com/ Crowd mapping of 2G/3G/4G mobile signal coverage

Andrew Baker wrote:
Just looking at a house... Is is OK for a cellar to be damp? Obviously
it's underground so water is going to get in.. Does it matter? Damp to
touch. Paint bubbles off the walls. Plasterboard on ceiling gets black
mould if left. Actual drops of water on one wall after it's been
raining.
OK, so storing stuff down there will mean it gets damp; paper will
wilt; tools might rust. Does it matter to the house? Or, since it's
been standing for 60+ years can it be left as-is?

[Sorry if this is a repost.. Can't see the original - doesn't seem to
have hit the newsgroup]

It'll be fine, so long as there's crossflow ventilation (vents in at least
two elevations to allow air to move freely).
The p-board shouldn't really be there so it's no surprise that it's as black
as a binbag - someone's put it up to brighten it up without thinking, or it
could be holding underfloor insulation in place.

If you buy it, and I can't think of a reason why not, there's a lot you can
do to remedy the situation, not all of it costs (much) money, and then
you'll have an inside shed / workshop / micro brewery to play in.

On 20/12/13 20:14, Phil L wrote:
Andrew Baker wrote:
Just looking at a house... Is is OK for a cellar to be damp? Obviously
it's underground so water is going to get in.. Does it matter? Damp to
touch. Paint bubbles off the walls. Plasterboard on ceiling gets black
mould if left. Actual drops of water on one wall after it's been
raining.
OK, so storing stuff down there will mean it gets damp; paper will
wilt; tools might rust. Does it matter to the house? Or, since it's
been standing for 60+ years can it be left as-is?

[Sorry if this is a repost.. Can't see the original - doesn't seem to
have hit the newsgroup]

It'll be fine, so long as there's crossflow ventilation (vents in at least
two elevations to allow air to move freely).
The p-board shouldn't really be there so it's no surprise that it's as black
as a binbag - someone's put it up to brighten it up without thinking, or it
could be holding underfloor insulation in place.

If you buy it, and I can't think of a reason why not, there's a lot you can
do to remedy the situation, not all of it costs (much) money, and then
you'll have an inside shed / workshop / micro brewery to play in.


+1

--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc-ra-cy) €“ a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.