Converting a Basement Home

Your basement is probably the same area as the entire ground floor, which gives more than enough room to combine your kitchen with a spacious dining area. The scope for storage space and work surfaces, too, will be much greater than in the average groundfloor kitchen. Although living and sleeping areas are more pleasant if they are at ground level or abovehaving direct access to daylight-this is not important in kitchen and dining areas. When cooking or eating you are fully occupied with the activity rather than your surroundings.
Don't be put off by the state your basement may be in at the moment. Providing you think out carefully what needs to be done and you don't rush the all important initial planning then you should be able to cope with the rest. With the aid of modern materials you can turn any basement in to a pleasant and well planned kitchen/diner. The finished job will make your home more comfortable and increase its value. And for a lot less effort and expenve than you may think.
If you decide to make a basement kitchen/ diner you must comply with the Building Regulations. These lay down certain minimum standards on such questions as ventilation, fire prevention and damp, and are legallyenforceable. In Britain you will need to consult your local authority and they will want to see your plans before granting planning permission. Also they'll probably want to see your basement before you start work and sometimes at various stages while the work is in progress. This is not as onerous as it may sound as local authority officials will give expert advice on constructional and safety problems. You will also need to have the basement surveyed to make sure that it is sound.
You'll have to be careful to take the minimum precautions described below.

Fire precautions

The aim of the Building Regulations is to make sure that fire-resistant materials are used where necessary so that if a fire does start you'll be able
Left. The design of this well proportioned kitchen/diner succeeds in giving an atmosphere both of practicality and homeliness.

to escape and summon help before it gets out of hand. Certain parts of a building must be protected against fire by being made from, or covered in, fire-resistant materials (see A). A door leading from your basement to the rest of the house, for example, will need a fire-resistant surface. Your basement's size and the number of storeys in your house has a bearing on this. If your house is of three or more storeys, for example, the staircase from the basement to the groundfloor must be noncombustible.

Ventilation

If your kitchen is poorly ventilated you will find yourself becoming irritable and impatient very easily, a very dangerous state ot affairs in the kitchen. Poor ventilation can, in the long term, be a cause of severe chest complaints such as bronchitis.
Because inadequate ventilation poses such hazards the Building Regulations has laid down certain rules for you to follow. Basements tend to be lower than rooms above ground level but you must make sure that yours has a height of at least 7ft 6in. from floor to ceiling, reducing to 6ft 6in. in small bays if you want to use it as a kitchen. As far as ventilation is concerned it doesn't matter if your basement has occasional beams which reduce the height to under 7ft 6in. If your basement is not mechanically ventilated there must be at least one aperture which opens directly to the outside. The total area must be one twentieth of the total floor area or more. Also, the tops of windows must be at least 5ft 9in. from the floor. If your basement is of the type that is completely underground you will need to install some form of mechanical ventilation such as fans fitted into the ceiling. Every cubic foot of stale air expelled must be replaced by the same amount of fresh air. Because of this you will need to make sure that you install an equal amount of power for fans supplying fresh air as for extractor fans. You will be well advised to consult a ventilation engineer on this point.

Kitchens pose special problems of ventilation, Your gas cooker or solid fuel burner must have a direct supply of fresh air and stale air from the cooker must be expelled to the outside. If you intend to build a chimney for a solid fuel burner strict regulations apply and it is important to have a good knowledge of these before starting work. Electric cookers, too, although they do not need a direct supply of fresh air, give off heated stale air laden with cooking odours and this must be expelled from the kitchen to the outside. Larders must have a window or ventilation space leading to the open air unless they are refrigerated or mechanically ventilated. Whether your kitchen and larder are to be ventilated by
windows or mechanical means they must be adjustable to suit varying weather conditions.

Preventing damp

If your basement is damp, curing it is likely to be the most costly job of the whole project as it can mean altering the structure of the building.
Moisture can penetrate a wall from four directions.
Downwards. Faulty roofing causes rain and snow to leak through. It is unlikely that you will have to cope with this, although it may affect the kind of half-basement that projects beyond the ground floor, It is, in any case, usually easy to cure.
Inwards. This is caused by the action of rain and snow above ground level, and seepage from the earth below ground level. You can use a number of special paints and chemicals which are available but you'll find that their effect wears off after a while. A much better idea is to build an inner wall close to the existing structure, leaving a gap all round, forming a cavity wall, (new houses are nearly all built with cavity walls.) This method will make your basement smaller but gives you an excellent opportunity to conceal such things as plumbing and electrical wiring.
Rising damp. Older houses often have rising damp which particularly affects basements. You can cure this by the laying of a water proof skin under the floor which continues it up to join the damp course of your house above ground level. If you wish to lay a false wooden floor over an existing concrete one be very careful that the space under the timber is well ventilated to prevent rot.
From the inside. The kind of activities that happen in a kitchen-cooking, washing up and so on-can themselves produce damp. Probably you just accept the existence of condensation on the walls and ceiling without thinking very much about it. It can do as much damage to your home, however, as any of the other forms of damp already described. Condensation is caused when warm air, moisture-laden, meets a cold exterior wall and cools. One way of reducing this is to cover the side of the inner wall facing the cavity with aluminium foil when the second leaf of the cavity wall is being built. This reduces the influence cold outside temperatures have on the surface of the wall facing the kitchen. The possibility of damp from the inside emphasizes the necessity for good ventilation.

Planning your Home conversion

You are likely to find that standing around in your cold, dark basement trying to visualise it as a kitchen/diner takes some doing, even with a fertile imagination. The best way to plan what to do-without becoming discouraged by the difficulties-is to take measurements of everything relevant, the height of the ceiling, the walls, and all doors and windows and then to make scale drawings of the entire basement area. A scale of half an inch to a foot should provide drawings of a manageable size. Now you can retire to the comfort of your living room to study the drawings.

especially if you have a Polaroid camera. These will help you a great deal in this initial design stage and will be of interest as comparisons between your original basement and the finished job. By referring to the drawings at this stage you will be able to see whether your original ideas about your ideal kitchen/diner are compatible with the shape of your basement.
Study your drawings carefully, and mark on them the most sensible positions to place such essentials as the sink and the cooker. You should consider the use of the rest of the space in relation to what is the normal sequence of work in the kitchen. The following basic sequence of work applies to all kitchens : storage, putting in and fetching from; preparation of food; serving and eating; clearing,
washing and waste disposal ; return to storage. You should fit your original ideas on the ideal kitchen/diner into this scheme wherever possible. Some of your original preferences, however, are bound to prove unsuitable to your basement, so you'll need to make sacrifices here and there or design specially-fitted units to make allowances for the shape of your basement.

Home Lighting and services

Before getting down to the conversion work decide exactly what your lighting requirements are. Fluorescent tubes, preferably concealed, are ideal for kitchens. These provide a bright light which doesn't dazzle, and make long periods of work in the kitchen very easy on the eyes. The design of your cupboards and often the height of the ceiling will be affected by the concealed tubes. You can use a completely different lighting scheme in the dining area as this is best suited by the more subdued light of tungsten lamps.
Electrical and water services require careful planning. Besides your lighting requirements you should decide on the number of electrical appliances you have and where you would like to use them. You can then put in sufficient outlet sockets and in the right places. If you don't cater for enough sockets you run the risk of overloading, as well as breaking your neck when you fall over one of your trailing flexes. As long as you remember not to place electrical sockets close to water taps there are few rules to abide by. You would be sensible, however, to place sockets at roughly shoulder height for easier use. Remember that the cold kitchen tap must have drinking water supplied direct from the mains. It is not hygienic to obtain drinking water from a cistern. You will have to apply to your water supply company for a water supply
to be connected.
Your early planning is the most important part

An old kitchen range with an open grate enhances the atmosphere of cosiness and peace in the amply sized dining area and illuminated shelf displays increase the effect. Far left. Access is gained to a sheltered sunken patio by means of French doors which also give much needed extra light to the basement. Left. There was enough space left over after the conversion work to make room for a very large storeroom at the foot of the staircase leading to the rest of the house. The French doors supply the extra light needed here.

of the conversion job so it's important that you don't rush things. You can't produce workable and attractive designs if you try to do them in a few spare hours. You must study your drawings and plans carefully, accepting and rejecting your original ideas according to the structural nature of your particular basement. If you do this early work patiently and methodically, however, you should end up with a design that happily combines your personal preferences with sensible solutions to the problems you are bound to encounter.
Now that you have completed your designs, drawings must be prepared for submission to your local authority. Include everything which you think they will be interested to see, for example materials, structural alterations, additional windows and partitions. Your local authority will tell you at what stages they wish to inspect your work. Although you have to pay attention to fire regulations this doesn't mean that decorative finishes on walls and ceilings are out. With a few exceptions, like plastic tiles, these can be applied over fire resistant materials, you can specify these finishes in your plans.

Home Suspended ceilings

Although the majority of basements have ceilings which are lower than those in rooms above ground level yours may be one of the many-with quite a high ceiling. If this is the case a suspended ceiling is an effective way of concealing structural irregularities as well as providing space for service pipes and ventilation ducts. A suspended ceiling is also a good way to add visual unity to a duel purpose area like a kitchen/diner and is likely to improve the proportions of both rooms.
There are a number of ways in which you can make a suspended ceiling. A cheap and attractive method is to suspend 'L' sectioned timber slats stopping well short of the walls. This gives adequate ventilation above the ceiling, as well as allowing access to electrical and plumbing installations, and greatly reduces the risk of fire. The 'L' shape keeps the timber rigid. Although you can see the structure above this kind of ceiling if you look directly at it, this is not important as the general impression is of an attractive and cleverly constructed ceiling. A light coloured timber against a dark background will increase the effect. This type of suspended ceiling will give you a free rein when it comes to working out your lighting requirements as it allows contrasting lighting techniques to be used without destroying the overall appearance of your kitchen/diner.

Extra light in your home

If your basement is not high enough for a suspended ceiling reflected light can be used to very good purpose. You could, for example, conceal fluorescent tubes along the top of specially designed kitchen units. Choose a light colour to paint the ceiling and the light will be reflected across the ceiling and downwards. Lack of direct light is always a problem with basements and this method of lighting will give a realistic impression of sunlight. A good idea would be to conceal more tubes beneath the fitted units to illuminate work surfaces.
Another idea is a glass painting or a sheet of translucent plastic set in a wall recess with lights behind it. This acts both as a source of extra illumination and as an interesting work of art. You do not need to be an artist to produce an original and decorative glass painting. All you do is paint an image on three or more sheets of glass (see D) and space these sheets one behind the other with lights hidden above. To hold the glass in place, to construct a simple box with an open top. Use a plough plane to cut grooves in the side to hold the glass and place the lights just above the open top of the box. Simple abstract shapes painted on the glass will provide you with the same impression of depth and sunlight as any landscape. Remember it is not absolute realism you are after, but merely an impression of sunshine. If you place the glass painting below a fan or ventilation duct and fit a net curtain in front, a realistic impression of fresh air and daylight will be created with this finishing touch and 'summer' will last all the yearround.

In the dining area extra light can be created by fitting ordinary tungsten light bulbs behind shelves. If the shelves are placed in an alcove not only can you obtain extra light but, by placing pots and pans and crockery on the shelves, you can achieve very decorative shelf displays.
If yours is the type of basement that is completely below ground the use of foil can give extra illumination and sense of space. This can be done by covering one wall with ordinary household foil and placing two or three spot
lights in such a way as to shine directly on to the foil from about a foot away. You can fit the spotlights either along the ceiling or onto the walls directly adjoining the wall covered in foil. The light shining into the foil will be reflected
back along the floor.

Converting a Basement Home