Balancing Heritage and Environmental Challenges when planning a basement
If you are thinking about transforming your London basement into a vibrant living space, you might want to read this post; because while, on the surface, it could appear to be an exciting opportunity, understanding the unique challenges you will be encountering may make you rethink your approach.
From heritage considerations to rising damp the path is complex and can seem daunting for anyone looking to maximise the use of their homes and hence the aim of this post if to bring to light some key factors you should consider when planning a successful basement renovation.
The first step we would propose is reaching out to unbiased specialist consultants (not suppliers) who will asses your particulars, provide advice, and identify the best / most suitable strategy/ strategies for your project. But before discussing this further, let us share some of the constraints most people miss.
Balancing Heritage and Environmental Challenges when planning a basement is tricky anywhere but it London it gets even trickier. Not only you will likely have adjacent properties you should consider but a complex infrastructure running below your foundations (if you have those). To illustrate , these are some of the most common environmental obstacles that will impact your design and material choices :
Vibration due to proximity to the Tube lines: London's underground lines run (at varying depths) under our city, and they cause vibrations that are transmitted and may be felt in your home if it happens to be located above or adjacent to them.
Flood risks: Regardless of whether you are in a designated flood zone or adjacent to it, it may be expected that you understanding flood risks , research rainfalls in the area and implement suitable protective and (potentially) alerting measures.
Rising Damp: the Increased rainfall we have been experiencing in the past decades, due to climate change, together with outdated infrastructures that lacks capacity to drain effectively, often results on perpetually saturated soil that can manifest as rising damp. This, combined with bad ventilation habits and recent past focused on air tightness can manifest in rising damp.
We hope that it begins to become clear that basements are one of those areas in a building where we would be required to implement solutions that aim at dealing with constraints that may appear contradictory.
For example, while "letting walls breathe" may seem intuitive to address rising damp, unless there is background ventilation to help manage the moisture content, it letting walls breath may not address the situation. For anyone curious, Victorian buildings, for example, are not airtight and air movement together with working chimneys would have helped manage moisture , These days, however , the lack sufficient background ventilation or functioning chimneys may require additional measures. A quick fix you may have seen before is tiling walls , but this only pushes the standing water elsewhere.
And hence, going back to where we started , seeking specialist advice.
Instead of quick fixes, one should invest in a comprehensive strategy that addresses environmental challenges effectively and with a long term view. By building a team that includes experts such as surveyors specialising in building pathology to identify a project specific, strategy for your basement , you will be able to avoid having to revisit over and over again or causing problems to your neighbours.
Do reach out if you want to discuss further.