Cellar cinder floor question.....

[Adam F]

Hi all,

My wife and I are buying a GII Georgian farmhouse and had another visit on Saturday, mainly to check out the cellar and roof, as we hadn't been in these yet.

Upon entering the cellar it has big stone steps turning down to the left. The cellar looked nice and dry with stone walls, concrete ceiling (this had been done in the 60's we believe) and a cinder floor.

We would love to use the cellar to store our wine (into wine making!). Can anyone offer some advise in terms of the cinder floor:

- can you dig any of it up to lay flagstones down (so you don't loose any height)
- Is it advisable to apply any damp proofing, or leave as is?
- Any other tips or advise would be appreciated!

Kind Regards
Adam
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[Nemesis]

Are you sure it's cinder - could be lime ash? If so how nice!

If it ain't broke don't fix, and you may have to apply for LBC for any change - which may not be granted.

Tips - try to leave the wine to stop fermenting before you start drinking.

(Yes I've done it ...)

 

[Adam F]

Hi Nemesis,

The current owner who showed us the cellar said it was cinder flooring. It was black and almost had a slight springy feeling as you walked on it!!

You must have been thirsty to try your wine when you did!!

Thanks for your advice!
Adam

 

[Nemesis]

Well, I've seen cinder paths but not cinder floors.

Is it very compacted?


It's OK is still fermenting wine if you are desperate - slightly sparkling!

 

[Adam F]

Yes, compact like a hardened 'mud' floor. It is black / dark in colour. The house has two open fires, so maybe they / she / whoever put two and two together?

We assumed it was just waste cinder compacted over the years?

If it is we thought of simple flags to tidy / clean it up a little?

 

[biffvernon]

That's sounding very like a lime ash floor. When I was writing this page I was concentrating on lime ash floors above the ground floor, as most folk find them quite surprising. The are more common on the ground floor or in the cellar. Worth investigating carefully as you wouldn't want to destroy an interesting piece of historic fabric.

 

[Adam F]

Hi Biff,

Yes it is, isnt it? Read your page - very informative. I have struggled to find much info on LAF's on thw net until this.

The house is in North Dorset, not a place mentioned in the listings, not even nearby the others?

Also the floor is very unlevel - doesnt even look like much effort has been made to level it out, more like a vegtable patch that has been walked over hundreds of times!

Is their anyway of finding out for definate? Of course it may just be a soil floor, or could be old fire cinders?

Adam

 

[Nemesis]

A number of places will analyse mortars and that may be one way to find out. But it's usually pretty obvious if something contains lime.

As you say - it may just be where they put the ash, to give a firm surface! Houses often used to have ash pits and getting rid of the stuff was often not simple. It was quite a traditional path making material in the north east.

In our frst house, the garden had a very large ash heap where fires had simply been emptied. Took a great deal of getting rid of.


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