Floor tiles? Pamments?

[CatherineB]

OMW, how exciting, what is it folks?
I've only just caught up on this thread; wish we could find a cellar (or even a half cellar) under our floorboards.. somewhere to keep all the wine!

 

[fluffytail10]

Thanks yes I'm over the moon. The amazing thing is the floor of the room above has all been replaced recently - well it's chipboard so must be fairly recent, and surely they'd have noticed a cellar underneath! What made them fill it in I wonder? It doesn't smell strongly of damp, and appears to be quite a large room.
Maybe the access had already been blocked up. We have a steep sloping floor leading down into this room, and now I wonder if thats the start of a flight of steps. It appears to be totally covered in concrete though!

We could do with extra space I must say, so here's hoping excavating it will be an easy job. Has anyone else done this? I'm assuming we'll have to lift the rubble out in a bucket or somesuch.

Hoping there's lots of interesting finds amongst the rubble - the pub was going strong in 1837!

 

[MdB]

Although it is an exciting find, please note all the other threads here on damp cellars. It might not be a space that you can usefully use. Hopefully it is though. Do neighbours have cellars and are they usable?

As for why it was filled in, it wouldn't surprise me if the answer was due to a previous owner having a load of rubble he wanted to get rid of and a cellar he didn't use....

 

[fluffytail10]

Well I know you're prob all bored with this thread but I have no-one else to share my excitment with. Found a very small trap door at other end of the room.





Have also found an extension to it going out under the garden - its huge! must be the biggest room in the house. So hope it isnt gonna be a damp swimming pool

 

[staceym]

That is so exciting!!!! My other half would have to physcially restrain me and hide all tools/implements because i'd be down there wanting to do stuff without thinking about the consequences!

I have 3 cellars and 2 are perfectly useable, but another one is damp, I think this is because it is next to a fourth cellar that has been filled in. Mine used to be kitchens, cold rooms and general staff quarters.

I can't wait to see what you find!

 

[fluffytail10]

thanks stacym, i am really excited and would be down there like a shot except...
1) I'm too fat to get through the hole
2) There are tons of creepy webs
3) We need a skip to get rid of all the rubble
4) I'm off to botswana for a couple of weeks on friday, and need to make an effort with packing etc
However as soon as I'm back, I shall lift floor at top of the steps and go down and start digging. Hoping to find a human bone so police will do the rest for me!

 

[staceym]

However as soon as I'm back, I shall lift floor at top of the steps and go down and start digging. Hoping to find a human bone so police will do the rest for me!

Hahah, I always say that about my garden which needs totally digging over!!

 

[JoceAndChris]

Wow! Lovely find Fluffy - congratulations! Cellars are fab, I live in mine and am sitting by the Rayburn now with a nice cold beer - good combination.

Don't tank it. Clear it and monitor over the winter for damp.

Very very exciting for you. Thanks for posting!

 

[Gareth Hughes]

However as soon as I'm back, I shall lift floor at top of the steps and go down and start digging. Hoping to find a human bone so police will do the rest for me!

Hahah, I always say that about my garden which needs totally digging over!!

Not the first to have that idea...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7JRcaA5lkM

 

[Feltwell]

Well I know you're prob all bored with this thread but I have no-one else to share my excitment with.

Bored? No, definitely not. Whilst replacing my roof, I got excited enough opening up lots of voids that had been sealed up since the house was built. Didn't find anything exciting - just lots of dust and old birds nests

Old sealed up cellars would count very highly on my list of exciting things to find!

 

[Penners]

You've probably done the house (and yourself) a favour by unearthing this "sealed up" cellar. Damp areas with stagnant air can be breeding grounds for dry rot.

So whatever you eventually decide to do with this cellar, do make sure that it's well ventilated for the future.

And - of course - do make sure that you keep us up-to-date with developments (and pictures!).

 

[fluffytail10]

Well here's a bit of an update, our builder Steve came with his mate and removed all our concrete.



It's fab, all lovely and wavy! Still sticky with linseed but I'm guessing that will soak in. Wonderful to see where people walked all those years ago :wink:

 

[fluffytail10]

And here is the kitchen. We had to use old floor bricks to fill in gaps where the old threshold of a door was, and at the end where there was just an area with a few floor bricks and a lot of mud!

I am so pleased with it all, and not one single pamment missing!

Sadly the other end of the kitchen had 4 inch concrete over rubble and smashed pamments so have had to leave concrete and tile over with cheap floor tiles till we can afford to do it properly.

I just can't stop walking up and down and admiring it all

 

[LadyArowana]

I hate to mention it, but Steve seems to have nicked off with your flat screen too!

Lovely job on the floors, great find. I can understand why you're thrilled.

 

[Penners]

Good old Steve!

 

[fluffytail10]

found a bottle under a depression in the floor, it has a red glass bead and a copper ring with it. sadly now broken, could it have been a witch bottle?

Flatscreen is safely tucked away in our plastic conservatory, along with all our other possessions - hope to move them back in tomorrow night. :roll:

How long does this linseed take to dry?

 

[Penners]

How long does this linseed take to dry?

Roughly as long as a piece of string. :wink:

The answer depends on several variables. Did you used raw or boiled linseed oil? Was it diluted with anything - white spirit perhaps? Is the room heated and ventilated or not? How thickly was it applied? How absorbent is your floor?

Sorry, I'm not being awkward - promise! Just explaining that there's no hard-and-fast answer to your question. But whatever you do, be sure to let the floor dry thoroughly before you walk on it. And after drying it's a good idea to give it a quick buff over with clean, dry cotton cloths, as a final treatment.

 

[robgil]

Pics of the bottle please, also it is a good idea to report any findings ;like this to this guy.

http://www.apotropaios.co.uk/witch_bottles.htm

 

[JoceAndChris]

The floor tiles are looking very nice Fluffy - you must be thrilled. I take back all my negative comments on the "they'll be broken" lines earlier in this thread - so glad you got lucky with this.

 

[fluffytail10]

mm i looked at that website and probably its not a witch bottle. I think the bottle is probably just a 19th century earthenware beer bottle, though strange it was buried under the floor with the ring and the bead. Its totally in pieces now.

It says on the website that they have to be those bottles with faces with on and the practise died out in the 18th century. However, this is north norfolk and one kind of feels practises like that may have continued for longer here.

The Linseed has been diluted and has now dried in some places though the builder says we need to give it another coat. After that we just brush it with a broom - no vacuum cleaners allowed. I do wonder though what would happen with red wine spills etc - do they stain?

A few of the pamments are cracked but I don't mind, they still look fab.

thanks for all you help and advice and if you ever need a very ,old building sympathetic, lime loving builder then do give steve a call.