Hi guys, I thought I'd put a little more up for you to laugh at.
Basic info: 1850s (ish) semi-detached, 4 floors including basement. Basement is only the front half of the house due to slope down to road.
We are in the process of stripping layers of tanking from the basement (inside and out - cement pointing for the win!)
On the outside, we have a stone slab (nice!) with a circular hole for an old coal hole , so I was hoping to find a doorway or similar in the basement to give access from the inside..
Quick question - what would be a good way of using this hole as a skylight for the space underneath?
I was thinking of a 'pavement light' kind of thing, but is that possible in a circular hole?
As you can see, there are stone slab steps down to the basement door.
Oh, the bottom step is brick, and twice the drop of the other steps.
This may or may not be important later as we figure out what actually happened here!
We stripped the cement render off the wall by the coal hole, to reveal what seems to be new(ish) bricks (single skin) with a limestone lintel over the top.
Maybe there was a window here originally? One idea was to put a window here to let light into the area, but I'm not sure about that now.
On the inside we have had many layers of tanking. Seriously, I have counted up to 9 layers that I can discern. Plus the two sets of drill holes for DPC...
There are two 'buttresses' here, either side of the 'new bricks', the wall is more than 2ft thick.
Unfortunately, the wall above the limestone lintel is also 2ft thick.
Anyway, the ceiling fell in when we were looking at the wiring and plumbing (just... don't...) to reveal that the stone lintel only supports the outer half of the upper wall.
There is a wooden support for the inner section of the upper wall, which is quite rotted out at one end.
The wall above is about 2ft thick so it should support itself (it looks like it has been supporting itself for quite some time!), we have got an accroprop under it for now but obviously it needs replacing.
Further digging in the cement revealed a hole into the coal cellar. I think originally there was a (wrought iron?) I-beam supporting the cellar wall and the stone steps but as it has been sealed for quite some time the beam has pretty much disappeared from rust.
I don't think it is too risky, as the steps seem to be supporting themselves (the lower step is tied into the existing stonework, and it then supports the step above it via a layer of bricks between the two).
But, the steel joist clearly needs replacing! It looks as though there were originally tiles (?) set into the side of the beam.
Only one is left, which is very damaged. But it would be nice to get it back structurally sound and looking as it did many years ago.
Ignore the piles of bricks etc inside the coal hole - we are!
I have a builder coming round to have a look soon, I don't think I want to mess with structural stuff like this myself...
Basic info: 1850s (ish) semi-detached, 4 floors including basement. Basement is only the front half of the house due to slope down to road.
We are in the process of stripping layers of tanking from the basement (inside and out - cement pointing for the win!)
On the outside, we have a stone slab (nice!) with a circular hole for an old coal hole , so I was hoping to find a doorway or similar in the basement to give access from the inside..
Quick question - what would be a good way of using this hole as a skylight for the space underneath?
I was thinking of a 'pavement light' kind of thing, but is that possible in a circular hole?
As you can see, there are stone slab steps down to the basement door.
Oh, the bottom step is brick, and twice the drop of the other steps.
This may or may not be important later as we figure out what actually happened here!
We stripped the cement render off the wall by the coal hole, to reveal what seems to be new(ish) bricks (single skin) with a limestone lintel over the top.
Maybe there was a window here originally? One idea was to put a window here to let light into the area, but I'm not sure about that now.
On the inside we have had many layers of tanking. Seriously, I have counted up to 9 layers that I can discern. Plus the two sets of drill holes for DPC...
There are two 'buttresses' here, either side of the 'new bricks', the wall is more than 2ft thick.
Unfortunately, the wall above the limestone lintel is also 2ft thick.
Anyway, the ceiling fell in when we were looking at the wiring and plumbing (just... don't...) to reveal that the stone lintel only supports the outer half of the upper wall.
There is a wooden support for the inner section of the upper wall, which is quite rotted out at one end.
The wall above is about 2ft thick so it should support itself (it looks like it has been supporting itself for quite some time!), we have got an accroprop under it for now but obviously it needs replacing.
Further digging in the cement revealed a hole into the coal cellar. I think originally there was a (wrought iron?) I-beam supporting the cellar wall and the stone steps but as it has been sealed for quite some time the beam has pretty much disappeared from rust.
I don't think it is too risky, as the steps seem to be supporting themselves (the lower step is tied into the existing stonework, and it then supports the step above it via a layer of bricks between the two).
But, the steel joist clearly needs replacing! It looks as though there were originally tiles (?) set into the side of the beam.
Only one is left, which is very damaged. But it would be nice to get it back structurally sound and looking as it did many years ago.
Ignore the piles of bricks etc inside the coal hole - we are!
I have a builder coming round to have a look soon, I don't think I want to mess with structural stuff like this myself...