A few months ago I bought a terraced house. It has two spacious basement/cellar rooms (both around 4m x 3.2m) which I would like to convert into liveable rooms. The walls are bare brick and there has been a token gesture at damp coursing it (don't ask!) I have had many quotes all differing in prices (some are tanking systems, some are not.)
The quotes I have had range from £8k (where I would have to do 50% of the work myself) through to £30k from a company that said they would convert the whole rooms, right down to lights, electrical fittings and radiators. They also quoted me £15k for just the tanking system/plastered walls to be fitted which would leave me with a bare shell.
I call on all you experts out there, do these quotes sound right? Do you have to have two fire exits? Are certain building regs coming into force in 2007 (something to do with part P?)
I'm in a world of basement confusion and need help before it gets too damp in here!
Hi Beaker, don't know much about the regs involved, but if it's any help I was given a quote aboiut a year ago for a 1 room cellar, similar size to 1 of your rooms of 10-12k. This included everything; lights, heating, etc, to turn it into a proper, ready to use, room. It also included a fire door (proper door, not a window), digging out the lightwell to make a proper access and putting some steps to ground level outside. I'm in manchester - your location may be a different price.
Thanks for that bit of info, we don't live to far from Manchester so I don't think the price would change too much. We're still having quotes ect but for the moment we've decided to wait till the new year to get the Basement done as its such a huge investment of money and time and we have loads of other stuff to do on this house of many nightmares
