Re: Home Cinema basements?

["markttay" <markttay@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Nigel,
Probebly a question for the self build list, but what is your
basement like on thermal performance. I see from your pictures that
you have fitted UFH. Given the insulating properties of the ground
surrounding the basement and the contruction materials blah blah,
how stable is the temperature? Do you find the need to heat it?

>From my own experince, I would say to anyone considering a basement,
to check the nature of the soil and the water table on your plot
before going ahead. In my case the plot is sand subsoil with a high
water table, so I had to hire a de-watering system for 9 weeks while
the hole was excavated and the basement installed. This when added
to the cost of the prefabricated basement from Thermonex made it as
expensive to build as the rest of the house. But as Nigel said, if
it is not deemed as habitabal then there are less planning
restrictions and you can create a pretty big, useful space.

I plan to use the basement as a node0, plant room, laundry and games
room.

Mark
www.longmoorlodge.co.uk



--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "Nigel Giddings" <nigel@c...> wrote:
> Mark,
>
> I have a basement, and a house with no windows.... (well it has a
few windows now, but not enough yet!)
>
> I can't say how well the basement works when you have all the
other rooms available to you but at the moment it's great... And I
would definately do another one if I were to build again (No plans
for that though)...
>
> My basement has three rooms:
>
> 1. Node 0
> 2. L Shaped room for Bar / Cinema / Party Room (Still under
Construction)
> 3. Games room with 3/4 snooker table, air hockey, Full Size MAME
console and Dart - Board. It also houses the Boiler, Hot Water
Thermal Store, Central Vacuum and Water Softner.  (Still Under
construction)
>
> Big deciding factor is that Basement is not considered
as 'Habitable' space and therefore you are not restricted on size.
Planning Permission usually limits the size of the built form.
>
> I also made the basement ceiling 2.8 Metres high giving 400mm void
above a normal 2.4 ceiling to run all those wires / cables / ducts
and pipes needed in a modern home. The basement void services the
basement and Ground floor. With the 1st floor served by the loft
space.
>
> Cost of building a basement is comparable per square foot to above
ground. What you save on windows gets used on higher spec walls and
waterproofing...
>
> I personnally like the feel of a basement, especially this time of
year. In the summer of course you can't beat Sunlight...
>
> I would think twice about a 'Study' in a basement, however
a 'workshop' as part of the Node 0 works for me.
>
> HTH
>
> Nigel
>
> http://photos.corbenic.co.uk
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mark_harrison_uk2 [mailto:mph@a...]
> Sent: 04 November 2004 17:47
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> Subject: [ukha_d] Home Cinema basements?
>
>
>
>
> Hi all,
>
> The "Mark Harrison long-term plan to self-build" gets a
little
> further. One of the key decisions we need to make is whether to
have a
> basement or not, since that influences site selection.
>
> It's always struck me that a Home Cinema in a basement would work
> fairly well, since it would be dark :-)
>
> It's also struck me that the other rooms to have in the basement
are:
>
> - Laundry
> - Node zero / network room / server room
> - Storage room
>
> So, two questions:
>
> 1: Do you have a basement home cinema? If so, has it actually
worked
> out well?
>
> 2: What other rooms do you have in a basement that have ended up
useful.
>
> What I'm trying to avoid is building rooms that never get used....
>
> M.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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