We were contacted by our client in Barnsley after they had seen us working locally over the past few months on other projects and had seen our vans around town.
We were asked to viist the property in order to provide advice and potential costings to convert their very large,damp and unused basement into a space that could be used.
Several other companies had already visited the property but said they could not deliver what our cient wanted within budget.
Mark,our area manager called to the property and spent the afternoon going through the clients wishes,he could see no reason why all the needs could not be met.
Following the visit a plan was drawn up and accurate costings put together and presented to the client within 48 hours of the initilal visit.
Our client was amazed that we could deliver everything they had asked for well within budget and several thousands of pounds below what had been quoted by other contractors.
After just a couple of days the works were accepted and sheduled for starting just a few weeks later.
As the new space was to be additional living space then certain criteria had to be met to meet current building regulations so we informed the local authority of the project and arranged several site visits at various stages with the building inspector so that all works could be verified as completed to the highest of standards.
The first part of the process was to remove all existing works to the rooms so that we had a “blank canvass” to work with.
This included the removal of all fixtures and fittings and the current concrete floor as this contained a high level of moisture.
Due to the volume of waste to be removed which was around 50 tonnes in the end we hired in excavation machinery which was luckily possible due to good access.
Our client also wished for one of the rooms to the rear of the basement to be used as a workshop – the current door openings were not large enough to get the lathes that the customer required through so we simply increased these by removing brickwork and installing concrete supporting lintels.
Natural light was needed to the front room of the basement which was to be the workshop along with extraction methods to remove fumes – a light well was dug out to the front garden and the masonry removed – not only would this allow natural light but it was designed as a secondary means of escape.
We were then finally ready to start putting the areas back together as had took almost 2 weeks to excavate the waste.
“Aqua channels” were then installed around the perimeter of the building which are used to direct any moisture into the 2 sump and pump systems that we had installed at either side of the property,rodding eyes were also installed which are to be used as access to the channels in case of a blockage in the future.
Cavity drain membranes were then installed to all walls throughout the basement using plugs,the membrane is then tied into the new floor membrane and all joints to the membranes sealed with overtape.
The floors were levelled and a damp proof membrane installed so the last job on a Friday afternoon was to get the new concrete floor slabs installed – we aim to install concrete on a Friday afternoon where possible giving it the weekend to cure so that work may continue as normal on a Monday morning.
At this stage the new electrics were “first fixed” after a discussion with our client where they would like the power points – the current consumer unit was upgraded in order to deal with the extra electrical items.
An addional 20mm membrane was then installed over the new concrete slab,insulation was then installed floowed by a 22mm timber floor covering.
A timber frame was then installed to the walls and ceilings which would be used to house the insulation and for fixing the plasterboards to.
Fire rated plasterboards were then installed to the ceilings and the walls were plasyerboarded.
The new windows and bifolding doors where then installed,at the customers request vents were installed to glass to the newly installed window which were to be used to remove fumes from the lathes that were to be used in the workshop.
The lightwell was built using stone to match the house and rungs were installed into the brickwork to be used to exit the area should there be an emergency in the future, an iron grill was installed externallly for safety and the surrounding paving reinstated.
All walls and ceilings to the basement were then skimmed over the next few days.
Skirting boards,door architraves,window sills and internal doors were then all installed along with the second fix electrics where we installed around 30 power points,led spot lights,extraction fans and electrical economic wall mounted radiators.
We arranged for a decorating contractor to decorate all rooms and a flooring contractor to install a hard wearing vinyl floor covering which meant as soon as our team had completed works the new space could be used immediately.
At this point we were almost complete when the customer advised that they were so happy with the work that they would like us to install a new modern boiler and to install a untilty room to one of the converted rooms which we designed,supplied and installed.
As you can see,here at JET we can turn the darkest of spaces into beautiful useable rooms – this project gave our client an additional 35% of space and greatly increased the value of the property.