Damp Cellar to Warm Dry Apartment

Damp Dark Cold Cellar

We are often asked to increase the height of old animal shelters and adegas so that our clients can create living space on the ground floor of their old houses in central Portugal.

No two houses are the same and there is always a lot of discussion in out team before we come up with the plan for the way that we will tackle the project and the problems that we will no doubt unearth along the way.

This historical house has turned our well.

Firstly there was a good clear out we got rid of masses of accumulated wast that had been deposited in the cellar over time.
Then we set about demolishing and thing that was not needed such as old olive soaking tanks and animal pens. Since we had the space clear we could see what we were up against. We started the re plumbing and re wiring the electric circuits. The old inadequate cesspit in the cellar floor was decommissioned and filled in an a complete new sewerage system installed. A pump was installed to take the wast water from the bathroom and pump it up hill into the council sewers outside in the street.

Next we addressed the wood worm and wet rot, it was everywhere.

Damp Cellar to Warm Dry Apartment

Damp Cellar to Warm Dry Apartment

We had the wood worm professionally eradicated and all new materials were also treated. Apart from rotten floor boards in the floor above we discovered major damage in the houses main support beams. These had to be addressed. We removed the beams and replaced them with strong engineered timber. This had the benefit of adding to the headroom so it also improved the living space.
Cellars are often considered to be cold, damp and dark and certainly this one was no exception until we carried out the refurbishment.

Its very important to make sure that you insulate the walls of old stone houses
We turned our attention to the walls using a modern tanking system and insulation we produced a space that heats up very quickly in the winter and remains cool in the summer.

tanked insulated and dry walls

Insulated ceilings

The ceiling was also insulated and fitted with “daylight” lighting. The old external doors had their panels removed and replaced with glass making the apartment a very light pleasant place to be.

 
Once the walls and ceilings were painted and the floor tiled you could really appreciate the transformation.

Damp Cellar to Warm Dry Apartment

Finally the kitchen was installed, the bathroom modernized and re fitted ready to hand over to the client.

If you need more living space in your home contact Castelo Construction   john@casteloconstruction.com or check out our website www.casteloconstruction.com

SKYPE Castelo or call 00351967922513