A country cottage in Staffordshire, with a double barrel arched basement where the original brick set floors were intermittently covered in standing water, resulting in the space being unusable.

The first operation involved installing a Basement Systems UltraSump in a 'box' of stone to control the water during the works.

We excavated the floor, laying a stone bed, held back from the walls by temporary shuttering, this forming a space for Basement Systems WaterGuard channels to be laid.

Delta MS500 cavity drainage membrane was applied to the walls and arches, with WaterGuard^TM seated in the chases and Delta MS20 laid to form the dpm, with Weyroc PFB plastic coated waterproof chipboard over. (You can immerse this in water without it spoiling)

Note the wall membrane going down the back of the hidden channels, diverting water from the walls down to the channels and through them to the sump.

The lightwell at the front was rendered in cementitious tanking, to be painted white, to encourage borrowed light.

Treated timber battens were fitted over the wall and arch membrane, with plasterboard over, and the sump extract pipe insulated and secreted behind the plasterboard.

What was once an unusable basement now forms a very warm and comfortable home office, and because of the manner in which the walls are lined, the client is able to fix into them without fear of breaching the system.