Dear All, 

I have a good ceiling height basement in a 1905 built house which I am planning to renovate. It already has a games room which is half the basement foot print. I am not certain when  this was converted into a habitable space but apparently a few decades ago. This room has suspended timber floor with an 80 cm high crawl space. The timber is not insulated underneath. 

The rest half of the basement has quarry tiled floor with tiles sitting on compacted sand. 

There is no smell of damp or any evidence of water damage. 

I have two questions. One, if the basement  was partly habitable previously, do I need building regs to put insulation on ceiling and under floor etc? 

Secondly, how far should I go with the damp proofing? The industry standard type C work is very expensive and my house is on a height with only 25%of basement under ground. Rest is all above ground as land slopes away rapidly to the rear. I have read that conversion of suspended timber floor to concrete can cause problems in old houses. I would still tank the area that doesn't have suspended floors. (The works are being carried out by a builder) 

I do aim to use ventilation and heating although there is no mould or condensation problems just in case. 

Thanks in advance... 

Edited December 15, 20196 yr by Bonzo
Additional information added

You won’t need building regs to add insulation

If there is no damp I would leave well alone 

Just now, nod said:

You won’t need building regs to add insulation

If there is no damp I would leave well alone 

This is one o did at the beginning of summer I normally have a couple per year to do 

Nowadays with YouTube to fall back on and massive improvement of materials Tanking a basement is not difficult Semiskilled at best 

Though the companies that are doing it all the time would have you believe they are specialists 

3 hours ago, Bonzo said:

Dear All, 

I have a good ceiling height basement in a 1905 built house which I am planning to renovate. It already has a games room which is half the basement foot print. I am not certain when  this was converted into a habitable space but apparently a few decades ago. This room has suspended timber floor with an 80 cm high crawl space. The timber is not insulated underneath. 

The rest half of the basement has quarry tiled floor with tiles sitting on compacted sand. 

There is no smell of damp or any evidence of water damage. 

I have two questions. One, if the basement  was partly habitable previously, do I need building regs to put insulation on ceiling and under floor etc? 

Secondly, how far should I go with the damp proofing? The industry standard type C work is very expensive and my house is on a height with only 25%of basement under ground. Rest is all above ground as land slopes away rapidly to the rear. I have read that conversion of suspended timber floor to concrete can cause problems in old houses. I would still tank the area that doesn't have suspended floors. (The works are being carried out by a builder) 

I do aim to use ventilation and heating although there is no mould or condensation problems just in case. 

Thanks in advance... 

Thanks Nod, there is a bit of confusion over 'conversion to habitable space' When we bought the house, half of the basement was a games room. Some of the opinion I have been given is that the basement was already habitable. Others think differently. Nevertheless, I intend to use all the suggestions which are correct for health safety and economics (insulation etc) 

What I don't agree with is the needless Type C damp proofing which is being applied to every scenario now. 

I am currently also extending an existing basement towards the front of the house, digging out and reinforced blocking. My house is an 1890 Victorian terraced. I have been advised by a friend who has been carrying out basement work his whole life to keep it simple. The basement is dry so he suggested just using blackjack paint and insulated plasterboard straight onto this as opposed to tanking???