88v8
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- Glorious Gloucs
In our notnew house there is a dire lack of cupboards, which I wish to remedy.
PO obliquely remarked that he 'felt air flow was important', his only allusion to the house's various Damp issues, and I am conscious that building conventional cupboards against the cellar and ground-floor walls might not be a great idea.
That said, I have collected a variety of ancient doors, and have to do something with them.
In the Studio for example, there is a chimney breast where the bottom couple of feet show signs of being not dry, in that the emulsion-type paint is flaking off, but I would not describe it as damp. Here, I intend to build full-height cupboards, about 9' high.
What I have in mind in such places is that either I build against the wall with no back to the cupbd - I'm talking pretty much floor to ceiling here - but put back-stops on the shelves so that there will be a space of an inch or so against the wall, and provide ventilation grilles top and bottom, plus ventilation holes or grilles in each door.
Or.... that I build the cupboards with backs on (backs of ply or hardboard) so that the cupboard contents are not directly exposed to any damp in the wall, but space the backs 1" or so off the wall to allow airflow, plus grilles as above.
The house is built of coursed rubble, laid & pointed in lime, or laid in clay and pointed in lime, or in places pointed in cement grrr. There is of course no dpc, and we have now got rid of the dpm that was in one room and replaced it with limecrete but the house will never be dry like a modern house (or our lived-in 31 years house I am sitting in
)
Pic is of a start being made on cement removal in the dining room. If the lower stones look a little dark, it's because the gound outside is about 15" above floor level, to be remedied in the Spring. In the sitting room, the height difference is 24". In the studio, there is no ground-level problem, just the lack of dpc and a concrete slab floor with dpm which I cannot be arsed to remove.
So, what do the experts think? Cupboards with back or without back, or some other option?
Ivor
PO obliquely remarked that he 'felt air flow was important', his only allusion to the house's various Damp issues, and I am conscious that building conventional cupboards against the cellar and ground-floor walls might not be a great idea.
That said, I have collected a variety of ancient doors, and have to do something with them.
In the Studio for example, there is a chimney breast where the bottom couple of feet show signs of being not dry, in that the emulsion-type paint is flaking off, but I would not describe it as damp. Here, I intend to build full-height cupboards, about 9' high.
What I have in mind in such places is that either I build against the wall with no back to the cupbd - I'm talking pretty much floor to ceiling here - but put back-stops on the shelves so that there will be a space of an inch or so against the wall, and provide ventilation grilles top and bottom, plus ventilation holes or grilles in each door.
Or.... that I build the cupboards with backs on (backs of ply or hardboard) so that the cupboard contents are not directly exposed to any damp in the wall, but space the backs 1" or so off the wall to allow airflow, plus grilles as above.
The house is built of coursed rubble, laid & pointed in lime, or laid in clay and pointed in lime, or in places pointed in cement grrr. There is of course no dpc, and we have now got rid of the dpm that was in one room and replaced it with limecrete but the house will never be dry like a modern house (or our lived-in 31 years house I am sitting in
)Pic is of a start being made on cement removal in the dining room. If the lower stones look a little dark, it's because the gound outside is about 15" above floor level, to be remedied in the Spring. In the sitting room, the height difference is 24". In the studio, there is no ground-level problem, just the lack of dpc and a concrete slab floor with dpm which I cannot be arsed to remove.
So, what do the experts think? Cupboards with back or without back, or some other option?
Ivor
