Conversion of Basement into Design Studio and Home Cinema Using Oldroyd Xv Cavity Drainage Membrane

This double-fronted stone property, built in 1834, included an underutilised basement consisting of two rooms with a central staircase. The new owners wanted to convert one of these basement rooms into a design studio and the other into an art deco cinema with a full-size screen, digital projection equipment and a full sound system. This would require the level of dryness in the basement to be upgraded to Grade 3, as defined in BS 8102 (Dry Environment)

The basement before work began

The transformation after the project

The new basement provided space for a home cinema

The Basement Conversion

The basement conversion was carried out by specialist contractor, Stuart Makin of Wigan.

Because the basement had limited headroom, it was necessary to excavate the floor throughout. A new concrete floor was then laid on a two-inch layer of insulation.

The damp floors and walls were covered using Oldroyd Xv Clear cavity drainage membrane with special self-sealing fixing plugs being used to secure the membrane to the walls. An Aquadrain drainage channel was laid around the perimeter of the basement to increase drainage capacity at the floor-wall junction and to direct any moisture behind the Oldroyd Xv membrane to a sump and pump. Battens were then fixed over the Oldroyd Xv membrane by screwing them into special holes in the Oldroyd fixing plugs. Plasterboard was then fixed onto these battens.

New ceilings, lighting, electrical sockets, plumbing were then installed as well as two Humidistat fans in order to keep the level of relative humidity in the basement below the levels recommended in BS 8102 to achieve a Grade 3 environment.

The Finished Basement

A dry basement was delivered to the customer’s specification. The customer arranged for decoration and the installation of equipment to turn the dry basement space into the design studio and replica art deco cinema pictured on the previous page. An additional benefit of using the Oldroyd Xv waterproofing membrane was its noise reduction properties (17db ISO 717-2). This will minimize amount of noise escaping from the home cinema into neighbouring properties.