Cellars - (OT)

It's interesting how much average heights have changed since I were a lad. I'm a 6 ft tall 'war baby' and was taller than most of my mates. These days I'm average or even short if I visit a pub etc use by youngsters.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)
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Possibly the maids lived in the attics and the menservants lived in the cellars.

Owain

Reply to
Owain

No wonder Nelson got a bit overexcited

Owain

Reply to
Owain

There are two sorts of cellars, aren't there?

One sort has finished walls and floors and is really another large room(s) below the ground floor.

And the other type which is accessable by a hatch, and is just a space originally for coal, etc. You can generally see the foundation piers for the house above. Maybe with a dirt floor also. Suitable only for storing stuff.

I visited a crazy Australian relative in Kings Cross, Sydney a few years ago and he proudly showed me the 'improved' cellar in his bijou terraced house. He had burrowed sideways to gain extra space so far that I estimated that one room was effectively under the outside pavement - maybe even under the road. All without support structures!

David J

Reply to
David J

snip

The use of 'cellar' is usually confined to a storage area. If cellars are habitable they are generally known as basements.

Reply to
Roger Chapman

or dungeons...

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Cellars under the road are common in Edinburgh. Sorting out permissions for underground 'wheeliebins' will be interesting ...

Owain

Reply to
Owain

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Andy Champ saying something like:

Bloody toffs.

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

wide. The fat bastard.

Reply to
Jules

Average height has increased by about 1" every 25 years for last 100+ years. There are other dramatic changes over this period too, e.g. age of male puberty has apparently dropped about 1 year every 25 years over the same period.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

I think it's On-Topic.

I have recently gained access to the cellars below my block of flats. It's on a steep hill so there is external access from the back garden. The whole building is refurbished from semi-derelict about 20 years ago. There's a concrete floor with evidence of a plastic sheet below the concrete; most of the walls are block, and there's a concrete beam floor above forming the ceiling of the cellar.

When I gained access the cellar had probably been unopened for about

10 years. There was no smell of dampness and no sign of vermin. Now it's been opened for a few weeks with sporadic access through the external door it stinks of dampness, and I don't think that's just because a cat got stuck in there for a day.

I thought increased ventilation was supposed to reduce damp not increase it? Or could the cellar have absorbed all the dampness in the still air and become mummified and the ventilation has let new damp air into the void?

It's only about 3' high so I won't be converting it into anything interesting, but I do have a surfeit of boxes etc which could go down there if it's dry.

Owain

Reply to
Owain

If the cellar is warmer than outdoor air, ventilation will dry it. If its colder, as is often the case, ventilation will only make it damper. A dehumidifier is a more effective option.

NT

Reply to
NT

Not on my leccy bill it's not. I'll keep the boxes in the lounge, chuck a cloth over them and pretend they're furniture.

Owain

Reply to
Owain

Not on my leccy bill it's not. I'll keep the boxes in the lounge, chuck a cloth over them and pretend they're furniture.

Owain

Reply to
Owain

Not sure a 3 ft high space qualifies as a cellar. More an under floor void?

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I think it's the door from outside that qualifies it as a cellar. And it has an avocado bathroom suite in it :-)

Owain

Reply to
Owain

Well, avocados aren't very big, so it's not like they'd need lots of headroom in their bathrooms.

Reply to
Jules

Weird! Part of me must be 1200 years ahead of its time.

Arthur

Reply to
Arthur 51

Right. Specially made, I take it? Or a stock dolls house one?

Amazing the things people keep. ;-)

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Rather solid ledge-n-brace actually, took a skil saw to get through it.

I'm sure there are plenty of illegal immigrants living in worse.

It'll be back in fashion one day, and it's a nice dark colour that hides the tidemark.

Owain

Reply to
Owain

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