I own an old Victorian house that has a coal chute that leads into the cellar. The chute cover is made of cast iron and has a number of holes through it, possibly for ventilation (???). When it rains, water can pass through the holes into the cellar. Will this cause problems with damp?
Probably not, because when it stops raining the water will evaporate back out of the holes.
Owain
Has it in the past?
|I own an old Victorian house that has a coal chute that leads into the |cellar. The chute cover is made of cast iron and has a number of holes |through it, possibly for ventilation (???). When it rains, water can |pass through the holes into the cellar. Will this cause problems with |damp?
Round our area most coal chutes have been blocked off with masonry, as they are now redundant, why not consider that. It would be a good idea to leave the cast iron cover in place as an interesting feature.
I would not recommend this. The holes in the coal hole cover are most likely providing vital ventilation to the cellar, and blocking them up will probably cause it to get far damper than a few drops of rain every now and then.
My coal hole is still as it was when the house was built (1870) and although the cellar is not exactly habitable it is relatively dry as cellars go. In neighbouring houses where the coal hole has been blocked off the cellars are damp and smelly - in next-door-but-one the aroma of damp cellar hits you as soon as you walk into the hallway!
Bear in mind that the cellar is a hole in the ground with wet earth beyond all the brickwork. A bit of rain coming in is insignificant, but obstructing the flow of air can wreak havoc. It can also affect the well-being of the downstairs joists and floorboards as well.
Dunno; presumably if it's been like this for 100+ years it would have happened by now?
Reminds of a tale... a few years back a friend was walking down a street nearby late one night, chatting to someone walking with him and vaguely aware of a woman on the far side of the road walking a dog. Suddenly there's a shriek from across the road and an almight racket from the dog... they immediately look up, but the woman has just completely vanished into thin air: they can still hear the dog going totally ape-shit, and muffled wails coming from the direction the woman had been, but no sign of her whatsoever.
Fearing a possible alien abduction, the friend crosses the road and finds that the old dear has fallen straight down a coal chute in the pavement, which someone had left the cover off. She was a large lady, and was totally wedged in, about halfway down; with the dog having gone down afterwards and landed on top of her.
Apparently the extraction ended up being a fire-brigade job; she wasn't injured other than a few cuts and bruises.
It's a strange place for a coal chute - in a pavement! They've always been in the wall (i.e. vertical) in the houses I've live in which had coal cellars.
Mary
On 11 Dec 2006 09:39:01 -0800 someone who may be "Martin Pentreath" wrote this:-
It will do if alternative ventilation is not provided. However suitable ventilation can be provided, the hole closed off (leave the grille and use translucent material for some light) and the cellar then becomes a useful addition to the house, though perhaps with a low ceiling. As well as storage this area can be equipped for things like laundry, though a pumping unit is usually necessary to deal with waste water.
"Mary Fisher" writed in news:457dbe4a$0$758$ snipped-for-privacy@master.news.zetnet.net:
Where I grew up in North London, they were either immediately in front of the front door, or in the pavement, in line with the front door. (And they were still, by and large, in use!)
Same here (south coast, small terraced Victorian houses).
It's normal in many areas to have cellars which extend under the pavement, especially in better quality housing which has an 'area' at the front with steps down to the basement.
Owain
I've never lived in north London :-)
In Yorkshire, where coal was very much part of our lives in many ways, they were in the house wall. Come to think of it, cellars were under the house only, they didn't extend under the pavement.
I learn something new every day :-)
Mary
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.