Building an outbuilding with a 'basement' advice on subsurface area

[Jason Arthurs]

I'm current investigating building a small office at the bottom of the garden, one option I would like to investigate is that of having an underfloor void to store my servers. Not a full-on basement but an area large enough to give crawl space access to hardware running 'down below'.

I live in Worcestershire and the soil is a very heavy clay, which in the winter becomes stodgy enough to almost throw pots with and in the summer is baked hard. We have a dried up stream bed (now culverted) beyond the edge of the property so just beyond our garden the level drops around 4ft into an 8ft wide 'ditch'. This occasionally gets a couple of inches of water in it after very heavy rainfall.

My key interest is that if I could give my servers a subterranean home then the size of the office above could be reduced significantly and essentially become me and my laptop above and my servers running below the floor. Ventilation needn't be too much of an issue, my key concern would be keeping it all cool and dry.

Anyone have any issues they can see regarding the viability of this?

Regards, Jason.

[Rick]

You will need to tank it, and do a good job, else it will be damp. The tanking materials for a small room are gonna be a grand list price.

Flooding however remote would be an expensive problem.

I'd look at putting them into the loft space.

Rick

[jacob]

Couldn't you make use of the 4 ft drop and have a split level - basement above floor level but still 4 ft below garden ground level? Loft would be easier though.

[Alex]

Loft would not be good for servers that get rather toasty!

[Doctor Drivel]

How about putting the servers in the roof space.

[dg]

What are these servers - a couple of PC midi towers or a something like an IBM mainframe?

Is it really worth the expense - what space savings are to be made and at what cost?

An external projection to the building may be more cost effective.

dg

[Rick]

That would rather depend how you insulate the loft :-)

Rick

[Alex]

Hmm, my parents loft is insulated between it and the floor below and gets over 40C in the summer :/

[Steve Walker]

false floor & sump, automatic pump/alarm?

[Jason Arthurs]

One issue with the loft space was that I wasn't planning on having one :-) the initial idea was for a pitched roof with a couple of decent Velux windows to maximise the level of natural light.

The servers are currently in the loft and have not as *yet* had a problem with the high summer temperatures but I was aiming to give them a slightly cooler environment. I've recently factored a couple of UPS' into the equation and apparently high temperatures can significantly reduce battery lifespan.

My main interest was that I recently visited a clients house and they live in a very steep valley so the tail end of their new kitchen extension is actually *in* the hill. I figured an underfloor space would cut down on the area of the office required as well as offering an opportunity to put significant audio insulation in place to prevent noise being an issue (my Proliant servers are not noted for their whisper quiet operation).

Regards, Jason.

[Paul Andrews]

How about adding a velux window to your loft?

snip

[Owain]

Yes, you have to insulate between the loft and the roof above.

Owain

[Doctor Drivel]

Extend comms cables from the shed to the loft. Access the servers via a LAN. Have a fan using outside air to blow across the kit using a thermostat located just over the kit.