The home down under

Currently, basement construction is not common practice in the UK, yet building in a basement will, amongst other benefits, add in more space into a developments footprint. However there is an innovative prefabricated solution from a supplier that is looking to turn those trends around.

It is possible to save a minimum of 33% of the footprint by building a basement deeper than a standard house. The basement information centre says the same floor area covered by a normal two storey house can be accommodated on a plot 26% smaller by digging a basement.

Furthermore, figures show that full depth basements produce an energy saving of 9.5% by reducing energy demand during and after construction.

Overall it will reduce the foundation size and reduce land usage, which could provide room for more trees, shrubs and plants or renewable energy provision, whilst also producing a more stable building. By increasing the effective depth of foundations, the structure is better able to cope with the seasonal movement and tree growth.

Basements are common around the world but have not been routinely built in the UK for almost a century. The risk of water ingress, the perceived extra costs, the time it will take, problems with planning permission and guarantees have all been cited as reasons for avoiding this kind of construction, but a modern basement with basement waterproofing solutions can overcome all of these problems.

There are many ways to build a good basement and most of these require some sort of tanking membrane, although precast concrete basement construction does not require a tanking membrane. For existing buildings with basements that are facing water ingress, basement waterproofing solutions can be applied swiftly.

In a typical basement construction, the foundation base is cast as normal density reinforced concrete slab. The walls have dowel reinforcement projecting into performed holes in the slab and the void is subsequently filled with a waterproof expandable grout.

Internal load bearing and partition walls are fixed in a similar way. The ground level floor slabs situated on top of the basement are also made from normal density concrete panels and are attached to the walls using steel dowels.

Basements are an asset to have in any home, and come fabricated with lots of benefits- it’s all about taking the risks, which in this case is minimal in comparison to a standard building construction. Basement waterproofing solutions are already on the market for those that take the plunge and are looking for extra security in their home.

The only question now is- When does your project start?