Architecture and interior design thread

Anecdotal, but from some stories I've heard recently about properly spec'ed extensions basically collapsing due to subsidence from really, really dry ground, maybe this is folks realising what was acceptable five years ago, isn't really wise now. BC being ahead of the curve in this case?

Genuine question - has anyone ever entered a basement space thinking "I could live here" ?

Yeh possibly that's what's happening. I'm not involved in building/foundation design, so a bit out of the loop.

Definitely though; codes need updating to reflect our new climate here in the UK and Europe.

I enjoyed the episode, love the look of the outside with pink cladding and the pitched roofs. Not fussed by the inside but that may be affected by them having not finished it.

I think they said the site (x2 garages) were £230k, build cost up to that point was £550k. That place must be worth more than a million even unfinished?

They should have scrapped the basement idea once they scored that additional garage (for 15k!) next door and just gone sideways instead, but I guess they would have had to have gone through planning again.

Seems like bare plaster is now a "thing" or maybe it has been for a long time
this is good as we can't reach / be bothered to paint all of ours (whole bungalow to house refurbishment)

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Yeah I do think there are examples of where it has been done well. The use case here of it being bedrooms and utility I think also makes sense as less requirement for loads of light. But I think it’s just something which seemingly carries a lot of risk that I’m not sure I’m convinced about it on that equation

We used a lime plaster on our walls and haven’t painted it which I think looks good

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thats lovely really warm feel to it

Pretty much much every house in my part of the world has a basement, don’t care for them much myself. It cheaply adds space and makes for a handy place to store important papers, lps, and in the spring, water if you’re unlucky. Our little place was built around 1915 and has cracks everywhere in the foundation (concrete cheese) yet seems stable as we haven’t had any shifting since we had the outside done many years ago. This included excavating down to the base, putting in weeping tiles (it didn’t have any!) insulating, waterproofing and about 50cms of river rock starting just below the surface to facilitate drainage down to the tiles.

Getting close to being able to rebuild after dealing with this throbbing ballache. Previous owners put thee thickest (and presumably very expensive) solid oak floor onto 18mm ply… over rotten floor boards and joists, then glued it down and plastered over the airbricks for extra damp action. 7 years later, this is the result.

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Love the look of the bare lime plaster. Presumably treated with some kind of clear coat tho Shirley? Wouldn’t it be magnet for stains otherwise?

https://www.bauwerkcolour.com/en-gb - tempted to find an excuse to use this

We've put a coat on the splashback but nothing anywhere else - a quick wipe has resolved most splatters but obviously there's a limit.

@Haggis I've painted several rooms in Bauwerk, it's a really nice product and would recommend. I also have a full 5L tin of Ibiza or Bone

Fuck. My mold allergy kicks in from just looking at the images

Mostly due to the ground not matching what the geo charts said, and proximity to trees.

The engineer really should have been aware of this in their design.

Also this is why it pays to have appoint local authority building control officer when you do a basement as in some boroughs they want to inspect every pin before its poured. It beggars belief that they didn't get the LA/their approved inspector to come out and inspect the first one at least to pick up this issue (haven't watch the programme).

We’ve used in three rooms now, most recently ‘Nougat’ in a freshly plastered room, for a week long DIY extravaganza of prepping, sealing, priming, and then lime washing back to an effect which looks almost exactly like raw plaster.

(I do like it though.)

To be fair they wouldn’t have spotted it anyway, seemed to be an issue with the cement ratio of the concrete.

Oh yeah sorry my explanation earlier probs wasn’t very good/accurate

Haven't watched the programme but how is this not the contractor's liability? Unless the concrete mix was specced wrong.

I watched the grand designs and felt their pain. But. That bloke has been an architect on a programme (George Clark ugly house i think) when the clients said “our budget is £150k” he says “I’ll do you a design” - they say “great” - they get it priced up and it’s more like £300k” they say “FFS why did he design something way over budget?”.
They fall out - he shrugs his shoulders.
Taste of his own medicine I’d say…
Ouch.

I spent a day in the (redone) Moleman house with Sue Webster a while ago. The basement is 2 stories high, and has a full height North-facing window that makes it a very habitable space.
She was using all the walls at once for a CSI-style string connection diagram.

The outside spaces were really odd and unwelcoming, but the basement studio was fantastic. She had no end of good stories.

Is that where I recognised him from!

This is fully my takeaway from my dealings with architects, they listen to what you want, add what they think you want, throw in a pinch of what’s cutting edge and present you with something for at least twice your budget. You then cut back here and there and there and a bit more until you have a design that everyone hates, but you can afford, just. Bitter? Who me?

lovely work that. Got a fair few walls like that here. Meant to be temporary but some will definitely stay

Sounds amazing. I must confess that I’d never heard of her or seen her work, which is silly of me as I deal with contemporary artists daily in my line of work. Glad to be aware of her though, I like what I’ve seen of her work after seeing that episode