Many homes in the United Kingdom have a cellar or basement. There is not a great deal of difference between the meaning of cellar and basement except by definition of how a person sees it. A basement is usually a defined as a large room that is part of a house but stands somewhere fully or partially underground. The large room can be turned into a gymnasium, office or playroom, whereas a cellar tends to be a little smaller and can either be made into a small office or kept for storage or for keeping wine—hence the term ‘wine cellar’.
A basement usually houses the electric and gas meters and fuse box as well as—in some homes—the boiler or water tank—however this is not always the case and it does largely depend on the style and design of the home. Generally, a basement, in United Kingdom terms has to be an inhabitable space or at least have the potential to be so. Because of the age of the country and the ages of some of the homes, the term basement has a completely different connotation to that of the United States. In the United States basements are popular extra rooms that people willingly make a part of their home if they haven’t already done so. A basement is built with that purpose in mind at the construction of the home, whereas in the United Kingdom only a small number of homes and older ones at that will have a basement or cellar at all.
Preparing the basement
Many homes in Brighton are likely to have basements simply because they were built during the Victorian era when it was a popular addition to the home. With that, most basement waterproofing was non-existent in those days and it is up to today’s homeowners to get the basements treated so that they don’t let storm or flood water into the house or destroy the basement and foundations of the home. If you have a basement in your home that you want to turn into another room you can do so relatively easily if you have all the waterproofing done. You can make it into anything you like.