The Virtues of a Basement or Cellar Extension

The Virtues of a Basement or Cellar Extension

Most homeowners and property developers are already well acquainted with the benefits of undertaking a loft conversion, building an extension or even installing a garden office alongside the conservatory.

However, homes that comprise a dark and occasionally dank basement often use this space for storing boxes, old furniture and other items that will become home to thick films of dust and various creepy crawlies. Indeed, the use of basements in this way is not entirely inadvisable, as it can be useful to find space for that which is not currently required but may be dug out again one day.

Nevertheless, more enterprising homeowners and property developers – especially whose properties are located in affluent areas – will look at their unsightly and often eerie basements as sources of great potential. Indeed, aside from renovating an existing basement into a more usable living space, undertaking a full basement extension can add both value and space to the home.

The Virtues of a Basement or Cellar Extension

Basement extensions have tended to be the preserve of the very wealthy, whose properties have already been extended upwards and outwards to their limits. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to change in the face of tighter planning laws on basement extensions that are currently in the pipeline and the fact that an average extension of this nature costs around £300 per square foot to dig out, fully fit and furnish.

Notwithstanding the relatively high costs (a typical loft conversion will set a homeowner back some £95 per square foot), the basement extension provides an entirely new opportunity to add a fully functional storey to the home from the bottom up. Furthermore, basement extensions can add new rooms to properties, especially kitchens, home gymnasiums, offices, media rooms, squash courts and swimming pools, that may enable larger families to stay put in the currently depressed housing market.

The Virtues of a Basement or Cellar Extension