Basement Style northwest. Basement conversions, home cinema installations and home extensions by stuart makin of wigan

This property, built in 1834, included an under utilised basement consisting of two rooms with a central staircase. The new owners wanted to convert one of these basement rooms into a design studio and the other into an art deco cinema with a full-size screen, digital projection equipment and a full sound system.

Because the basement had limited headroom, it was necessary to excavate the floor throughout. A new concrete floor was then laid on a two-inch layer of insulation.

The damp floors and walls were covered using Oldroyd Xv Clear cavity drainage membrane with special self-sealing fixing plugs being used to secure the membrane to the walls.

An Aquadrain drainage channel was laid around the perimeter of the basement to increase drainage capacity at the floor-wall junction and to direct any moisture behind the Oldroyd Xv membrane to a sump and pump.


New ceilings, lighting, electrical sockets, plumbing were then installed as well as two Humidistat fans in order to keep the level of relative humidity in the basement below the levels recommended in BS8102 to achieve a Grade 3 environment

Cinema Specifications:

BenQ PE8700 digital projector. Screen-Screenline fixed screen 16:9 aspect ratio 8ft2inX4ft7in.DVD projector link-Profigold PGV3300 Oxypure 1.5m Component Video Cable. DVD Player Sony DVP-NS58P with progresive scan.Amplifier-Yamaha HRT5640 with Dolby Digital 6.1 sound and DTS. DVD sound out-amp in connection-ProfigoldPGD561 1m TOSLink Optical Cable. Speakers- Mordaunt Short Premiere home cinema speakers and sub woofer. Speaker cables-Accoustic Research HT223.