Dry lining a cellar

Thanks again gents. Antdad, I reckon I can handle the cheaper lighter sheets of plasterboard, and they can be cut and bent in half without tearing the outer surface to make actually getting them into the cellar doable if the space is too tight. And I will definitely be getting someone competant to do the electrical bits.
Jeltz, I wouldn't say I have a wet cellar, but it's certainly damp. Funny thing is that it doesn't smell bad (like damp places I have lived in before).
Missingskin; as cellars go it's probably reasonably well ventilated as it is, as there is only a grill over the coal hole opening (which is at the top of a 'chimney' about 2' long opening into the front garden), and also has an air brick. I was thinking of leaving the airbrick, and putting a sheet of unbreakable glass over the coal hole opening with a good humidity controlled extractor fan in.
So what I'm thinking at this stage is maybe get the special screws, bung up a load of strong bubblewrap on the walls, and wait to see whether great pools of water drip down - or don't. I'll worry about the floor later. If there is significant dripping from the walls, then I'll have to have a rethink; although I'm already dreaming up drainage schemes that don't involve digging up the floor. A bit more tricky to dream one up for the floor itself......although I'm sure when I visited the Alhambra many years ago, they somehow got the water to flow uphill. I'm just not sure how exactly they did that.:icon_rolleyes:
 
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The above shows the worst of the damp - or at least that which is obvious. These damp patches don't ever seem to dry. Also the perished bricks, some ancient gas type fittings, which may or may have gas in them?? The coal hole, the dry stairwell, and the meters with some of the many wires that seem to be all over the place. Funny I never really noticed them before.....
 
Those bricks may be damp but they don't seem too badly perished , no gas in those old fittings, sparky will sort out the spaghetti, get a damp meter so you can monitor levels of damp. For a Victorian cellar that really doesn't seem too bad, why and what do you want to convert this room into exactly?
 
It's already a dungeon PC.
I want at the very least dry clean dust free storage space....where for example a girl might store numerous jars and bars of soap.
If it was dry and clean enough I might even be able to use it as a place to make soap. It has electric sockets and also the mains water comes in there so a clever person (which won't be me) could possibly run a tap off it. That would just be for an emergency such as spilling lye all over myself, so would just need a bucket under it.
But mainly for storage would do at this point.
 
The sixth photo down is the coal hole; it's like a little fireplace set into the wall, and what looks like lights in the top are actually holes in the grill which is on the ground in the garden. I thought that it might be possible to put toughened glass in thaere instead of the grill, with a good extractor fan in it. There is also a small airbrick on the other side of the cellar. Would that help/be enough?
 
The cheapest option is to just leave the cellar door open, if it's going to dry out naturally you'd think it'll happen during the next few months so anything to increase airflow will help.
 
Well, I have spent a long time just clearing out half of the cellar, and done a trip to the skip today. What appears to be the case so far is that anywhere on the floor near the two external walls, or on the wide ledge from the two external walls, that anything is left sitting on the surface, moisture appears - presumably because it cannot evaporate off. And in small parts of those areas, even with nothing on, moisture is visably there. I've also learned that it's full of spiders. :icon_eek: The two internal walls/ledges/floor areas look dryer. But having considered the numerous electrical wires on every wall, along with the sockets and meters, and possible need for drainage.......I'm giving up hope of doing this myself.
On the plus side, I've learned a lot about what may be involved, and hope I can ask intelligent questions, so won't be railroaded by anyone telling me I need a widdgiemegoo because of the widdgiemawhatsit.
Fingers crossed. If nothing else, I've cleared half of 20 years worth of damp spider web covered stuff, and feel somewhat cleansed.:icon_rolleyes:
 
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