Flooring a traditional brick cellar floor

[dave_p]

Hi all,

I have a traditional cellar beneath my house (circa 1903) which has brick walls and a stable (i.e solid and not loose) grey brick floor. The cellar is about 4.5 mtrs x 4.0 mtrs and 2.8 mtrs high.

I am looking at turning the cellar into a games room for the kids. The walls can stay "as is" as the brickwork has been wire brushed and cleaned in the past and actually looks quite nice. However, I would like to modify the floor to be something more "friendly" such as a laminate floor that I can then put a sofa and a table on top of.

The main issue is that the floor has never been completely dry. Whilst I have been using the space as a workshop this has never been an issue but obviously if I am going to floor it, it will be. I get the odd bit of "collected" dampness on the floor at the far end of the cellar where the floor falls away towards what used to be the coal chute. It has never been a puddle and is not something that is constantly there, but it does appear every so often and the floor is always cold to the touch. The cellar never smells damp and the air, although a constant cool temperature, never feels damp.

I would prefer (wouldn't everyone) not to spend fortunes as the kids probably only have a maximum of 8 years left at home before they fly the nest and I doubt we will keep a 5 bed Victorian house just for the 2 of us to rattle around in once they have gone!

In case it is relevant, there are no windows down there and the only ventilation is an air brick which is where the external coal chute used to come in from the side entry. The "dampness" is definitely not coming through the air brick, i.e. it is not water ingress that is getting in through there.

I hope that I have adequately put over what I am trying to do and given enough info and I thank you in advance for your input.

Dave

[welsh brickie]

you can lay tiles on the floor,or have ashphalt laid to eliminate damp