I have a somewhat strange "basement room" which is in the corner of the house. It goes down a little over 1.20m below the rest of the house's foundation, which is a crawl space. It used to be a closed-off space with roughly the same ceiling height as the other rooms.
I am tearing down the closed-off space in the ceiling and plan to open up one of the walls towards the room, wanting to create a floor joist at the same height as the floor in adjacent rooms. This will give me a basement space under the floor that's about 5 sqm with around 1.20m of "ceiling height." The plan is possibly to create a hatch in the floor to make some form of pantry/wine cellar.
Question one is how to design the joist in the smartest way. There are walls of lightweight concrete blocks around the basement. I would prefer an inorganic solution; are there steel beams for this purpose?
I will dig up and drain and insulate externally towards the summer. It's also possible that I will break up the floor in the basement and insulate it. Question two is whether I should install exhaust ventilation in the basement?
I am tearing down the closed-off space in the ceiling and plan to open up one of the walls towards the room, wanting to create a floor joist at the same height as the floor in adjacent rooms. This will give me a basement space under the floor that's about 5 sqm with around 1.20m of "ceiling height." The plan is possibly to create a hatch in the floor to make some form of pantry/wine cellar.
Question one is how to design the joist in the smartest way. There are walls of lightweight concrete blocks around the basement. I would prefer an inorganic solution; are there steel beams for this purpose?
I will dig up and drain and insulate externally towards the summer. It's also possible that I will break up the floor in the basement and insulate it. Question two is whether I should install exhaust ventilation in the basement?