Q: Building a wine cellar

I have a friend that is building a wine cellar. I have searched but the search requirements go beyond my abilities. Can anyone point me to some old threads and are there any good books available.
Walt

[Robin Garr]

I have a friend that is building a wine cellar. I have searched but the search requirements go beyond my abilities. Can anyone point me to some old threads and are there any good books available.
Walt

Walt, this REALLY old thread goes back to the original archived WLDG, but it's still a highly popular page:
The Cellar Builder: Wine Lovers' Tips on Housing Your Collection

The article also contains a link to THE bible for cellar construction, Richard Gold's How and Why to Build a Wine Cellar 3rd Ed.
(Purchase through this link pays a small WineLoversPage commission)

Walt,
When I built a passive wine cellar a number of years ago, I found Gold's book very helpful. A bit theoretical in places, but nonetheless, useful to the average "wood-butcher".
BP

Here's another link to the Do-It Yourself Network. Clicking through the links in this link leads to material lists, photos, etc.
http://web.diynet.com/diy/web/searchResults?searchString=wine+cellar

Thanks, exactly what I was looking for.
Walt

HI,

I live in the Hudson Valley, about 75 miles north of NYC.

I'm about to begin building a passive cooled wine "cellar" in my basement. The closet is facing the east part of the house and is approx. 5' below grade. (It's really going to be more of a closet) The footprint is 5' x 8' x 7" Tall. I'm building it against an 8' long portion of our foundation that has been sprayed with 2" of polystyrene foam and has an R factor of 13. The current plan is to frame the space with 2x6 studs, 16" OC and use a combination of fiberglass (R21) and 2" of foam board (R10) to give me R33 for the ceiling, two short sides, and the 8' side that is opposite the 8' wall that touches the foundation. The foundation wall will have Fiberglass rated at R21 + the existing spray foam, to give me R31. I was planning on using 5/8" plywood on the outside and 3/8" T-111 board on the inside. The floor is the original concrete slab. We plan to construct a door that will be isolated with Fiberblass (R21) and 2" of foam board to bring the R value up to 31. I've read that some people recommend using blue sheetrock on the interior to prevent mold. Has anyone had any positive results with T-111? Did you paint it? Did you use any kind of vapor barrier? Did your fiberglass has backing? I'm hoping to go with T-111 because it's a lot easier and cleaner to build with vs. sheetrock dust, taping, sanding, etc. BTW, the temperature swing range in the basement area typically is 60 - 70 between dead of winter and heat of summer. Thanks for suggestions. Andy S

What is an R factor, and how do you use it?

Neil - R-Factor is a measure of insulation. The higher the number the better insulating. Here is a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-value_(insulation).
Andy - welcome to the forum. I met a fellow through a home wine making website who built a beautiful wine cellar in his home on the Puget Sound in WA. His was much larger and was in a corner, thus having 2 exterior walls. All the cellar was well insulated, except for the exterior walls. There he built walls using metal studs with a gap between the wall and the exterior concrete. He left gaps of about 3 inches at the top and bottom of these walls to allow air to flow down past the concrete, thus cooling the entire cellar passively. The temps remain between 55-60 year 'round. He is quite handy and made some beautiful floor to ceiling racks. I wish I could find a link to he project.

Andy,
I'm in lower Hudson Valley with a (primarily) passive cellar. You mean slab is 5' below grade? So top of walls are at ground level. That's basically my situation (a tad deeper). I have 2 rock foundation walls (NE corner). Two walls about 6 ft long (R21 in studs 16OC), an interior door filled with foam and with R10 foam board. Ceiling r21, but I sloped so that East side has an extra layer (north side ground is a bit higher) so ceiling a bit lower. I used blueboard in and out, with a plastic vapor barrier on outside (my best guess from Gold's book). Also when we rebuilt back steps to patio I put some foam board on outside of exposed foundation wall).
So far (since 2003)I've generally been able to keep my temp at ceiling level to 67/68 in late summer (drops to about 50 in early March). I put an extra inexpensive window AC in as a backup, used a few days 2 summers ago, not last year. I figure I'll need this year as ground temps probably never got as cold with the warm winter. AC is mounted low (easier), so not super efficient, and I didn't bother to trick thermostat. I'm ok with the idea of high temps in mid60s and slow gradual swings.

Honestly, I think most people over think wine cellar construction. If your basement swings 60-70 as it currently exists, not sure you need to get to R33. My cellar is a north east corner and has roughly 8 ft below grade. Prior to building the cellar the portion of the basement being considered swung 60-70 like yours. After construction it swings more like 55-65, measured at about 5' high on the internal wall next to the double doors. The temperature measured closer to floor and foundation walls is usually 2-3 degrees lower. I really did nothing special. Internal walls are 2 x 4 studs 16" oc, fiberglass insulation with backing and sheetrock walls. No additional vapor barrier was used. Walls on the foundation sides are also 2 x 4 studs 16" oc and sheetrock but no insulation. Celling has thicker fiberglass insulation without backing. Floor was left concrete (since it has a drain) but painted. Doors are a pair of solid wood doors that have a small gap in them. I did add a curtain to the window to cut down on the solar load of the morning sun.

I used normal sheetrock and have not noticed any mold issues. I do run a humidifier during the winter but not the summer to try to keep humidity levels at 55%-60%.

Hi,

I just finished my passive wine cellar. I used Gold's book as my guide and found it quite valuable, but made my own decisions. I agree with the overthink part of creating a wine cellar.

I put 1" 4X8 foam insulation (R5) on the top half of the outside east-facing wall and then put regular 2X4 studs up against that. My cellar is just a old cold room that is about 6 1/2 feet below grade. On the outside wall I just insulated down 4' because I did not think the bottom 3 1/2 feet needed insulation. I did use blue sheetrock as my basement is a bit damp and has leaked a bit in the past (we had that fixed). I just put in regular 3 1/2" fiberglass insulation on the rest of the walls, 5 1/2" fiberglass insulation in the ceiling and only where my 2X10" floor joists meet the concrete outside cellar wall did I put in extra R30 insulation. We painted the concrete floor with that new type epoxy paint and added color chips to give it some appeal and to cover up imperfections in the floor. It actually looks really good. My cellar is actually just inside of a storage room and on the outside door to the storage room I just added 1" of foam insulation to the inside with silver side showing. It looks decent. For my cellar door I installed a regular oak door.

My cellar used to vary from about 50 F in the dead of winter to about 70 in the hottest part of the summer. Since I finished it in January, it started off running a remarkably steady 55 F in January-February-March with a slow recent increase to 56/57F in the last month or so. I am not sure how high it will go in the summer, but my guess is no more than the low to mid 60s. One suggestion I have is to put in LED pot lights. I put them in my cellar and I really like them. Besides generating almost no heat, they really throw an appealing white light in the cellar.