DH and I want to build a root cellar. We have a high water table ...

[CountryKat]

Our land slopes down toward the south. We have a very high water table. When we dug into the ground only about 4 ft. or so water started to fill up the hole. I have done some research on above ground cellars but would like to talk to people with similiar experience. Any thoughts or links would be greatly appreciated. I was thinking that it would be nice also if it were also a storm shelter too. We live in the south so ground freezing is not a big problem.

Thanks,
CK

 

[Mickey328]

My folks had a similar issue and pretty much solved it by building a "cave". Grandpa made a big ole mound of dirt about 6 feet high and compacted it really well. Then he was able to dig into it and about 2 feet into the actual ground. That kept it clear of water. Just in case though, he put pallets on the floor (never did have any seepage though). He did have to fiddle with some fans and ventilation to control the humidity but in the end it managed to maintain an average temp around 55 to 60 degrees all year round.

I desperately want a root cellar/storage space as well. We have no issue here with a high water table...we're essentially desert, but we don't have the room in our urban yard. The house has a crawl space (it's so dry here that practically all the houses only do a crawl space). It's accessed through the closet floor in the guest bedroom and is a major pain to get in and out of for more than changing the furnace filter. DH has decided that we could dig through where the foundation sticks out of the ground the highest and make an access from outside. It'll be a HUGE undertaking since our clayey soil is like concrete, but it will be enormously helpful as a place to store vegetables, aging wine and canned goods.

 

[Hinotori]

We have a high water table as well. I want to build an earthbag, above ground, root cellar. I plan on mounding earth over to make a nice thick layer of dirt, then I'll plant it up to make it blend in. My hubby doesn't want a hill, but I keep telling him you won't be able to tell once everything grows. It seems to be the best bet for the water table.

 

[yugogypsy]

Look up pallet root cellars, they will keep your veggies high and dry above water. I have the same problem here and that is what I am planning to build, if necessary, I will use the above ground "clamp" method with a pallet under the vegetables surrounded by straw and dirt packed at the top, put in a round drain tile or something else as a vent at the top, going through the earth into the straw.

Lois

 

[Dawn419]

Hello and Welcome to the forum, Lois!

Never heard of the pallet root cellar before so I went and looked it up. What a great idea!

Pallet Root Cellar

I can see hubby and I using this design as there's no way we are digging into one of our hillsides for one, due to all of the rock here.

 

[Mickey328]

It seems like a very clever idea, but you're back to digging I'm thinking you could do a sort of modification though...instead of digging down, you could mound up...build the earthen walls around the pallet walls. As long as the dirt on it was thick enough and not in the sun all the time, it would likely maintain a decent temp. Hmmm...might have to give that some thought...though our space is limited.

 

[yugogypsy]

The mound up method is great, just need the pallet, some straw and dirt. And it does work especially well where you have a high water table.

Lois

 

[Dawn419]

You know, I thought about the digging part after I posted that.

However, there's a section of our land (easy walk from our little clearing) that is an east-facing slope and at the top of it, it looks like someone had started digging a small root cellar or something to that effect. Much of it has caved in and there's some really old boards still laying around it. When we first found it, we suspected someone had started to dig out a spring (to make a spring house for cold storage) but we've checked it out when the other springs were running and didn't find any water up there.

Hmmm, think I'll go back there tomorrow with the camera and get some more pix of it.

 

[Mickey328]

Now that sounds promising! If part of the work is already done, it might be well worth it! You could plant some shrubs or trees around it to keep it in the shade in the mornings, too.

 

[yugogypsy]

Sounds good to me too. One of my parents friends (many years ago) built a root cellar like that using heavy timbers to hold everything in place. He built shelves in it and as we're in a moderate climate he also used it as his wine cellar!

Lois