Great thread..I've always wanted to build a root cellar.Here on long island, if we get 12-18 in of frost in the ground thats alot.The SIPS idea is interesting, but as the link mentions, not cheap...I'd want to do something in a frugal/inexpensive way if possible...Keep that info coming,it all helps in making that final decision..!
Feedback on this root cellar design?
- Thread starter jpjuniper
- Start date
RobinsValleyVT
Power Conserver
Do you have any resources or links on this you'd like to share? We have a finished walkout basement, and I'd love to come up with some way to store potatoes and such.Farmfresh said:
Farmfresh
City Biddy
I cannot remember exactly WHERE I saw it but there was a plan to build a "cold room" in the corner of your basement that I saw many years ago. The main focus was to build a room or even TWO rooms that would best meet storage needs for foods.
The basics were that there are really TWO kinds of basic storage needed: a cool DRY room where the majority of foods, such as home canned goods, grains, and other things are stored and a cooler MOIST room where items like root crops are stored. Both rooms need also to be as dark as possible most of the time while having good lighting still available for food selection, culling foods and cleaning.
The instructions started with a cool corner of the basement AWAY from any furnaces. hot water pipes and vents. The next step is to build a nice large room in the corner that will be big enough to meet your needs for sometime to come. They recommended studding it out with 2X6 lumber if possible and using an insulated exterior door. After the room is built you then deal with the floor. It was recommended to use some commercially available material like Dri-Dek to raise the floor level up enough that it will remain dry if the basement floor becomes damp for any reason. After the floor is raised poly sheeting is laid down. The floor is then insulated and decked with sealed plywood for easier cleaning.
The basement walls are similarly studded out, after any electric work is installed. A vapor barrier is put into place and the all of the walls are insulated.
At this point you would have a totally sealed up room and that is NOT what you ultimately want. The room needs good ventilation as well. The first thing is to install a warm air "return" vent and duct into the joist cavity in the ceiling to exhaust the air out of the room. This vent will allow the warmest air in the room to naturally exhaust. Then the ceiling is also vapor barred and insulated well in the same way as the walls. At this point the room can be painted and at least some of the finish work like light fixtures etc.
The next important item to install is a "cool air duct". Basically you want a pipe that comes into the room, down the wall and exhausts near the floor bringing with it as cool of air as possible. The pipe should also be well screened at both ends to prevent it from becoming a highway for rodents, insects and other vermin. Now WHERE this cool air comes from might take a bit of work. In cold climates it could come just from outdoors, but in warmer ones you might have to install a long length of pipe underground that opens to the outside so that the air inside can be cooled by the earth. I dunno?
When things are in place the cool air enters at the bottom of the room and is naturally exhausted by convection - cool air falls and warm air rises. The rising and exhausting warm air will create a void that naturally pulls more cool air in. This keeps the air fresh, not stale and the temps in the room cool. Air movement in this way also discourages wetness that can cause rust on jar lids and dampness in stored items.
If all you want is a cool DRY room at this point you can just build lots of storage shelves. If you want a cold moist room you have a bit more work to do, because you need some way to maintain a humid environment while still providing circulation of air. You also need an easy way to monitor the humidity and temps.
Some people use an old refrigerator or old upright deep freeze to make a moist storage for roots and so forth. This metal box is already easy to seal. All you need is a means to provide the moisture and the ventilation. Providing moisture can be as easy as a water pan in the bottom of the storage area. By ventilating the box in such a way that the fresh air is sucked across the water, the moisture will be there. A vent at the top should keep things moving and plastic baskets or boxes of sand or vermiculite will provide good usable storage. Just be sure and have a ventilation system that is not shared with your dry room or you will be adding unnecessary and undesirable moisture the situation.
I am sure others on here would be able to "flesh out" these ideas even more. I have never built on of these, but it is still a dream for someday.
The basics were that there are really TWO kinds of basic storage needed: a cool DRY room where the majority of foods, such as home canned goods, grains, and other things are stored and a cooler MOIST room where items like root crops are stored. Both rooms need also to be as dark as possible most of the time while having good lighting still available for food selection, culling foods and cleaning.
The instructions started with a cool corner of the basement AWAY from any furnaces. hot water pipes and vents. The next step is to build a nice large room in the corner that will be big enough to meet your needs for sometime to come. They recommended studding it out with 2X6 lumber if possible and using an insulated exterior door. After the room is built you then deal with the floor. It was recommended to use some commercially available material like Dri-Dek to raise the floor level up enough that it will remain dry if the basement floor becomes damp for any reason. After the floor is raised poly sheeting is laid down. The floor is then insulated and decked with sealed plywood for easier cleaning.
The basement walls are similarly studded out, after any electric work is installed. A vapor barrier is put into place and the all of the walls are insulated.
At this point you would have a totally sealed up room and that is NOT what you ultimately want. The room needs good ventilation as well. The first thing is to install a warm air "return" vent and duct into the joist cavity in the ceiling to exhaust the air out of the room. This vent will allow the warmest air in the room to naturally exhaust. Then the ceiling is also vapor barred and insulated well in the same way as the walls. At this point the room can be painted and at least some of the finish work like light fixtures etc.
The next important item to install is a "cool air duct". Basically you want a pipe that comes into the room, down the wall and exhausts near the floor bringing with it as cool of air as possible. The pipe should also be well screened at both ends to prevent it from becoming a highway for rodents, insects and other vermin. Now WHERE this cool air comes from might take a bit of work. In cold climates it could come just from outdoors, but in warmer ones you might have to install a long length of pipe underground that opens to the outside so that the air inside can be cooled by the earth. I dunno?
When things are in place the cool air enters at the bottom of the room and is naturally exhausted by convection - cool air falls and warm air rises. The rising and exhausting warm air will create a void that naturally pulls more cool air in. This keeps the air fresh, not stale and the temps in the room cool. Air movement in this way also discourages wetness that can cause rust on jar lids and dampness in stored items.
If all you want is a cool DRY room at this point you can just build lots of storage shelves. If you want a cold moist room you have a bit more work to do, because you need some way to maintain a humid environment while still providing circulation of air. You also need an easy way to monitor the humidity and temps.
Some people use an old refrigerator or old upright deep freeze to make a moist storage for roots and so forth. This metal box is already easy to seal. All you need is a means to provide the moisture and the ventilation. Providing moisture can be as easy as a water pan in the bottom of the storage area. By ventilating the box in such a way that the fresh air is sucked across the water, the moisture will be there. A vent at the top should keep things moving and plastic baskets or boxes of sand or vermiculite will provide good usable storage. Just be sure and have a ventilation system that is not shared with your dry room or you will be adding unnecessary and undesirable moisture the situation.
I am sure others on here would be able to "flesh out" these ideas even more. I have never built on of these, but it is still a dream for someday.
Bubblingbrooks
Made in Alaska
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This is what we are installing right now.RobinsValleyVT said:
http://www.mofga.org/Publications/M...r/Fall2008/RootCellars/tabid/984/Default.aspx
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