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Build Your Own Wine Cellar

How To Build A Wine Cellar

The idea to Build Your Own Wine Cellar is to create the ideal environment to store your wine collection. Temperature is always a major consideration in wine storage and the ideal wine storage temperature is between 55ºF and 58ºF as long as it doesn’t fluctuate too much. Ideally, the humidity should be around 70%.Here’s my quick and dirty wine cellar specs :Cellar Walls:

I recommend the cellar walls be made with 2”x 6” framing. Use R-19 fiberglass batts for insulation, plus a layer .6 mil plastic as a vapor barrier on the side of the walls away from the wine. [warm side of wall] Overlap plastic edges and tape with foil tape.

Wall Material:

I prefer cedar or redwood but moisture resistant gypsum board, stucco, or tile can be used.

Ceiling:

If the ceiling has existing joists, cut strips of 6-mil plastic and staple it between the joists or over lap it over and into the joist bay. R19 insulation is the minimum required on the ceiling.

Doors:

 

You can really go crazy here from basic to super high end. Any exterior type with a good weather seal and again caulked tight to the floor, and foam sealed at the jambs, and header.

Floors:

Slate tile is my flooring of choice, the natural earthy colors make the wine cellar feel like a cellar or cave.

Be sure to install a vapor barrier under the floor; for concrete floors, treat with a water sealant. For floors less than four feet below grade, a minimum of R19 insulation is recommended.

Cooling the cellar:

Cooling units are usually installed approximately eighteen inches from the top of the room in order to achieve maximum cooling. The unit will also require an unobstructed airflow and adequate ventilation to dissipate the heat generated by the unit. These units are frequently vented into an adjacent room and the venting space needs to be as large or larger than the wine cellar.

It is also possible to install a split air system into a wine cellar although this type of wine cellar cooling system can be rather expensive with prices running into many thousands of dollars.

A split system has a separate evaporator and condenser module with the condenser module mounted outside the wine cellar. A split air system offers added flexibility when doing custom installations or dealing with unusual site problems.


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