Digging a new ROOT CELLAR

[THETOOLMAN]

I need a root cellar. My soil is very sandy. The water table is high & with rain very high . I was wondering what would hold the walls from caving in? cement blocks? I have thought of making it out of RR ties stood vertical with braces,Then using that POND LINNER material stuff to keep the water out?
the roof might be timbers with tin & tar. then dirt on top ,. or something.?
I am starting the hole next week so shoot me some ideas.

[Beaners]

I don't have much expertise with root cellars, but I have experience with pond liners. If you are planning on using it to go down the sides and across the bottom and back up the sides, then don't forget that the water that gets in won't drain out.

Kayleigh

[NEOhioSmiths]

See if your local library has a copy of [U]Root Cellaring[U] by Mike Bubel (I think that's the author's name). Excellent book.

[jlxian]

I wonder how it would work to bury a large container in your sandy soil. Like maybe an old chest freezer or a pick up tool box (or something similar). Its been a long time since I read the Bubel book (I agree it is excellent), but I think they have a section on doing this sort of thing. Of course, if you did that, you would have to be certain it was safe from children crawling in and getting locked in (horror).

We don't have sandy soil, its more clay like, but have a very high water table. We are thinking of burying old coolers for storing potatoes, but it would be a first try this year.

[huisjen]

I wonder if you can get some sort of 6' diameter culvert or used (cheap) tank. Bury the bottom 6", and fill the inside with gravel to the same level. Cover it with some foam insulation. Bring in a couple dump truck loads of fill and bury it, making a small hill. That would get around the shallow ground water issue.

[NEOhioSmiths]

Ha - I have found the "grandaddy" of all solutions:

http://waltonfeed.com/old/cellar3.html

[HiddenHollows]

Have you ever considerd building up instead of digging down..?

[THETOOLMAN]

Originally Posted by HiddenHollows

Have you ever considerd building up instead of digging down..?

If I had loads of rocks I think that I would do this. MY land was a cotton farm for 300 years or so & there is no rocks or soil = poor farming practices is what the county agent called it/.

[clamjane]

Hi Toolman, I am right here in the Columbus, Ga, Ft. Benning area too. With all that sandy soil you must be southeast of us.

This is probably not what you want, but years ago I saw an article in Mother Earth News about burying metal garbage cans/w tight fitting lids and using them as make shift root cellars. I think they put plywood over the hole and put a lot of hay or whatever on top as insulation.

I saw this article a long time ago, and if I remember correctly, it was supposed to work in areas where you don't usually find root cellars. I cannot remember if the cans were placed in the side of a hill on an angle or not. Whatever you do let us know what worked for ya.

[longshot38]

Originally Posted by HiddenHollows

Have you ever considerd building up instead of digging down..?

actually those are built into the side of the hill, this pic is from Elliston Newfoundland, the root cellar capital of the world.


dean

[Jim-mi]

Cement blocks "tarred" on the outside. Just like building a 'basement'.

My 'water house' has 2" of foam on the outside and inside of the c block walls. . . . .nice and cool in the summer.

[Callieslamb]

a difference in building a root celler to keep things from freezing and building one that will keep things cooler than outside?

Since you are from S. Georgia, you can't have too bad of a winter. I wonder if the buried smaller containers would work for you since you will not get the deep cold that other areas will get. You might need to go deep to keep the root cellar cool enough for storing long term.

I might be off track, but it is something I have thought of and I live in TN. To have a root cellar, I think I would have to go down in the ground to have one that functions properly.

How about using a cattle panel arched over the top of the walls and cover that with the pond liner stuff? Would that hold up enough dirt?

[EDDIE BUCK]

With grain prices pretty high, could make them hard to find but "grain bins" would probably work. I know a house that was made from three grain bins with dirt mounded up around them with grass growing to keep the dirt from washing away. Can't tell a lot about the outside, but if you didn't know they were grain bins, you wouldn't know it. Inside the house, beautiful. The owners say they don't heat or cool and the temp stays about the same. (comfortable) Eddie

[WayneR]

http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/abeng/plans/MISC.htm