Converting An Old Smokehouse To Root Cellar???

[RVcook]

Hi All.

We have a concrete block smokehouse behind our house that hasn't been used in sometime and neither DH or I have any interest in using it for smoking meats. However, we sure could use a root cellar!

At a previous homestead I had a wonderful root cellar that was actually located in the "cellar" complete with shelves and bins. At this homestead, we have a finished walk-out basement with a centrally located wood furnace so we can't store anything down there.

The smokehouse is constructed with 7 courses of concrete block and is approx 4' deep by 5' wide, but it is vented and has an insulated door. I will have to check and see if it is set on a concrete pad or has a dirt floor as I haven't been in there since we bought the place! The size probably seems small, but I would only be storing enough food over the winter for 2 people.

Does anyone have any ideas about converting this structure...is it even practical? I was thinking about using straw bales around and on top of it to insulate it, but would that be enough? Or perhaps using earthbags would be a better option because they would act more like "earth?" Our winter temps get below zero around here in central Wisconsin.

I sure hate to see this building just crumble away so any suggestions would be really appreciated.

RVcook

[firegirl969]

I recently had the opportunity to go in a root cellar recently that was concrete like that above the ground and a hole was dug into the ground as a root cellar. She had shelves lining the upper level where she could reach and then had her root crops and some more shelves down in the ground with a wood ladder to get down in there. If you could dig down if it is a dirt floor and not bother the concrete structure, that may work great as it is a small space. Good luck, firegirl

[RedTartan]

I have no idea how to convert a smokehouse to a root cellar. I just wanted to offer an alternate idea for the smokehouse. We use ours as a chicken coop. The chickens roost on the metal bars that go across the ceiling. LOL, if they only knew...

RedTartan