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09/04/10, 09:12 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 393
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building a cold cellar - tips?
We're going to be building our cold cellar soon, and I'm looking for any tips, ideas, suggestions, horror stories anyone has. Not sure how big or small to make it yet. We have a big garden that's getting bigger.
Need to store cabbage, carrots, potatoes, turnips, squash, apples, this year. (maybe just a bushel of each this year. years to come there will be more) And my canned stuff I think will go in there. I've heard that squash need a different temp than other veggies?
We're digging into the side of our hill, block walls, poured floor / roof. Then burying it as much as possible. Does that sound right?
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09/04/10, 09:18 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: ky
Posts: 545
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Waiting on this one as we r starting one soon also
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09/04/10, 10:21 PM
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II Corinthians 5:7
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Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Virginia
Posts: 8,125
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Will be watching this thread because David is doing some similar, i.e. digging into a hillside and down quite deep.
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09/05/10, 12:50 AM
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Crazy Canuck
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Alberta Canada
Posts: 4,077
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I have a cellar that's built into the hill right under my garden, with an outside door and a 3 foot "entrance" and with another door into the actual cellar. It's about 12 feet long with shelves on one side on the upper 1/2, and room for boxes or sacks underneath. The other side is separated into 3 bins for potatos or whatever. I have to cover my veggies with blankets and keep checking because it's damp in there and they can mold quite easily. I bury the root veggies in sand and soon learnt how cold the sand got when I was digging up some in winter so wear gloves ...lol.
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09/05/10, 06:59 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 217
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A root cellar is a great asset to the homestead.
I highly recommend Root Cellaring by Mike and Nancy Bubel, it's an excellent resource for design/building many different types of root cellars and plenty of info for storing any produce.
Good luck
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09/05/10, 07:19 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 393
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sanza
I have a cellar that's built into the hill right under my garden, with an outside door and a 3 foot "entrance" and with another door into the actual cellar. It's about 12 feet long with shelves on one side on the upper 1/2, and room for boxes or sacks underneath. The other side is separated into 3 bins for potatos or whatever. I have to cover my veggies with blankets and keep checking because it's damp in there and they can mold quite easily. I bury the root veggies in sand and soon learnt how cold the sand got when I was digging up some in winter so wear gloves ...lol.
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About how wide is it Sanza? What about the height? What do you keep in your sacks? Do you keep your potatoes in sand too?
I'm also wondering about why 2 doors?
Thanks!!
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09/05/10, 07:21 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 393
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rhome
A root cellar is a great asset to the homestead.
I highly recommend Root Cellaring by Mike and Nancy Bubel, it's an excellent resource for design/building many different types of root cellars and plenty of info for storing any produce.
Good luck
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I've been looking for a used copy of this book. Glad to hear you found it useful!
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09/05/10, 10:24 AM
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Wait................what?
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Montana
Posts: 2,254
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I second the book recommendation! At our old place, we built one. One thing is to make sure it's fairly waterproof. Yes, you want moisture from the earth, but make sure the walls, roof and doorway are waterproof. We had rivers running through it whenever it rained because we didn't do that or put in drains. We figured since we lived on a sandbank, it would be ok. Not so. We still got lots of use and LOVED having it!
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09/05/10, 02:20 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: W. Oregon
Posts: 8,753
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Mine is 6'x8' inside 7' high. Door centered in one end, 5' of 18" deep shelves down both sides, Old prune totes used as potato and apple bins across the back, stacked 6 high. Door is double wall with 2" rigid insulation between the 2 layer cedar door. We store a lot of our canned food in there. Back concrete wall is buried 6', front buried 3 foot all waterproofed. 3 steps down in to the door landing. Perimeter drains and sump for drain in landing to get all the water away. 2 air vents in the bottom of the front wall, each side of the door that can be opened but have insulated plugs most of the time. The ceiling has a lot of fiberglass insulation above the ceiling. The intake of the roof vent is right in front of the bins, 12" above the floor. I had potatoes that were stored for a full year and I could still eat them. I have just finished a spring house, 6'x8' with 3' poured concrete walls below ground level. Water runs through keeping a 3 level vat 6" to 18" deep across the back. 2' deep sheving on each side of door. Goat milk, cottage cheese, yogurt, butter milk and cheese are kept in there, the water is 42 degrees, the spring house is 48 right now. A lot of fruit gets stored in the spring house, fish, meat, vinegar, pickles, kraut, cheese, carrots, cabbage, etc. Onions are tied in bunches of 8-12 and hung in the insulated garage along with pumpkins, squash and tomato vines hung upside down. Not a lot of each but we live off of it year around along with the garden....James
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09/05/10, 06:56 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 217
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My friend bought a used refrigerated box from a delivery truck for a ice/meat co. at auction for $600
The box was 8'x12'and 7'high.
Excavated an enbankment with proper drainage ten slid the box off a rollback tow truck unto pressure treated 6x6s into site.
Proper backfill up to 16" from top of roof.
No dirt on top.
All aluminum body, 6" insulated walls, reefer type solid door.
A very nice root cellar and storm shelter here in tornado country.
Good luck
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09/05/10, 07:46 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: SW Virginy
Posts: 2,107
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Seems someone told me once that they had a new, but defectively made septic tank brought in from a septic service. Guess they messed up when they made it.... I don't remember what they did for doorway, as standard access door would be to small.... Just a thought, never did see the thing, my two cents worth...
__________________
Education and intelligence are not the same things.
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09/05/10, 10:03 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 393
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Quote:
Originally Posted by popscott
Seems someone told me once that they had a new, but defectively made septic tank brought in from a septic service. Guess they messed up when they made it.... I don't remember what they did for doorway, as standard access door would be to small.... Just a thought, never did see the thing, my two cents worth...
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We thought about that too. Would be a great size, meant to be buried, much cheaper. When we looked into it, turns out they don't make them like they used to. Interior heights are not quite 5 ft in height now. (Atleast in our area..) I don't think I'd be up for getting a used one. 
Book is on order....
Anyone wanna share pics??
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09/06/10, 06:04 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Central IL
Posts: 1,700
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Has anyone built or converted a small room in the basement. I've read that by adding venting pipes from/to the outside, it's possible to keep temperatures proper for food storage. We're considering having a North wall basement room for this purpose when we build. Would an outdoor cellar be better (better temp control)?
(not trying to hijack).
Last edited by SueMc; 09/06/10 at 06:06 AM.
Reason: not trying to hijack!
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09/06/10, 07:34 AM
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: EastTN: Former State of Franklin
Posts: 4,482
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Strawhouse:
You might check on different sizes. Here ( and I'm sure it does vary regionally ) a 1,000 gallon tank is 2 pieces (top/bottom) that as you said, is about 5' inside ceiling...but a 1500 gallon tank is 3 piece, where they have the same top/bottom section, but they add a mid section that is about 30" tall, which raises the interior height by that much.
SueMc:
I did something along the lines of what you're talking...took the north wall of my garage, which is built into the slope of our mountain, and went outward rather than inward.
Had a guy here on a trackhoe doing some work for another project, so I got him to dig me out an 8x10 hole in some really tough shale. Then I hand mixed and pour a footer, and laid 8" block up for walls. Capped the top with a 6" reinforced top, that after it cured, I put a couple inches of foam board on, then covered with a sheet of EDM roofing rubber, draped over the side. Backfilled and got about 16" of dirt over the top.
Ventilation is provided by 2 - 6" PVC pipes, one of which has a "duct booster" fan in it wired to a timer. Timer is set to run the fan at night when the air is cooler, starting about this time of year. ( Last night was 48 here )
Door I built out of cedar, foam board and plywood in the inside.
Wood was temporary to hold up the concrete, then removed after it cured a few weeks.
Ready to pour, reinforced with rebar, including down the block.
http://www.digistash.com/data/026a39...7_p126845.jpeg
Interior was finished with white Drylock paint, and gravel left as a floor.
Buddy of mine is building ( with my help ) an off grid retreat place up on a mountain near me....he had a block root cellar put in the north corner of the basement. I would think you would do better to run it out as I did rather than in as he has, but it will probably do better than just an open basement in either case.
Don't have a shot of his, but it's basically just a block room about 8x8' built out in the basement. He will have the advantage of a 2500 gallon water tank next to it, also in the basement that will be rainwater storage, which is his water source ( REALLY off grid ! )
Like that deck ? ahahahaaa...(it has a rail now)
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09/06/10, 09:20 AM
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: W. Oregon
Posts: 8,753
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SueMc
Has anyone built or converted a small room in the basement. I've read that by adding venting pipes from/to the outside, it's possible to keep temperatures proper for food storage. We're considering having a North wall basement room for this purpose when we build. Would an outdoor cellar be better (better temp control)?
(not trying to hijack).
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Yes they work very well, vents at the bottom for air circulation from the rest of the basement and air vents close to floor up and out work well. When I was growing up Dad had an old insulated truck box 8"x12" setting out behind the shop (N side and shaded) he put his potatoes and apples in there and they kept very well. It was also the fruit house (canned goods storage) always cool in there. You want humidity but not damp, no standing water....James
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09/06/10, 10:22 AM
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Banned
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Piedmont Central Virginia
Posts: 641
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Recently on a farm visit I saw two barns which had been converted for storage and packing of garden products. One was a barn where two facing walls had been replaced by strong screening. There is a gravel floor and table tops with lips for sorting and packing. Even with the blast furnace heat we've had, there was good air flow so it was a pleasant place to work and store some items.
The cold storage had heavily-insulated walls and door but the special part was that it was cooled by a window air-conditioner which had a special fixture called a "Cool-bot." This is two little wires somehow which "trick" the ac thermostat. Regular air conditioners only cool down to 60 degrees at best but this device forces them down to 32 degrees. There is one particular brand of air conditioner which works best with this device which was, I believe, purchased at wal-mart. I was interested to note that these old barns had been sheathed with what looked to my untrained eye like heavy metal roofing. They were painted barn red so looked very homey even though they were industrial. And snake and thief proof! And very cost-effective compared to in-ground construction.
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09/06/10, 02:34 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 736
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The above-mentioned book will give you so many ideas that your head will spin! I was my bedside reading for months after I got it.
In addition to plans for building an outside storage facility, they give info on using spaces that you already have in the house. Plus there are chapters on which fruits and veg. to grow for storage, when to start them in the garden for best keeping qualities, which varieties they have found work well for storage, what humidity levels and temps to keep them at...and on and on!
Send pics when you create your own space! Love the photos shared!
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09/06/10, 03:39 PM
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Crazy Canuck
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Alberta Canada
Posts: 4,077
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Quote:
Originally Posted by strawhouse
About how wide is it Sanza? What about the height? What do you keep in your sacks? Do you keep your potatoes in sand too?
I'm also wondering about why 2 doors?
Thanks!!
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It's about 6-7 feet wide, 6 ft high, and potatos can either be kept in sacks or in sand - I've done it both ways.
I'm not sure but I think the 2 doors are a safety feature in case one is left open. It 's below freezing at night for at least 6 months here so I think the further into the hill the less chance of freezing.....I really think it was the first house here on this quarter because the homesteaders built into the hills for their housing until they got a log house up.
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09/06/10, 04:29 PM
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Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 7,883
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That book by Mike and Nancy is available from Backwoods Home
$15 plus ship $5
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09/07/10, 09:01 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Central IL
Posts: 1,700
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Very helpful thread! Thanks Strawhouse for starting it. Thanks TnAndy and jwal10 for your answers!
I found a nice article (9 pages) from the Bubel's book at Mother Earth News:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Moder...ot-Cellar.aspx
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