Root cellers

GaMntHomestead · #1 11/29/12, 03:03 PM

Who here has a root celler? Did you build it yourself? What materials are best? Where did you locate it?
We want to build a root celler/storm shelter(not a "hide in when the world goes to crap shelter, a "uh oh a tornado" shelter) and we have access to lots and lots of cinder blocks. We also have a dip in our land that we wonder if it would be good to dig into and build the celler into it.
No house yet so no basement to use for a root celler. Anyone place thiers away from the house? I assume they are usually under the house but I could be wrong.

TamiJoyFarm · #2 11/29/12, 05:53 PM

We, too, would love a root cellar. We tried storing veggies in our 3 ft. crawl space underneath the house last year and it worked so, so. We did have more mice last year and I wonder if it was because of the produce? My neighbors allow us to store produce in their spring house, but, honestly, as much as I appreciate their generosity, it is an inconvenience to trek over to their place to get whatever I need. We, too, have a good location for a root cellar but it is far from the house. I'd love to know how others handle storing their abundance of produce that they don't want to freeze/can.

kreig · #3 11/30/12, 05:21 AM

I made one a few years ago from an old piece of culvert and some scavanged pressure treated wood. I then coated the edges with roofing tar, then the rest of it with basement waterproofing. Finally I wrapped it all in a big tarp, dug a hole put down some gravel(the bottom bit is below the wet weather water line) and plunked it in. It works great, is dry and was pretty cheap to do. Of course it was a bit more involved than I've written. I will be glad to help answer any question if you go this route. Good luck!

GaMntHomestead · #4 11/30/12, 07:15 AM

Kreig,
Was it a big culvert, like can you walk into the celler? If so, where do you find culverts that size and are they expensive?
I love this idea, I used to live in a house that had something similar. I think the culvert was concrete, but it was buried halfway and covered with dirt. So there was a big mound in the yard. But it always flooded, we never used it for anything.

Rick · #5 11/30/12, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaMntHomestead

Who here has a root celler? Did you build it yourself? What materials are best? Where did you locate it?
We want to build a root celler/storm shelter(not a "hide in when the world goes to crap shelter, a "uh oh a tornado" shelter) and we have access to lots and lots of cinder blocks. We also have a dip in our land that we wonder if it would be good to dig into and build the celler into it.
No house yet so no basement to use for a root celler. Anyone place thiers away from the house? I assume they are usually under the house but I could be wrong.

If you are interested in a book on Root Cellaring ....

Root Cellaring - Mike Bubel & Nancy Bubel

TnAndy · #6 11/30/12, 09:00 AM

Have you done a search here for root cellar threads ? I know I've posted mine at least a couple times already, and there are quite a few others that have as well.

ronbre · #7 11/30/12, 09:51 AM

careful of the dip in the land in case it floods.

I had the thought of maybe burying a semi trailer as there are tons of containers avail cheapo, waterproofing it and burying it and adding a vent..leaving open the opening end.

make sure water drains away.

look for all kinds of containers with openings that could be buried

GaMntHomestead · #8 11/30/12, 11:27 AM

ronbre,
We actually have a semi trailer(no wheels). But it much bigger than we want for the celler. And since it has no wheels it would cost us to have it moved up to the land, 3 hours away. We paid $350 to have it brought here, which was only about 45 minutes from where it was. But a smaller container of some sort would be great if we can find something.
Thanks

kreig · #9 11/30/12, 03:34 PM

Hey again,

My root cellar is made from a 10 foot long piece of 6 foot diameter metal culvert. By the time I put in a floor I have to stoop a bit to walk in it. One end is solid wood and the other has stairs that go up to the outside,also made of treated wood. I got the culvert when it was taken out from a road during a construction project. Around here the county engineers dept. has them. I have also seen them at some construction company yards. It was not expensive and so far(around 7 years I think) seems to work very well. If I was doing another one I would use 8 foot diameter pipe if I could find a cheap piece.

GaMntHomestead · #10 11/30/12, 05:23 PM

Kreig,
Thanks for the info. I will start looking for one. That sounds like a good way to go.

PrettyPaisley · #11 11/30/12, 06:35 PM

I *just* saw this blog post today and fell immediately in love! I would think I'd like mine to be bigger, and under the house so I could get to it through a trap door in the floor of the closet somewhere...but how cool (and cheap) is this ????

Robert's Projects: Root Cellar

Ramblin Wreck · #12 12/01/12, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kreig

I made one a few years ago from an old piece of culvert and some scavanged pressure treated wood. I then coated the edges with roofing tar, then the rest of it with basement waterproofing. Finally I wrapped it all in a big tarp, dug a hole put down some gravel(the bottom bit is below the wet weather water line) and plunked it in. It works great, is dry and was pretty cheap to do. Of course it was a bit more involved than I've written. I will be glad to help answer any question if you go this route. Good luck!

That's kinda' what I did. I bought a 10' culvert off Craig's List and then had a friend weld a back and front on it. Dug a hole into the side of a tall bank behind the garage, place gravel around the base and on the sides to act as a French drain, put the culvert in and buried everything but the front. I used some landscape timbers reinforced by utility poles to support the dirt and keep it away from the doorway on the front. Stays very dry and cool. It's much drier than I thought it would have been.

**Terri** · #13 12/01/12, 11:06 AM

I heard of someone who buried a broken freezer on its back. It is very well insulated, and when he wants his potatos all he has to do is lift the door.

meanwhile · #14 12/01/12, 04:05 PM

Whatever you do be sure to have good air flow. We had a root cellar in our basement when we first bought the place. It smelled bad, mold was in there, we could not air it out, it sucked cold air from outside in the winter, sucked hot in in the summer - it was just awful.

We finally removed the doors and opened it up to just use as basement space. I have not regretted it at all.

I do wish we had a good root cellar but would be sure to have a better air flow and a way to clean it up and keep mold and just stale air out of it. Good luck.