Clueless about root cellars - does ours need work?

[jollystomper]

Hello Everyone,

I found this forum via a Google search, as we have a root cellar in our home that we would like to start using. However, due to my ignorance I am not sure if it is in usable condition or not.

The home and root cellar are about 35 years old. The root cellar is under the front porch, which is a cement slab. It is separate from the rest of the basement (which is heated and partially finished) by a thick wood door with a glass window.

I just started measuring the temperature and humidity in the last several days. The temperature range is 39-41 degrees Farenheit (the outside temperature during these days has been 13-26 degrees). The humidity is at 80%. I don't know if this is acceptable or not.

I am concerned about moisture. The walls are concrete or cinder block (I don;t know how to tell which is which). While they feel barely damp to the touch (no water on my hand when I rub them, but they feel cold), they just look like they are seeping water, although there are no streaks of water running down the blocks and no dampness of the floor (which looks to be cement).

The ceiling is corrugated metal but has rusting due to moisture from condensation. With the temperature so cold it freezes. When it warms up it melts and starts dripping onto the floor. I've run a dehumidifier but that doesn't seem to help.

I've seen folks mention that a root cellar should be vented, but I cannot find any vents anywhere in the room.

Pictures will help, so here are a few.

Here are what the walls look like:





Here is the celing, you can see the frozen condensation:



Here is the floor, no sign of any leaks, the only moisture comes from what is dripping on the floor.



So, given that, what can I do to reduce the moisture? Without a vent, perhaps a more powerful dehumidifier? I also thought painting the walls with a masonry waterproofer like Drylock would help, but I've head from some folks that this shouldn't be done in a root cellar. Any guidance or pointers to info is greatly appreciated, I'm a rookie with this stuff. Thanks!

[Horseyrider]

I'm wondering if the original intent was to be a storm cellar instead of a root cellar. Mine is almost 150 years old, and even it has vents.

[Alice In TX/MO]

I think so, too.

[Benny b]

Spray the walls with 1/4 parts bleach to water. Brush clean roof too. Spray foam insulate the roof ( has to be spray insulation) so there is no dead air space. That will eliminate your condensation problem. Put a small fan in to circulate the air. There isn't going to be any decomposition so I don't see why you would need a vent. Just a thought

[Alice In TX/MO]

Air circulation: The best root cellars have vents. This is because the vegetables in your cellar give off gasses that often are conducive to either spoilage or sprouting. For example, apples naturally give off ethylene gas which makes potatoes sprout prematurely. (This can be used to your advantage if you have potatoes that are slow sprouting. Put’em both in a plastic bag.) Good venting fundamentals include:

Have an inlet vent and an outlet vent.
The outlet must always be at the highest level in the cellar with the outlet tube flush with the inner wall.
The inlet should come into the cellar at the bottom. This is easily done if your cellar is built into a hill, but nearly as easy if it is buried in flat ground. With your inlet vent opening on top of the ground near your outlet vent, your inlet vent pipe must go all the way to the floor before opening into your cellar.
Keep shelves a couple of inches away from the walls of the cellar. This will greatly promote circulation around the vegetables stored on these shelves.
To prevent your potatoes from sprouting prematurely, keep your apples above them so the circulating air moves away from your potatoes.
Have a system in place to close your vents in freezing weather. Something as simple as a big sponge can work for this. If you have very cold winters, you may wish to block off both ends of each vent pipe.

http://floydcountyinview.com/rcbasics.html

[arnie]

Yes the vents will help . My root cellar also has a condenceation problem it litterly drips constantly ..I know I built it to air tight with the insulated door sealing like a refridgerator. And the cealing being strafoam sheets over fiberglass then meatle roofing .built into a hillside buired on 3 sides shelves set 2 inches out on 3 walls and huge potato bin on one of the solid cinder block walls with drain in the center of the cement floor .the condenseation is so bad its causeing my mason jar lids to rust but the potatos don't shrivel and though some sprout thers usally plenty that last till more start ariving in the garden .I'm hopeing my solution of building a wooden smoke house on top and removeing the current airtight celing the fiberglass is a wet mess so only strafoam sheets ,and adding more celing vents .and a small 2 inch pipe vent at the base of the door .sorry to intrude not trying to intrude on your post but I thought any one eleses input may help us both

[jwal10]

Alice has it right, vents will cut the condensation. You want the humidity....James

[Benny b]

See that I didn't know there would be that much gasses. Love this site always learning new stuff.

[jollystomper]

Thanks everyone for the information, it is very useful and I'll see what can be applied.

While I can scrub the walls, should they still be painted with waterproofing?

[meanwhile]

I am not sure what to suggest but your cellar looks very much like ours did when we first bought this house. It smelled bad, was damp and no matter what we did, it just kept getting too damp or smelly. We finally just opened it up and did away with it.

Once we opened up the space, open into our basement at large, it dried out and the smell is gone. Our's also had only gravel on the ground, with plastic under that and we poured cement on it.

Good luck! I know a root cellar is supposed to be a good idea but I would not want one inside my house any longer. Outside and away from the house - yes.

Fans - use fans to dry it out before you put anything on the walls.

[am1too]

Originally Posted by jollystomper

Hello Everyone,

I found this forum via a Google search, as we have a root cellar in our home that we would like to start using. However, due to my ignorance I am not sure if it is in usable condition or not.

The home and root cellar are about 35 years old. The root cellar is under the front porch, which is a cement slab. It is separate from the rest of the basement (which is heated and partially finished) by a thick wood door with a glass window.

I just started measuring the temperature and humidity in the last several days. The temperature range is 39-41 degrees Farenheit (the outside temperature during these days has been 13-26 degrees). The humidity is at 80%. I don't know if this is acceptable or not.

I am concerned about moisture. The walls are concrete or cinder block (I don;t know how to tell which is which). While they feel barely damp to the touch (no water on my hand when I rub them, but they feel cold), they just look like they are seeping water, although there are no streaks of water running down the blocks and no dampness of the floor (which looks to be cement).

The ceiling is corrugated metal but has rusting due to moisture from condensation. With the temperature so cold it freezes. When it warms up it melts and starts dripping onto the floor. I've run a dehumidifier but that doesn't seem to help.

I've seen folks mention that a root cellar should be vented, but I cannot find any vents anywhere in the room.

Pictures will help, so here are a few.

Here are what the walls look like:





Here is the celing, you can see the frozen condensation:



Here is the floor, no sign of any leaks, the only moisture comes from what is dripping on the floor.



So, given that, what can I do to reduce the moisture? Without a vent, perhaps a more powerful dehumidifier? I also thought painting the walls with a masonry waterproofer like Drylock would help, but I've head from some folks that this shouldn't be done in a root cellar. Any guidance or pointers to info is greatly appreciated, I'm a rookie with this stuff. Thanks!

I would consider replacing the roof and making the necessary modifications. A floor drain might be interesting to do. I would consider cutting out some floor to put one in. Also adding some slope to make the drain work. Just a half buble off level is all one needs.

[TnAndy]

Originally Posted by am1too

I would consider replacing the roof .......

It's not a roof. It's a pan that held the concrete above it ( as a form ) until it set. You could cut the pan out not, it's doing almost nothing. But then the bottom side of the concrete porch floor would also sweat, because it's colder than the internal temp of the room....iced tea glass effect.

But what you really need is ventilation.