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This is a great example of a husband/wife team creating a wonderful
cellar. We thank John and Susan for the detailed information. We're sure it will
help others ...Art & Betsy
John writes ...
The cellar pictures and experiences from Strat's Place have been a big
help in planning and building our cellar. I also got a lot of help from
Richard Gold's book, How and Why to Build a Wine Cellar, and from dredging up
what little I learned about thermodynamics in college. Although we think
the space is trimmed out nicely, the the most important point is that it does
its job properly -- it's properly sealed, insulated and cooled.
Pictures
Details
- Susan did an artistic faux painting
job.
- Lighting is a simple 40w fluorescent tube (see faux painting link) which
gives off very little heat.
- We installed cork flooring, which
somehow goes well with wine (and reduces the chances of dropped bottles breaking).
- I made some thermobottles with
electronic probe thermometers from our local hardware and housewares store.
So far they seem to confirm that the temperature remains quite constant (the recorded
max & min temperatures vary by less than 1 degree F).
Insulation
Because we live in Texas (where it gets very hot), we were very concerned about
effective climate control. We did the following.
- All walls filled between the studs with fiberglass insulation.
- All sheetrock (including ceiling) installed over a plastic vapor barrier
and 2 layers of extruded polystyrene (3/4" per layer).
- Exterior wall (an 8' wall) has 2 layers of foil-encased polyisocyanurate
under the exterior siding (outside the vapor barrier).
- For the floor, we laid a plastic vapor barrier on the slab, and then laid
2x2 slats on the plastic. Then we filled in between the slats with extruded
polystyrene. Finally we laid plywood on top of the slats,which support the
floor and prevent compressing the polystyrene. We put cork floor tiles over
the plywood.
- Above the ceiling we piled on the fiberglass insulation for more than R30
(not counting the polystyrene under the sheetrock).
- We used a metal-clad panel door with magnetic weather-stripping (a concession
to Susan, who wanted the door to match the rest of the house). The door
only had an R value of 5, so we laminated
1.5" of polystyrene (encased in thin wood) to the inside of the door. Of
course we had to cut out around the doorknob and leave about 1" uncovered around
the edges to allow the door to open and close. The door is still the
least-insulated boundary in the system, but it's pretty good.
Opening and closing the door is a bit of a struggle because of the quality of
the airlock...
Climate Control
We installed a Breezaire WKE-3000 for
cooling, vented to the exterior. This unit is theoretically overkill for
the volume of space (5x8x8 = 320 cubic feet), but it was the smallest unit available
with the remote control panel. Given that temperatures get well over 100F
in the summer, I feel safer with a slightly oversized unit. The
temperature panel is to the right of the door, so we can verify the temperature
without opening the cellar.
I found it difficult to get useful information to use in selecting between
the vendors of cellar cooling equipment (Breezaire, Koolspace and Vinotemp are
the ones I knew about). Although I can't substantiate, what I pieced together
from various inputs was...
- Koolspace is only for venting to an interior space of 85F or cooler (which
I didn't want to do).
- Vinotemp is better suited for dry climates - where you do not want
to reduce the absolute humidity of the air in the cellar.
- Breezaire is better suited for damp climates (like Austin) - where you may
need to reduce the absolute humidity of the air in the cellar in order to avoid
condensation.
Racking
After debating this for some time, we went with a redwood racking kit known as
"budget redwood bin kits" or some such. This kit happened to fit the space
almost perfectly. The bins are rectangles that hold 12 bottles each, and
each rack is 5 bins wide and 7 bins high. We installed them double-deep
along the left wall of the cellar (the interior wall), with the cooling unit on
the opposite wall (the exterior wall). We decided against single-bottle
bins because we find them to be hard to use when installed double-deep.
We may install single-bottle bins on the right (exterior) wall, where they will
not be double-deep.
Other concerns
Trapping chemical gases - A recent article in Wine Spectator blamed trapped
fumes from building materials for spoiling wines at some Bordeaux chateaux.
Our space is so well sealed that I was worried about using chemicals or out-gassing
materials. Polyisocyanurate, which is outstanding insulation but theoretically
emits noxious gases, was only used outside the vapor barrier. No wolmanized
or chemically treated lumber was used, and we ventilated the room with a fan for
2 weeks to fully dry the paint and adhesives.
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