Cold Storage room in basement project

Hello,

What do you think about this storage idea?

https://www.usa-gardening.com/guide/build-a-root-cellar-in-basement/

 

My Montana Granny had a basement root cellar and used it. She also grew and/or canned a lot of what was stored there.

 

OK....first off there is a difference in a 'cold storage room' and a 'root cellar'.......the main one being you want a much higher humidity in a root cellar for the storing of certain crops, such as potatoes. The ideal conditions in a root cellar (humidity + cool/cold) make it a bad place to store things that will rust, like steel cans/bands-lids on glass jars, or cardboard that tend to fall apart under humid conditions.

So ideally, you need TWO storage spaces, not one. Not saying you don't see a single space used for both, but it's not the ideal situation. I have both here. I built the root cellar first....and found out the hard way about what humidity does to steel/etc....and then went back and built a cool storage, DRY pantry.

My root cellar is a hole I cut in the north side of our garage that is built into the mountain slope we benched out for the house site. I had a buddy here with a large excavator doing some other work and got him to come around to that side of the garage block wall and dig me out enough of a hole for an 8x10 root cellar. Then I cut a doorway in the block, laid up cinderblock for the walls and poured a 6" concrete cap on top, backfilled with dirt after putting 4" of foam board on top the concrete roof, followed by a foot of dirt.



You can't use regular lumber in one for shelving either.....it will mold. I used treated, then painted it. As for "bins" to store things like potatoes in, I think the screens I built work better, as it allows the spreading out of the potatoes (or apples or whatever) instead of piling them on top of each other. Piling will cause rot to spread easy if you have a bad potato.

Storage screen. Lumber frame, 1/2" hardware cloth in center:


For dry, cool storage, I later added a 12x22 room on the back of the garage to do meat processing/etc.
In one end, I built a 6x6 walk-in cooler, along with a 6x6 walk-in pantry. Both of these are on that same north side of the house, and I put them about 4' underground (the ground slopes down out there from the root cellar area. Also insulated them heavy, including 2x6 walls on the east side. Door on the right side is the pantry. It stays quite a bit cooler than outside.

Door way cut and framed in the back wall of the garage:

 

You're da Man Andy! Your place is one to aspire to. We have a nice place here, but there's much more I'd like to do. Your posts help me and the tree much more than you know I'd bet.
Thanks again

 

My Grandparents had a cold storage in the basement. It was in the far corner and built simply but worked great.

 

Thanks Tully. I just show stuff we've done here over the last 39 years so folks can see what can be done if you want to do it....but it doesn't all happen at once, for sure. Lot of the stuff has been an experiment, and often we re-do parts, or all, as it doesn't work out.....so if I can post what does seem to work, maybe it will save some of ya'll some time.

 

This is great stuff, thank you all for the knowledge and fellowship.
I love this place.

 

Got a question --I live in coastal SC and we have a high water table no basement -going below ground is out of the question. The house is built on 5' cinder block foundation (flood rules) all inclosed and it stays cool under the house in summer and never freezes in winter. Any ideas on putting a root cellar under the house. What is the ideal temp for a root cellar?

 

A conventional root cellar is probably out of the question in your case.

The ideal temperature is mid 30's......but almost NO cellars in the lower 48 hit that except for brief periods during the winter. Mine runs in the low upper 30's - low 40's in the winter because I have a fan on one of the vent pipes (on a timer to run at night) that will suck cold air in.....fighting the ground temperature of low-mid 50's. Ground temperatures even as far north as Michigan run in the low 50's once you get 5-6 feet down.

This time of year, it's running low 50's, even though last night it was sucking 43 degree air in. Mid summer, it will run 60'ish.

Something I've considered doing is running a solar powered ductless mini split in mine. Three 300w panels will run them totally off grid during the peak sun hours (you can, but don't have to connect them to the grid). Wire around the thermostat so it simply runs wide open 5-6 hrs/day, and let it coast the rest of the day.

IF I were in your location, that is what I'd do for sure......build something on the north side of the house, run a solar A/C in it, insulate the heck out of it, and so on.....basically a walk in cooler.

DC Air Conditioner for Off-Grid Use - Practical Preppers

DC Solar Air Conditioner Heat Pump | Solar Air Conditioning | Solar Heating | Manufacturers

 

Thanks for the info

 

All pictures

 

Tried it right up the road from you, ground temp is around 70 at 10' deep, almost all year. However, the sandy soil is a pretty good insulator when dry, so it does not take as much refrigeration to cool a room. My problem ended up being water intrusion.