Cellar wish list?

[Blaundee]

If you were able to revamp your cellar, what would you change/do differently? If you dont have a cellar, what is your dream cellar ideas?

 

[~gd]

If you were able to revamp your cellar, what would you change/do differently? If you dont have a cellar, what is your dream cellar ideas?

If I lived in a cool moderate climate I would have one room set off with a small window or panel to be opened to the outside to let cool air in. The top and interior walls would be very well insulated. Thiis would be used as a food storage/root celler. But in this warmer NC climate that would need A/C to keep it cool during the hot months.

 

[Blaundee]

What about underground? would you change the depth, width, slope, ceiling, floor, anything? Most of the cellars Ive seen are rectangle, dirt floor & walls, & log ceiling with dirt piled on top.

 

[Blaundee]

For the underground part, I think a couple of rooms, hidden compartments, etc, would be interesting... everyone knows whats in a cellar, so I always think about security measures that dont require you to be there to guard it.

 

[baymule]

I would be so thrilled to have a cellar, that I don't really have any specifications. let's see......ummmmm......... Cool ALL the time, no water in it. Of course, it would be warm to hot and probably sitting in mud.

 

[Denim Deb]

OK, this might seem a minor point, but exactly what are you considering a cellar? Depending on where you live, the style and age of the house, it can mean different things. Around here, many people have a basement, but consider a cellar to be something different-unless it's an older home and then it's generally referred to as a cellar. And in other places, some people call this level either a basement or a cellar-unless they have a bi-level, then it's typically referred to as a basement.

 

[baymule]

Cellar, basement, either way-we don't have them here. I guess it is so hot that a cellar wouldn't stay cool enough. My luck, vegetables would probably think they had just been planted and get busy growing! The water table is high enough to discourage basements.....I guess.... One (or two) of those "nawthern" things that the "sutherns" don't have.

 

[cheepo]

You never know...you just may already have one....

well that's what happened to me....
we lived here..close to 2 years before I discovered ours..
the furnace needs to be acessed underneath our outside step...
I had sent a friend down to deal with it for cleaning..but one day
I pulled off the step cover and checked it out 4 myself...
perfect root cellar ..is just a dug out dirt path and the mounds of
earth are covered with black plastic...but lots of room came with a huge supply of gallon
jugs..I now have made it easier to acess...and plan 2 make good use of
it this year..

 

[Blaundee]

OK, this might seem a minor point, but exactly what are you considering a cellar? Depending on where you live, the style and age of the house, it can mean different things. Around here, many people have a basement, but consider a cellar to be something different-unless it's an older home and then it's generally referred to as a cellar. And in other places, some people call this level either a basement or a cellar-unless they have a bi-level, then it's typically referred to as a basement.

As far as I've ever heard, a "basement" is an underground portion of a house, and a "cellar" is basically a hole in the ground with stairs down into it, with some sort of (usually tiny) building over the entrance, the "roof" usually being made of whole logs laid over the top of the hole with a liner of paper or plastic & a mound of dirt on top of all of that. Some may have brick or stone or wood walls, but most are just bare dirt walls & floor, and rows of wooden freestanding shelves hold all of the goods. Usually there is one bare lightbulb hanging in the middle of the ceiling from an extension cord, and it may or may not work- so take a flashlight! lol

 

[Britesea]

Well, I've read that the temperature at 4 feet underground remains a constant 50-55 F year round in most temperate areas, which means that it shouldn't matter whether you live north or south of the mason-dixon line. But there are other factors, such as high water table and bedrock that can make having a cellar OR basement just a dream. You could make a kind of cellar by building a room and covering it with several feet of earth to slow down the temperature changes, if you had the money and or energy. I've even heard of people burying old ice chests to make small root cellars, though I have no idea how well they work.

What we have right now is 1/2 of what used to be a garage until it was insulated and finished inside. Now it serves as a studio apartment for DS, and the food storage. Since he doesn't allow his own space to drop below freezing or go up to the triple digits, the moderated climate helps the food storage as well. It's not as good as a true cellar, but it gives us at least a couple of years of shelf life for the canned goods. Absolute bust for root storage of course.