Hole is dug for our new wine cellar

[ICMTM]

The thread did not turn out the way we hoped. We hoped that others input would give us great insight on how to have a great wine cellar and that they did. There is a wealth of great information here on the forum. We are all fortunate to have so many folks from different walks of life who are willing to help out others with their personal experience.

Sadly we hope others will learn from our disastrous situation and know the correct way to build/dig a wine cellar.

I found this thread looking for a temporary solution of my own. I didn't see anyone mentioning growing grass on that bare dirt as a solution? I don't know if watering the dirt will harm your cellar, but grass will bring down the temperature of the soil and absorb sunlight. I have no real world experience with this stuff, but I do know on a hot day dirt is warmer than grass. Grass will grow in faster than a tree, and if you're able to get sod it's instant.

 

[Tess]

I found this thread looking for a temporary solution of my own. I didn't see anyone mentioning growing grass on that bare dirt as a solution? I don't know if watering the dirt will harm your cellar, but grass will bring down the temperature of the soil and absorb sunlight. I have no real world experience with this stuff, but I do know on a hot day dirt is warmer than grass. Grass will grow in faster than a tree, and if you're able to get sod it's instant.

grass was mentioned.

I would think if you get a good bed of grass established over that dirt it would go a long way toward cooling things down. That soil is dark and absorbing a lot of heat from the sun.

I am not sure why you are hesitant to scrape off the top. Sure, you'll lose some plants, etc. But it is still the easiest option to add more insulation outside. If you do spray inside you will lose interior space. You may want to consult someone who knows about thermal protection. Perhaps you only need to spray the ceiling and door/front.

 

[Tess]

I dont think it was dug near deep enough. Set a shed on top of it. that will reflect the heat

 

[Sammyk]

Grass is now growing on top of it. No to shed on top of it, it would look ridiculous there and stick out like a sore thumb. From the road now it just looks like a hill next to the garage. A shed there would look totally out of place.

We are quite happy with the air conditioner and it has not even raised our electric bill. We are cooler now and it was 60 inside. During the heat of the summer it stayed a constant 63 and we are happy with that temperature. One thing since it is 90% full now with carboys and racks of wine, it is easier to maintain the temperature because the cooled down bottles we think helps tremendously.

 

[ICMTM]

Thanks for quoting the other post related to grass.