We decided to have a wine cellar built. It will also double as a tornado shelter because our home has no basement and being an open style home with windows (23 of them) in every room there is really no place to go in the event of a tornado.
I have a contractor that is going to build it for us.
It is going to be built into a hill on the side of our garage. While the contractor (a former neighbor who still lives in our general area) has an idea how it should be built I need to know other specifics that are needed to make it successful. Since the hill is not quite high enough he is thinking he will need to dig about 2' deeper to get a portion of the cellar under ground.
We are thinking 10 x 10 and what he said to was save room the stairs would be on the outside with a landing on the bottom and a drain under the landing for rain fall. This would also be good to get our 2 large dogs down there in the event of a tornado who will climb regular stairs.
We have electricity in the garage so running electricity is not a problem. He is thinking one ceiling light and a couple of outlets - in case we need to run a dehumidifier or anything else electrical.
This will NOT be used to make wine but for storage and aging. He seems to think it will stay around ground temperature of 55 degrees.
He is thinking cement would be poured on top of a gravel bed for a floor. On top of the hill he would pour a cement slab more or less to mark where the cellar is located and so cars don't park there since the area in next to the garage.
Since he is not familiar with wine cellars per say but has some ideas what needs to be done. I am asking those of you with knowledge on how to build a cellar and build it right the first time for your input.
Since the temperature will soon warm up here in NC and I need to get the wine I have made out of the house soon. He hopes to start next week.
Please tell me what should or should not be incorporated.
Thanks in advance for any help or ideas you can share.
I have a contractor that is going to build it for us.
It is going to be built into a hill on the side of our garage. While the contractor (a former neighbor who still lives in our general area) has an idea how it should be built I need to know other specifics that are needed to make it successful. Since the hill is not quite high enough he is thinking he will need to dig about 2' deeper to get a portion of the cellar under ground.
We are thinking 10 x 10 and what he said to was save room the stairs would be on the outside with a landing on the bottom and a drain under the landing for rain fall. This would also be good to get our 2 large dogs down there in the event of a tornado who will climb regular stairs.
We have electricity in the garage so running electricity is not a problem. He is thinking one ceiling light and a couple of outlets - in case we need to run a dehumidifier or anything else electrical.
This will NOT be used to make wine but for storage and aging. He seems to think it will stay around ground temperature of 55 degrees.
He is thinking cement would be poured on top of a gravel bed for a floor. On top of the hill he would pour a cement slab more or less to mark where the cellar is located and so cars don't park there since the area in next to the garage.
Since he is not familiar with wine cellars per say but has some ideas what needs to be done. I am asking those of you with knowledge on how to build a cellar and build it right the first time for your input.
Since the temperature will soon warm up here in NC and I need to get the wine I have made out of the house soon. He hopes to start next week.
Please tell me what should or should not be incorporated.
Thanks in advance for any help or ideas you can share.