My Root Cellar By Allen Moody Submitted to FCIV.com 02/19/2011 My wife has been reading magazines on country living, pioneer life, homesteading and such that she has been infatuated with the idea of a root cellar for several years.  After much reading and research I finally decided I could do it.  After watching the political and economic climate of our nation deteriorate at an alarming rate, I decided I should do it. We have an acre of land, but were limited in available/suitable space for the project so I settled on 8x12 for my size.  I laid out a rectangle of that size and set to work with my posthole digger.  I dug a trench 6 inches wide by 6 ½ feet deep around the perimeter.  I would have liked to have gone a foot deeper but hit the real hardpan and gave up.  Next I lined the inside of the trench with 1/8 inch masonite panels, tied rebar mats and slid them down in on all four sides and poured the trench full of concrete almost to ground level (about 5 cu. yards).  On a do-over I would have set forms and extended the wall four to six inches above ground.  I used a cement vibrator to remove all the air pockets and imbedded 2x4 redwood “sleepers” in the concrete as a mud sill for my building. 3 inch exhaust vents are opposite the cold air intakes and extend to the attic of the shed About a month later I had a friend come over and dig out the middle with his backhoe.  This produced a 25 cubic yard pile of dirt to deal with.  I used a Bobcat to spread it over the back part of my property.  Peeling off the masonite panels left a nice smooth wall for the interior of the cellar.  I poured half the floor in concrete and put a layer of gravel on the other half.  With pick and steel bar I dug a hole in the hardpan deep enough to fit a five gallon bucket to set my float-operated sump pump in.  The bucket has one inch holes in the side about two inches from the bottom to limit the amount of debris entering the pump.  sump pump with evac hose routed up the cold air inlet The evacuation hose goes up through one of the three inch cold air inlet pipes and out to the garden.   cold air intake pipes, north side; Evac hose visible in the far pipe In late summer when I installed the pump it cycled less than once per hour and now in the wet of winter it cycles about three times per hour.  Each cycle is 2 ½ gallons of water.  I moved the hose around to my fruit trees in the summer. To begin my shed/pantry I used a 4x6 beam across the middle and added 2x6 floor and rim joists.  Once the inch and a half Styrofoam panels were installed as a ceiling for the cellar, R-19 fiberglass insulation was laid between the joists and covered with plywood flooring.  During this process I plumbed two three inch plastic pipes through the rim joist and down to within six inches of the floor for cold air intake.  The air outlets are flush with the ceiling and are vented into the attic.  The attic has a little over 4' of vertical storage space with a generous access hole for larger boxes/items.   cold air intake, ceiling and shelves I laid it out to be 8x12 so the 4x8 wall sheets would have no waste or extra cutting.  The walls are only 7' tall so my wife won't need a stool to reach stuff on the top shelves.  Each roof section is exactly 4x8, again for no extra cutting or waste.  I drew out the truss angles on the driveway making the ridge sections match a 4/12 pitch and sloped the bottom sections out until they reached the 12' spread.  The lean-to roof is partly for storage, but mostly to keep the sun off the south facing wall to help the insulation program.  The cellar access is a 30x34 inch hole in the floor.   cellar entrance The permanent steps are not done yet, so I am using a step ladder for now.  In time the interior walls and ceiling will be insulated and paneled.  Both cellar and shed have lights and outlets. We have grown a garden and done a little canning for a couple of years now, but it seems time to get serious.  We plan to put in lots of potatoes, squash, carrots, and the other usual suspects that store well.  We plan to increase our canning of fruits and vegetables by a great deal as well.   We live in the Sacramento Valley where summers can be quite warm.  The cellar temp was 50-55 degrees this summer and is a little cooler in winter.  I have done much reading and research on root cellars and feel this will meet our needs well.  Hope this is useful to someone. Al Moody Sacramento Valley, California -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to the top Back to the main Page -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Questions or Comments? editor@floydcountyinview.com.   Return To Previous Page   Back to top Back to Main Page   Copyright © 2000-2011 floydcountyinview.com

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