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View Full Version : Finally: a root cellar!



wildWoman
07-05-2012, 11:44 PM
We added on to our cabin yet again last year and managed to find a little spot between all the rock that we could wedge a root cellar in. It's only a fraction the size and the depth of what we had hoped for, but hey - after seven years of mouldy cheese, we can now keep a bunch of stuff cool! So far, the temperature has been staying around 45F in there. Will be interesting to see how it does in the winter.
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We enlarged the cabin by 50% - I guess it's a house now (25'x27'):
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The new addition still looks this way now. Maybe we'll get around to finishing it next year ...
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And out front, nothing has changed:
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1stimestar
07-06-2012, 01:44 AM
Awesome. It looks pretty enclosed. If there is anyway to access the dirt surrounding it, it helps. If it starts to warm up in the late summer, water the dirt it is surrounded by and it will cool back off. Works with permafrost storages anyways.

Is there only two of you? 4 of us lived in a 400 sq. ft. cabin for a couple of years but part of that time, there were only 3 of us. Not much space when the man child hit a growth spurt and got taller then me by age 11.

Rick
07-06-2012, 05:59 AM
If you are going to store veggies of any kind then you probably need to add a humidity gauge. Veggies require a higher humidity or they will shrivel. Too much and they rot. Since the bottom is enclosed you might have a problem regulating humidity. Also, veggies will require the cellar to be vented since they give off gases that can induce spoilage. Input vent lower than exhaust. Nice job on the cellar and congrats on the new addition.

crashdive123
07-06-2012, 06:41 AM
I like what you've done with the place!

wildWoman
07-06-2012, 12:30 PM
Yeah, it's not exactly a prime example of a root cellar. We had to sledgehammer the hole out of rock and didn't have enough finemesh wire to screen off the bottom against mice, so that's why it's totally framed in for now. There's a small vent on one upper wall. Peppers and tomatoes have lasted five weeks in there so far, we'll see how it goes. It might need remodelling later as just about everything we build ...

@ 1stime - I hear you :) We started out with the cabin being 14'x16' for the first two years, which was a bit cramped for 2 humans and 4 large dogs. Now we're down to two dogs, so it'll feel rather palatial :) Be nice to actually have space for all our books and not having to move clothes and camping gear in and out of the cabin according to season - and my partner can finally do his reloading without first moving stuff around for endless hours.

hunter63
07-06-2012, 01:12 PM
Very cool, thanks for posting.......Love cabins, nice job!

Parents had a root celler, in a crawl space..... kept root veggies in sand, was vented to the outside as I remember.

House was built in the late 1800's, so alot of stuff was already there when I was a little kid.

Later they walled off the area, and added hot water heat coils, so the root celled wasn't there, or operational anymore......Floor was a lot warmer, though, in my bed room above this space.

Rick
07-06-2012, 01:17 PM
House was built in the late 1800's, so alot of stuff was already there when I was a little kid.

I thought you were gonna say it was installed when you were a little kid.

hunter63
07-06-2012, 01:27 PM
I thought you were gonna say it was installed when you were a little kid.
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Yeah, well it WAS still there........LOL.......had a green solar clothes dryer as well (clothes line).

As I recall the potatoes, carrots, rutabagas, turnips, were in a hole in the floor of the basement crawl space (kinda tall), in sand........and I'm thinking cabbages as well.

oldtrap59
07-07-2012, 01:12 AM
The house we live in has a crawl space ( no basements in this area) with a trapdoor in the utility room. At some point the last owner(also builder) dug a root cellar combination storm cellar below the trap door. Have used it for taters since we been here. Might try to store some of our fall garden in it this year. Has one pipe going to the outside.

Oldtrap

randyt
07-07-2012, 01:28 PM
awesome photos, love cabins too.

wildWoman
07-07-2012, 02:18 PM
Thanks :) Such luxury to have a cold place to store food! Now it takes a lot longer before we have to trim a layer of fuzz off cheese :)

Willie
07-07-2012, 02:36 PM
Nice place.

Willie

Aℓкℓιηєѕ
09-03-2012, 09:36 PM
Wow. Good place you got there

christinescott
10-09-2012, 04:40 AM
It was beautiful. :) Really creative and nature lover.