I would like to build a small root cellar. I do not really havea side hill near my house to build into so I would like to build a concrete block cellar and have on top of it a storage shed. Would have a trap door in the floor of the shed to get to the cellar. Anyone out there built this kind of root cellar /shed? Any advise would be appreciated

-- Gary Giles (ggiles@north.nsis.com), November 01, 2000

Answers

Gary my sister has a celler under her house with a trap door in the family room she keeps an area rug over it and you would never know it was there. The digging was done about 2 feet in from the actual foundation of the house so the house sits on solid ground the walls and floor are all dirt she has free standing shelves for storage a divider with a wood furnace in another part of the cellar and the hot water tank. Her husband made an outside stairway into the furnace room so he can store wood and get to the furnace easily otherwise it is fairly simple design. They dug out one section a couple years ago each family member took turns with the wheel barrow hauling loads of dirt she covered the floor with some old carpeting made a ramp where the stairs are and each person (4 of them) took turns hauling loads of dirt it took a day and a half to make a fairly large space for wood storage. the only problem is the floor is a little unlevel so the shelves have to be attached to each other for support

-- ronda (thejohnsons@localaccess.com), November 01, 2000.

Gary, it should work, but you will have to take standard basement waterproofing precautions to keep it from getting too wet at times. You do want more moisture in a root cellar than a basement, but you don't want it to flood! We had a dirt hole with trap door dug out under the cabin we lived in in Alaska, and it never froze, but, depending on how cold your winters are, yours under an unheated building might, so insulate the shed floor very well.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), November 01, 2000.

I do not if this will help you but, there is a farm around here that has an "above ground" cellar, it looks like a mound of stone and you open the door walk down 2 steps and that is it. It stays really cool and does not require a hill. I know this style has a name but i do not recall it now.

-- renee oneill (oneillsr@home.com), November 01, 2000.