Building Instructions for a Root Cellar
Root cellars allow you to preserve fresh vegetables throughout the winter months. They are best used for keeping root vegetables, such as carrots, turnips, potatoes, beets, onions and parsnips. Although building a root cellar requires some investment of time and money, they are useful and easy to maintain. They are also energy efficient because they harness the earth's natural cooling, humidifying and insulating properties in place of electric refrigeration. You can build a root cellar in your basement, or set aside a cool area in a hillside or on your property. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Table saw
- 4-foot by 8-foot plywood sheets
- 3-inch hole saw
- Drill
- Measuring tape
- 2-by-4 cedar planks
- Nails
- Construction adhesive
- 3-4 strong people
- 3-inch PVC pipe
- 2 to 3 pipe elbow joints
- 2 ballast gate valves
- 6 to 8 screws
- Wire mesh
- 1-foot by 8-foot lightweight door
- 2-4 cans of aerosol foam insulation
- 2 hinges
- 6-8 Wire shelves
- 12-16 Shelf brackets
Instructions
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1
Clear a 5-foot by 5-foot floor-to-ceiling space in your basement's northeast corner, for coolness, or the corner nearest to the sump pump, for humidity. If you don't have an unheated basement, dig a 4-foot by 8-foot piece of land in a shaded area to 4-feet deep.
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2
Using the table saw, cut one of the pieces of plywood in half lengthwise. Then cut one of the halves in half lengthwise again.
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3
Attach the hole saw to the drill as though it were a drill bit. In another piece of plywood, drill two 3-inch holes. With the plywood placed lengthwise, center one hole eight inches from the top of the sheet, in about the middle, using a measuring tape to ensure correct placement. Place the other hole eight inches from the bottom, in the middle.
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4
Attach two 2-by-4s to the floor and two to the ceiling in the basement so that they form two parallel squares with top and bottom edges of the outside walls. Affix the top plank with nails and the bottom plank with construction adhesive. Make the 4-inch sides of the planks parallel to the outside walls.
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5
Use a hammer to nail the two 1-foot by 8-foot pieces of plywood cut in Step 2 to each side of the front face of the structure so that there is a two-foot space between them for the root cellar door. Then nail the 4-foot by 8-foot pieces of plywood to the other face or faces of your frame. Make sure that the piece with the two holes is adjacent to the face with the door.
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6
Run pipes through each of the two holes in your structure so that one end of the pipe is inside the cellar and the other end reaches to the outside air. This will require additional digging unless you are building in a basement and run them through a window. Use elbow joints as needed to change the direction of the piping.
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7
Insert valves into the indoor ends of each of the pipes and screw them into place. Cover the outdoor ends of each of the pipes with the wire mesh.
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8
Seal all cracks and cavities by spraying them with the canned aerosol insulation. Don't forget to seal around the pipes as they enter into the root cellar.
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9
Hang pairs of brackets inside your cellar to hold wire shelves. Place the shelves at intervals that allow space for the kinds of vegetables that you intend to store.
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10
Use a hammer to nail one side of the door hinges to the door. Place the door inside the plywood frame and nail the other side of the hinges to the plywood in the places where the holes in the other side of the hinges fall.
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Tips & Warnings
Arrange your vegetables on the shelves in your root cellar so that the hearty ones with thick skins (like sweet potatoes, onions and melons) are on the top shelves, where the air is warmer, and the vegetables with softer skins (like beets, carrots and regular potatoes) are on the bottom.
Your root cellar should stay 32 to 40° F, with a humidity level of 85 to 95 percent. To verify this, use a thermometer and a hygrometer and check them daily. You can adjust the temperature and humidity by closing one or both of the valves in your ventilation pipes. If necessary, attach fiberglass insulation to the ceiling and to the plywood walls.
References
- Photo Credit vegetables image by cherie from Fotolia.com
