Building a Home Wine Cellar
Posted in: I'm Moving, Home ImprovementIf you have an extensive wine collection, you may want to consider constructing a cellar in your home. Pantries and refrigerators are definitely not ideal places to keep wine, as the temperature and humidity levels can fluctuate and cause the wine to spoil. By using a self-storage finder you can locate a storage facility that specializes in wine storage, or if you prefer to keep your wine close by, you can build a home wine cellar.
Choosing a Location
When deciding where in the home to construct a wine cellar, it’s important to consider the temperature, humidity, and lighting. Basements, garages, attics, and walk-in closets are all good candidates. Ideally, you want the room to be 50 – 60 degrees Fahrenheit, slightly humid, with no sunlight. It’s very important to keep out sunlight, as this will not only raise the temperature of the room, but it can also spoil the wine and cause it to age prematurely.
Odors
You should not keep wine in close proximity to the kitchen, or any other room with odors, as these aromas can become lodged in the corks and spoil the wine. You also want the room to be well-ventilated, ensuring that any odors, mold, or mildew doesn’t linger.
Adjustments
If the room has carpeting, you will want to remove this, as carpets can become moldy at 50 – 60 Fahrenheit. Tile or concrete floors tend to work best. You will want to insulate the walls as well; if the room is already finished, you should use foam insulation over the drywall. If the room is unfinished, you can use standard insulation and hang drywall to cover it up. If the room has a door, you will want to remove it and replace it with a weather-stripped, insulated door to ensure that the temperature remains consistent.
Racks
Once you have all the technical elements down, you just need to purchase wine racks and assemble your collection. Depending on the size of your wine collection, you may want to organize the bottles by price, year, grape variety, vineyard, or region.
John Donegan is a writer at SpareFoot, the online marketplace where you can find and reserve a self-storage unit with comparison shopping tools that show real-time availability and exclusive deals. John lives in Austin, TX and occasionally directs videos for rap artists.