Wine Cellar Tips

Location, refrigeration and all the other challenges of building a home wine cellar

Wine cellars are storage rooms for keeping wine. Though the name might lead you to believe that all wine cellars must be located in a large basement, many wine cellars today are actually housed in closets, bedrooms, and studies. If you're a collector interested in wine cellar design, we've compiled a list of the issues to keep in mind as you work to build your own wine cellar.

Home wine cellar requirements

Location

The location of a custom wine cellar will be directly related to challenges of temperature and refrigeration. If possible, a basement is almost always best. If you're considering converting a basement room to a wine cellar, try to locate your wine cellar storage in the northwest corner to minimize exposure to sunlight.

With advances in insulation and air conditioning, there's no reason why your home wine cellar can't be built on your home's first floor. Just remember that a wine cellar needs to be built much like a refrigerator, so choose a room accordingly.

Racking

When you build your own wine cellar, you're going to be faced with an array of racking options. If you're using modular wine cellar racks, it's a good idea to choose your wine cellar rack before building the wine cellar to avoid sizing problems.

Other wine cellar rack options include stackable wine cellar racks or designer wine racking kits. The easiest way to guarantee your wine cellar racks fit is to go with a custom wine cellar, though that will cost you more.

Refrigeration

The temperature of a home wine cellar should be ideally kept below sixty degrees, and to do so you're going to need a quality wine cellar refrigeration system. The refrigeration system you use for your home wine cellar should be one specifically designed for wine. Wine cellars need to be kept at 60% to 70% humidity, and regular refrigeration units will make your home wine cellar too dry.

At the same time, simply installing a wine cellar refrigeration system without first converting the space will damage your home and walls.

Insulation

A wine cooling system won't be much good without proper insulation. All walls in your home wine cellar will need to have a vapor barrier and a minimum of R-11 insulation for the interior walls and R-19 insulation for the exterior walls. Ceilings and above ground floors should also have R-19 insulation. If you've built your wine cellar in the basement, a concrete floor should need only a sealant and a vapor barrier.

Think ahead

Building your own wine cellar requires a daunting amount of forethought and study. Do your homework. This should be a one-time expense, so take the time to find the best wine cellar solutions for you.

Finally, size your home wine cellar according to future plans rather than your current wine collection. The last thing you'd want to do after all that expense is run out of room.

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