# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > Gardening >  Building a root cellar

## wildWoman

Has anyone here built a walk-in root cellar that was dug into the ground? Any tips on do's and don'ts?

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## trax

I have a strong foreboding that Rick is going to find a site, but...my entire experience is that my Dad dug one under our house when I was a wee child. We had sandy and clay based soil, and then, a big rock. Have something to haul out big rocks. I suppose how you dig depends on your foundation, don't do anything to upset that! My Dad dug underneath the kitchen and made a kitchen access in the floor and an outside access. I remember part of my chores being hauling stuff down there in the fall when he was stocking up, but I don't know much else about digging them out. It didn't take him more than a couple of days, start to finish, and he did it by himself.

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## wildWoman

We tried an ice house a couple years ago but found it a messy affair. Bugs were breeding by the millions in it. We used take pieces of ice from there and put them into the cooler; stuff ended up getting wet.
For keeping apples, pears, potatoes, carrots and the like through the winter I think a root cellar would be the best option.
My boyfriend also had a small root cellar under his cabin in town, only sunk about 4' into the ground. That works great. Here it's too rocky, but we have a good spot with sandy soil. Just wondering how to keep it all from caving in - guess with boards, but how does that work step by step when you build it? I have descriptions in books but would be good to hear from someone who built one.

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## Rick

Native Dude did a post on his. I'll see if I can find it. 

Trax - I thought this was good one to hear from those that have done it and not read about it. Storing food through the winter is just too important for theory.

Here's ND's take on it. It starts on Post 64: 

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...3523#post13523

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## trax

Might be a stupid question WW, but have you checked how far down the sand goes? If you've got a layer of clay or loam underneath it might be worth just digging past it, my Dad dug ours deep enough for him to stand up in comfortably and he was about 6'2" or 6'3".

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## wildWoman

we dug down 4' and it's a sandy loam mix that far.

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## cyc79

An old trapper I knew had his under his cabin.He had a trapdoor in the floor with steps leading down.He passed away years ago & I never did ask him how he built it but am pretty sure it was done sometime after he'd built the cabin.This area is pure sand with some rock but nothing too big to handle.Being sand,he shored up the walls with logs & had lots of shelving made from poles & some boards,whatever he could scrounge as any kind of lumber was at a premium in such a remote area.Since the cabin was heated all winter,nothing froze & in summer things were nice & cool.Icehouses were used a lot as well but more for meat & fish.I too have been thinking of building a root cellar into the side of a hill but think things might freeze unless they were covered with moss or something.I also think that a double door setup might be needed,with the inner door insulated.Opening a cellar up regularly in winter would cool the inside down too much I think without having an inner door.Since it's all sand,it's easy digging for me.I thought of digging the hole,lining the walls with log,build a roof also of log & then bury the whole thing with just the outer door exposed.Before burying I think poly on the roof logs would prevent water infiltration,unless the roof cover was made fairly thick,then maybe the poly wouldn't be necessary.As far as venting goes I can't see how it would work in the winter without freezing things.Under the cabin might just be the best option.

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## Rick

Okay, since not much in the way of how to's is being posted, here are some links for your review (the first 4 are a series): 
http://waltonfeed.com/old/cellar1.html

http://waltonfeed.com/old/cellar2.html

http://waltonfeed.com/old/cellar3.html

http://waltonfeed.com/old/cellar4.html

http://www.over-land.com/shelter.html

http://www.earth-house.com/Disaster_...t_cellars.html

I couldn't let this post go without Mother Earth News!!

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It...t-Cellars.aspx

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## Riverrat

We have a root cellar in our basement, it keeps most things pretty good. We have a hole punched through the wall to the out side so that helps keep the temp. pretty good. It is well insulated and has another vent above ground level. We keep most of our perserves and vegatables in this room.

If you are going to put one in as a stand alone structure, or as a seperate building, make sure it is water proof. that is one of the biggest things you have to prevent, along with making sure that the vistors( mice, weasel, etc) can not get in. You can never get one, at least in my experience, that will work for all types of vegatables, to wide a temputure variation. 

There are several books out on the subject, but one of the best is put out by Readers Digest, if you can find it. I belive it is called homestead skills. Still looking for it myself, borrowed it from the libary once.

We store potatoes, carrots, Apples (last app. two months) The rest we can or pickle. We are still using potatoes from last year, and will have lots to plant this spring. We did have a bit of spoilage with the carrots.

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## palerider

you might pm wareagle i know he has built bunkers in the past..info he has would be more for building and support of soil then referidgeration but at our place we have an access under the stairs that is insulated with styrofoam and so far stay a constant 45-50 c under there that is where we put most veges

         hope this helps

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## Chuck

We are putting one under our new cabin. I plan on using milled spruce boards mopped with basement seal wrapped with 6 mill polypropylene. The floor will be dirt under laid with poly. It will also be vented top and bottom.

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## BraggSurvivor

I will be building a root cellar this spring. Only difference it will be above ground using straw bales. I put the 24" footings in last september and will be startingas soon as the snow is gone. All walls and roof will be of straw bales and a 6" insulated door. I designed it to step down 30" into the cellar, having a compact earthen floor. Should maintain same cool temp all year long.

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## buttercup

Lindylu should be on here to tell about her's. She has a good place and an interesting structure. Really neat.......maybe she will catch this thread and describe it.

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## RBB

Our root cellar, when I was growing up, was built into a hill side.  We used drainage tiles (ceramic tiles back then) to catch water coming down the hill and drain it away.  The cellar had a large ceiling vent in the center and an exterior and interior door.  It kept things wonderfully cold in the summer, and above freezing in the winter.  The walls were made of six inches of concrete, and the ceiling was eight to ten inches of concrete with lots of re-bar.  The floor was poured last and was four inches of concrete.  After the concrete was poured we backfilled with several feet of earth.   The cellar is still in use and will preserve root vegetables for long periods of time, summer and winter, if you place them in a large crock and fill the crock with sand.

We have holes, with trap doors through the floor, dug under most of our hunting shacks.  Up our way, these are referred to as "larders."  They will preserve food for a relatively short period of time, being cooler in summer and warmer in winter, but nothing like the root cellar.

One thing I should add to this - our temperatures here vary between plus 100 and minus 40 in an average year.

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## Ole WV Coot

Grandma had one dug under the house. Nothing special, maybe 5' deep and about 6X8. No floor or walls just rough oak shelves for canned stuff and a churn or two with some kinda pickles and pickled corn in them. Never had any problems with anything animal or insect. Potatoes we heeled up in the garden along with apples & onions. Everything kept fine.

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## LindyLu

Howdy all.  I just picked up on this thread and I had a wonderful root cellar put in.  Mountain is all rocks, big, medium & small but I had a guy with a back hoe dig out the side of a very steep hill, only a few feet from my house and into the hole he made, went 2 septic tanks that were cemented together to form a box that is aprox. 12'X6'X6' and then he covered about 90% up with dirt.  He cut a door and made a wooden door to fit the opening and added a vent pipe covered with wire to prevent rodents from coming in.  I then had him put on a steeply pitched metal roof on the partially exposed top, added several layers of foam panel insulation, glued more insulation to the inside of the door and it is great.  I used stainless steel shelves from Sam's across the back and along 1 1/2 sides and filled in the remaing space with clay flue pipes (square ones) from a masonry company and those hold homemade wine.  Works great & looks very nice.  I am kicking myself for not putting in a basement when I built.  Oh well.  Hope this helps. someone.

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## Seppo Karhu

Growing up we had a rootcellar made from cedar logs, basically half dug out, and the soil heaped on top to form a mound with a buried cabin inside.

Properly vented this would keep everything quite well.

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## waretrop

I am very new here and would like some help with my root cellar. I don't know what to do next.

It's only about 8' X 3', cement walls and floor, built into a hill, with about 6 inches of soil on top of it. It doesn't have a door yet so I have just propped a piece of plywood there for the time being. I have added wire closet shelves in there to see what it looked like. It's short and I have to crawl or squat to get into the thing, but it will do.

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I have an electric line in there for a fan and light and also a small vent in the roof with a cap on it.

I just don't know what to do next and have no idea how to save things in there. I will have a monitoring system for humidity and especially temperature for the winter.

Any advice for me? Barb

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## Rick

I'm not a root cellar man but I will give you some generic information. I'm sure others will be able to assist on this one. 

Your ground frost line in PA will be around 42". You can ask a plumber or contractor, or your water authority. Any of them will know. The ground will freeze down to that depth in the winter and will only 6" of soil on top both the summer's heat and winter's cold will be able to infiltrate through the ground and the concrete roof. 

I'm not advocating putting 42" of dirt down but if you could get 18" down and glue some 2" foam insulation to the underside of the roof I would think that would help. Any thoughts gang? 

Also, you might contact your county extension agent and ask them about root cellars. I'll bet they have a lot of information available for your specific area.

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## waretrop

Thank you Rick, You are fast......

I have about 3 feet of dirt plus insulation on all sides of the cellar. There is also horse manure near the lover level on the outside and a greenhouse that is at 70 degrees all winter on the other side.

I guess if it fails I will have a great storage spot for my garden ornaments.   

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TWG

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## crashdive123

Waretrop - the way you have your entrance constructed may allow water from a heavy rain to flood it out.  Make sure that your entrance is not a "low spot".  You may want to have a raised lip at your entrance.  In the pictures it looks as though you may be able to add a covering or awning in front of the entrance as well.

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## waretrop

I will dig that out a little. It's actually on a very slight slope away from the entrance but I will watch out for that. More pics to follow. Thank you.

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