Build a Basement Root Cellar
(Page 2 of 3)
December 2004/January 2005
By Steve Maxwell
When it comes to any basement cellar, the exterior walls create ideal interior temperatures. This is what delivers the cooling action, and the more masonry surface you’ve got, the better. That’s why you’ll want to choose a corner location for your installation if you can. This offers maximum exposure to exterior walls while minimizing the need to build and insulate interior walls. And if you’ve got a choice, select a spot with the highest soil height outside. Does one of your possible options include northern exposure? Terrific! That’s great if you can get it.
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After you’ve picked your cellar location and replaced the window glass with a solid panel that accommodates the vent pipes, turn your attention to the walls. Find yourself a helper, grab a sheet or two of plywood or wafer board, and get ready to use your imagination. It’s amazing how temporarily propping up sheet materials can help you imagine the floor plan of a new room, leading you to better finished results. How long should your cellar be? How wide? Is a 3-foot-wide door big enough? These kinds of questions are much easier to answer when you’ve got something to hold up, look at, move around and tweak.
With the footprint and door location of your cellar finalized, mark the relevant outlines on the floor with a big felt-tipped marker. Although you’ll need to build some kind of wood frame for the wall and doorway, it needn’t be as beefy as a typical load-bearing wall for a house. You can extend stud spacing beyond 24 inches on center if you need to economize, but regardless of the wall design, you’ll have to secure it at the top and bottom. A few tricks can make this happen.
As you custom-cut your wall studs to length, make them short enough to leave an eighth- to a quarter-inch gap between the top of the wall and the joists above when combined with the top and bottom plates (#2). That way, you’ll have no trouble tilting the wall up into position (be sure to check that it’s plumb by using a level), yet you still can secure it with 3½-inch #10 screws driven up through the top plate and into the bottom edge of the joists. Drive a softwood wedge dabbed with glue into the gap before driving the screws home.
