The Cellar Shed

[Waiters Friend]

Recent discussion on other threads has included mention of my 'poor man's cellar' - I converted a garden shed into a 1000 bottle cellar. Here is a piece I wrote for a wine-writing competition in 1997 on the subject - I didn't win - this is where Ben Canaider got his start instead.

This cellar has moved house, after a separation (and that's another story) but for the money I've spent, I can't complain. Here we go:

“EVERY MAN NEEDS HIS SHED”

Bob, a mate of mine, is a staunch advocate of the notion that “every man needs his shed”. Although a cry of “sexist” might be justified, you’ll probably find that most sheds are still a bloke’s domain. For Bob, the shed is not just somewhere to play with his woodworking “boy toys”; it is a sanctuary from the gutter cleaning, the leaking taps and the screaming kids.

A few years ago, my partner and I travelled across the lower half of Australia, visiting many wine regions and wineries in the process. The happy consequence of this was quite a few cases of wine following us back across the Nullarbor to Perth. Unfortunately, we moved house immediately on return, and the vexed question arose: where to store my new acquisitions?

Initially, the wine was stored in a spare room with the curtains shut, but this proved far from ideal, with temperatures occasionally reaching 30'C in summer. The crunch soon came when impending parenthood required the eviction of the 300 or so bottles I had accumulated.

I wanted to create “reasonable” cellaring conditions (cool, constant temperature, darkness, and 50%+ humidity) without causing structural damage or bankruptcy. Cardboard boxes, while certainly cheap effective insulators, did not appeal as medium term storage (and I still needed somewhere to store them). So, some form of cellar was the go.

Unfortunately, the average suburban house, on a concrete pad, is sadly lacking in opportunity to add a cellar after construction. Furthermore, cellars rarely feature in properties for sale (at least, in my modest price range). An alternative was required. Bob’s adage “every man needs his shed” remained in my subconscious, and after discussion and a couple of drinks, the decision was made: I, too, needed a shed. Now, how to turn a shed into a cellar?

Let’s face it, the common or garden shed is usually a hot, dusty, insect-ridden shelter for old timber, rusty angle iron, and the lawn mower. Mine certainly is. Consequently, it met exactly none of my cellar requirements. So I bit the bullet. A section of the garden was cleared, a 100mm concrete slab was poured, and a new 3m by 3m shed was purchased, and bolted to the slab. This would become my “cellar”.

Now I could get dinkum, and work on the remaining problems. Air conditioning seemed like the only way to conquer the extremes of summer, and having a mate in the trade certainly helped. A ¾ hp unit was soon installed, along with power ducted from the house. My partner quite rightly pointed out that the power bills would damage the wallet considerably, and various forms of insulation were considered.

I settled on “spray-on” polyurethane insulation, for several reasons. While not the cheapest option, it is an efficient, lightweight insulator. As a bonus, it’s waterproof, and the spray application fills up the shed’s gaps and seams, making it insect-proof. A couple of coats of white insulation paint to the shed’s exterior completed the process.

A fluorescent light came next (wine is less affected by fluorescent light than natural light), and a couple of heavy-duty locks were installed to the door.

Surprisingly, one of the most difficult decisions was the choice of door seal (to make the interior totally impenetrable). I tried a few, and eventually went for the humble car door seal. A local retailer generously provided samples of several sizes and shapes, and about 6m of the most suitable seal was purchased and installed.

Lastly, some form of racking was required. The bottle capacity of a 3m by 3m shed varies greatly according to the type of racking used. Assuming each bottle is stored individually (as compared to ‘diamond’ or ‘bin’ storage), a timber racking system allows me to comfortably store around 800 bottles. With a metal racking system, this figure should exceed 1200. However, I chose timber racking for the best reason in the world - I already owned a reasonable quantity.

Imagine my delight! Finally, my cellar was ready. The wine went in to its new home just before Christmas. To cap it off, a hygrometer (measuring variations in temperature and humidity) was a welcome Christmas present.

Over time, the hygrometer has told me how well my above ground “cellar” performs. My original expectations have been exceeded. It is perfectly dark, has a temperature range of 12'C to 20'C (usually 16-18'C), and is waterproof and mostly insect proof. Humidity has not fallen below 60%.

Although it’s not open for general viewing (as this raises the temperature), I do show the cellar to interested friends and relatives. While there is the odd bottle of Grange and Mt Edelstone, the vast majority of the bottles were purchased for under $20. This surprises some people, who assume only expensive wines are cellared. Opening a $15 Hunter semillon or McLaren Vale red with a few years’ bottle age usually opens their eyes.

Some people consider wine cellaring to be a “rich man’s sport”. However, most commercial red wines (and some whites) benefit from a one to two year period of bottle aging. Many benefit from much longer. It seems appropriate that my improvised cellar contains mostly value-for-money wines. It’s certainly a contrast with a “gentleman’s” cellar, chock full of Lafite and D’Yquem.

For me, however, the big plus is that, when I pull the cork, I know the bottle has matured in the best conditions I can create. And yes, you CAN taste the difference.

The cellar has a peaceful, isolated atmosphere, like a private cavern (a sanctuary?). Also, it’s a great place to be on hot summer days (for stock taking, of course). Unfortunately, the kids always want to come in, too.

Recently, a couple came to our house for a barbecue. He is a sales rep for a major wine company, and asked to see the cellar. His wife now complains “Why did you show it to him - he wants one!” Oh, well, perhaps Bob’s right - every man needs his shed. "

Cheers

Allan

PS: Please note that the prices quoted in the article are 1997 prices.

[dave vino]

Nice!!

You should put up some pics of it.

[Gary W]

Nice..and timely. Just bought a new place that has a very good big solid shed mounted on a concrete slab. It's where my samples will be living. So if the polyurethane spray worked for you then I'm going down the same (garden) path!
GW

[Rawshack]

Good article and I, like many, have dwindling space against a growing collection. I was thinking about the garden shed but didn't believe it possible. This has made me think again though

[winetastic]

If you don't mind me asking, what was the approx total cost? Curious to see how it stacks up vs the wine cabinet option in value terms.

[Waiters Friend]

If you don't mind me asking, what was the approx total cost? Curious to see how it stacks up vs the wine cabinet option in value terms.

Not sure how it stacks up, but costs are:

Cost of 3m x 3m shed without window: about $500, maybe cheaper.
Aircon: $600
Concrete slab: $300
Polyurethane insulation (professionally applied): $800
Car door seals: $50
Locks: $50

Total $2300 + your choice of racking for 800-1200 bottles.

Wine cabinets weren't especially common 11 years ago when I undertook this exercise, and would still require somewhere to store them!

Cheers

Allan

[Wayno]

I reckon your shed cost figure is pretty light-on, at least nowadays. More like $1500-2000 at least.

Slab probably around $400 too, FWIW.

[winetastic]

Based on a figure of between $1-2 per bottle for racking, it seems like the shed option will give you approx 50-75% more storage per $ invested vs the cheaper cabinets. My Kitchener has a capacity of around 430 bottles and cost approx $5500.

Running costs... could be interesting over a 10 year period?

[Luke W]

Well done Allan

It sounds fantastic - I thought of doing much the same a few years ago and even contemplated buying an old container and insulating that. You may even find that if you put another roof over the top of it (like a carport or shadecloth) - you'll cut your costs again in terms of air con.

I eventually settled for a cold room (like one that you find on the back of small trucks that sell seafood etc - put inside the garage) with a special 2nd hand wine aircon unit that doesn't dry out the air. This seems to maintain about 140 dozen bottles of wine at 15 degrees pretty successfully but I keep them upside down in their wine cartons as this is extra protection and insulation (and a pain in the ass trying to find particular bottles).

Like the others, I'd like to see the pics.

regards

Luke

[GraemeG]

...I eventually settled for a cold room (like one that you find on the back of small trucks that sell seafood etc - put inside the garage) with a special 2nd hand wine aircon unit that doesn't dry out the air. This seems to maintain about 140 dozen bottles of wine at 15 degrees pretty successfully...

This is the way I'd lean more likely. Has the advantage of being portable as you move house as well. At present I've a Stelzer-inspired home-built insulated cabinet (inside the house) with a not-very-custom-built cooling unit operating much of the time. Holds about 450 bottles, but I'm chafing at the capacity restriction (naturally!)
cheers,
Graeme

[Sarg]

I reckon your shed cost figure is pretty light-on, at least nowadays. More like $1500-2000 at least.

If your just talking about the shed you can still pick up a plain zinc plated 3x3 for about $600.

Nice story too Allan.

[Michael McNally]

Great read. Thanks. A far cry from my heavy wooden cupboard under the house next to the water tank (for thermal mass to regulate the temperature! Ha!). Reckon my bottles must hit 25-27 some days. Perhaps I shoud look at the shed solution. Don't forget the New Inventors on the ABC!

[Waiters Friend]

Hey, thanks everyone. I'm delighted that so many people have picked up on this one.

A few points:

LukeW - I seriously considered the sea container option myself, for extra security as much as anything. However, it was cheaper and easier to assemble the aluminium shed on the pad, rather than get a crane to lever the container over the house and into the rear yard (and do it again when I moved).

The price of the garden shed (including assembly) was just over $300 at the time (remember this was 1997), and on special. $600 is probably about right now, but not $1500+.

Please also remember that one of the drivers for this project was to reclaim a room in the main house. By using the shed solution, as compared to wine cabinets, etc, we effectively built an extra room on the house.

The idea of putting a second roof on the shed is a good one - in its previous location, it was situated under a large gum tree and surrounded by shrubbery. In it's current location, it is partially exposed to the afternoon sun, and I'm considering the use of a sail to assist here (although it's done OK for the last 7 years ).

I could probably provide photos, but there's not a lot to see - it is just a garden shed, with lots of yellow insulation sprayed on the inside and lined with Modularack wine racks.

Regardless, for the price, I think I have VFM. Running costs for the airconditioner are not really that noticeable in the overall winter / summer cycle (I have the main house airconditioned as well).

Cheers

Allan

[dkw]

Darn - a few months ago I gave away my 3m x 3m zinc shed for free!

I did build a below-ground cellar to replace it though - learnt a lot about sand, concrete, and building in the process. Next step is to stick a data logger in this summer and see how stable the temperature is. It's being eyed off for general storage space, but if I'm lucky, I might even be allowed to store some of my wine in it!

cheers,

Dave

[Waiters Friend]

Darn - a few months ago I gave away my 3m x 3m zinc shed for free!

I did build a below-ground cellar to replace it though - learnt a lot about sand, concrete, and building in the process. Next step is to stick a data logger in this summer and see how stable the temperature is. It's being eyed off for general storage space, but if I'm lucky, I might even be allowed to store some of my wine in it!

cheers,

Dave

Good onya Dave

So, how is the below-ground cellar panning out in terms of temperature control? I've always wondered how my above ground option (with power and a/c) compares with a passive cellar.

And hopefully, some of your wine has managed to be stored there

Cheers

Allan

[Paullie]

Well I have an underground cellar in Perth.

When passive it was 16-24degC/60-70%RH through a year

Now its 16-18degC/70-90%RH through a year.

The very well insulated underground cellar means the duty on the A/C is very low, and even on hot days, the compressor runs for maybe 5 min per half hour.

[dave vino]

Haven't seen any pictures of it Paullie, we got a 1000 of them while you were building it, but none when it was finished and full

[dkw]

A big moment today - we moved out of our house and are heading over to Melbourne for 12 months or so. The cellar is now home to a pile of books and other stuff that didn't make the 'worth taking' cut, but I did manage to squeeze in a few cases of wine.

I've been playing with a cheap little temp and humidity datalogger that I got from Jaycar for Christmas. It is accurate to +/- 1 degC and +/- 3% relative humidity. It goes in tonight before the ladder is removed and the padlocks go on. When we return I hope to download a stack of temp and humidity data, with readings to be taken on the hour every hour for the next 400 days or so.

If we get back during the year I'll be pretty keen to see some progress plots, and to see how it compares with Paullie's numbers!

Cheers,

Dave.

[dave vino]

Books won't like the high humidity.

[Paullie]

Be interested to see that Dave.

DV, the cellar is finished, but certainly not full.

There are a few thing's I'd like to do, like I'd love metal mesh racking throughout with some bin storage. Right now I use six 120 bottle bordex racks.

I'll take some snaps of it.

[xsorxpire]

Missed this one.

I have a bunch of 150mm sandwich foam panels that i am fitting inside a garden shed i picked up only a couple weeks ago.
I like the idea of it looking like a shed so it shows less interest.

I am really not happy with the kitchener wine cabinet i purchased, so this seem to be the next best option.

With the cost of off-site storage and the power consumption of three wine fridges i worked out i will save money in the long term and recover the majority of costs if i sell the wine fridges. The sale of the all the wine fridges was stopped by my non drinking wife who likes my Vintec and says it should stay.

Who am i to argue with the wife about selling a dual climate zone large wine fridge so i don't have to enter my cellar every day to grab a bottle to drink...



So anyway, the shed is a flat pack box outside, the sandwich foam is leaning against the house and the off site storage bill is due again at christmas.
The race is on...

[rens]

Hope you can post a few pictures as your build gains momentum and Christmas comes.

[Waiters Friend]

Missed this one.

I have a bunch of 150mm sandwich foam panels that i am fitting inside a garden shed i picked up only a couple weeks ago.
I like the idea of it looking like a shed so it shows less interest.

I am really not happy with the kitchener wine cabinet i purchased, so this seem to be the next best option.

With the cost of off-site storage and the power consumption of three wine fridges i worked out i will save money in the long term and recover the majority of costs if i sell the wine fridges. The sale of the all the wine fridges was stopped by my non drinking wife who likes my Vintec and says it should stay.

Who am i to argue with the wife about selling a dual climate zone large wine fridge so i don't have to enter my cellar every day to grab a bottle to drink...

So anyway, the shed is a flat pack box outside, the sandwich foam is leaning against the house and the off site storage bill is due again at christmas.
The race is on...

I assume you are thinking about installing air conditioning in your "shed that looks like a shed" as well as the insulation panels. Especially in a Perth summer, you will need it.