Root cellars, how we built ours.

We had a small root cellar 5ftx8ft, when we bought this place. We used it but

I always worried about the safety of it. When my parents build their home here, it was in the way of the contractors and we opted to collapse it, fill it in and build a new larger cellar in a different location. My parents agreed to help rebuild a new cellar and they paid for the materials. It was decided that 12x12x7ft was a good size. Mike bartered with a man to dig the hole 5-6 ft deep with a backhoe. We couldn't go any deeper because of our high water table( water is at 8 ft.)

Mike and my Dad planned out how to build it and the best ways to preserve the wood. It has a vapor barrier and then is wrapped in tar paper, with rolled roofing on the roof( you can see that in the photo) It is vented at ground level and at the roof level as well( you'll see the vents a few photos below)

It was filled in entirely by hand. 

My Dad who did the majority of filling in and packing the dirt.

All filled in around the back, sides and some on the roof, but needed to build the outside entrance and steps

Here it is before being completely covered by dirt

This is what it looks like in the summer months, now that it is completely covered with dirt. It hold at a fairly regular temp. from 42-44F in winter( when sub zero outside, we block the vents) and 44-48F in summer. We did have to add a vapor barrier to the floor due to excess humidity. The humidity is just about right for root crops, and cabbage.  The squash and pumpkins will store, after being hardened off and coated with a thin coat of olive oil or lard, for 3-4 month before mold spots begin to show up. We did however have to add some additional support beams along the center support and added some additional 2x4's in the walls for added strength. It's amazing how much dirt weighs, especially when wet!

Here are the shelves and bins we use to store our potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage, squash, turnips, etc...

The potatoes on the shelves were dug when it was wet( 3 summers ago), so we let them dry and cure for several weeks before adding to the potato bin

Our carrots are stored in dirt( our soil is sandy), laying them flat, not touching one another and covering with soil, then layer again, repeating until the bin is full. We also use a plastic tote for this as well. Our carrots typically keep from one garden season to another, after approx 11 months in storage, they begin to get hairy with roots and dehydrate down some.

We couldn't live without a cellar now.