Cold Room in Basement. http://www.durgan.org/URL/?WVRGE 30 August 2009 Cold Room Construction Cold room construction in the utility room in the basement. Purpose is for storing garden produce. Potatoes, carrots, brussels sprouts, beets, etc. This is the cold room built in my basement. Space was at a premium so I did the the best with what was available. The floor space is 18 square feet, and 80 inches in height. A four inch outside air vent was installed. The hole was cut with a rental tool. The one plug in the room is split and the light is switched from outside. Paneling was construction grade spruce 5/8 plywood. Insulation of the inside wall is R14, and a vapor barrier was installed on top of this insulation, then covered with5/8 plywood. The roof was insulated in the same manner. Tables are plastic, the same as I use in my greenhouse. Vegetables will be stored in the common plastic milk containers. The air inlet will be controlled by stuffing a rag in the inlet if it get too cold. The exhaust went is four inches diameter, and is in the roof of the structure. Humidity will be controlled with a pan of water, if necessary. Time to build about 48 man hours. Started 25 August and finished on 30 August 2009.Cost $565.42 I had some help for about 16 hours.
Very interesting Durgan. What temperature and humidity will you be keeping it the room at? I wish I could build a cold room like that. Unfortunately, I don't have a basement. The best I have is a crawl space where the cistern is. I monitored the temperature in there last year and lowest it got was 3 degrees C., so I am going to try to store potatoes down there this year.
My father stored his potatoes in a large wooden crate that used to hold machinery. This was under the house. Our homes are often built on wooden pylons (stumps) and it is a great cool storage space. Trick with spuds is to leave them in the ground till the tops die back then dig them with the correct fork pick them up after they have dried a bit and store in a cool dry dark place. They were still edibel 9 months or so later. He used to leave carrots and beetroot in the soil and dug them as needed. You can store root vegetables in a sand box again in a cool dark place. I hear in really cold areas people turn cabbages upside down on the soil to help preserve the heads. This may be in snow areas. Liz Liz
It's way too cold to leave anything outside in the winter here. It went down to -40 degrees C. here last winter.
I would like a temperature of 5 to 10C. This will depend upon the outside temperature. This morning the outdoor temperature was 10C and the indoor was 20C. The cold room was 15C. I view this as a good indicator. Humidity I will guess at,and put a large watering pan in the room to evaporate if necessary. I dislike craw spaces as I am sure you do, but one must take advantage of what is available. Your cistern area would appear to be a reason compromise. Potatoes should keep well at 3C.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?NKLSD 1 September 2009 Cold Room Organized Some milk carrier container were obtained today, and vegetables stored in the cold room. These containers are ideal for the home gardener; in that, the containers are a manageable size and they are well ventilated.
Hello Durgan, I really like your cold room and can't wait until mine gets built. How did you obtain your milk containers? Leona
Durgan, I know this is about your cold room, but could you direct me or give advice for continuation of growing tomatoes in the house in pots. I never got my tomatoes in the ground, just kept them in their pots from the store. Didn't do much with them, except water and did see some tomatoes from them. But my time was focused on so many other things, that I really missed the great joy of having tomatoes flourishing in my garden and reaping the harvest. I could let go of what I have, but if possible is there a way to keep them growing and producing. These are cherry and yellow pear type tomatoes. What do you think?
I have grown tomatoes in large pots, but during the Summer on the deck, since my garden at the time was too shaded. Also, I have tried growing under bright lights in the basement, and it is not worth the effort. Tomatoes need much sun to produce well. If you have a bright sunny window the cherries might produce reasonably well.
