Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Build Wine Cellars

Wine cellars have come a long way since their beginning as underground caves in Europe. Today wine cellars are designed to replicate those caves with temperatures between 55 and 58 degrees F and relative humidity levels between 55 percent and 70 percent. You do not have to have a cave or a bomb shelter to store your wine. You can create a wine cellar in any room.


Instructions


Building a Wine Cellar at Home








1. Choose the right lighting. Ultraviolet lighting is not good for long-term storage of wine. Lighting that gives off an excessive amount of heat is not conducive to controlling the temperature of the wine cellar. The best choice is LED lighting. LED lighting does not give off much heat, has no ultraviolet components and is energy efficient.








2. Install proper flooring. Because you are creating a climate-controlled environment, you want to avoid vinyl. Vinyl will bunch up in the humidity. Carpet is not the best choice as it will stain if wine spills. Carpet also does not provide a flat surface for your wine racks. Hardwood flooring, stone, cement, and tiles are all good choices for flooring in a wine cellar.


3. Climate control the wine cellar. Wine is best stored a temperature of about 55 to 58 degrees F and humidity of 50 percent to 70 percent. You will need to install a cooling system for the wine cellar to control the temperature. A good way to keep the humidity level up is to put a decorative fountain in the wine cellar. The fountain not only looks beautiful, but it also increases the humidity.


4. Install the wine racks. Choose wood that is resistant to cool, damp environments to avoid rot. Good examples of this type of wood include redwood and mahogany.


5. Use an exterior grade door. Because you have different temperatures on either side of the door, you will need to get an exterior grade door to ensure that the environment in your wine cellar in sealed.

Tags: wine cellar, wine cellar, your wine, best choice, exterior grade, exterior grade door, grade door