If you like wine but you don’t have a wine cellar, you may have more options than you think. If you have an unused room in your house, there are ways you can turn it into a DIY wine cellar in just a few weekends. Because it’s your own project, you can make it look the way you want and have the space you need for a set number of bottles or cases of wine. That way they can be stored properly so you can enjoy them anytime you want. You won’t need a lot of money to turn your space into a wine cellar, since it’s not necessary to make anything fancy. You just need shelving, coolness, and low light, along with a place that’s not going to get a lot of vibration. By having a separate room for your wine cellar, you’ll reduce foot traffic past the bottles and light hitting them, so they’ll last much longer.
Which room would be best for your new wine cellar?
The first thing you’ll need to do is choose a room. If you have a dry, finished basement with an unused room, that would be ideal. It allows for a cooler environment, and you aren’t going to get any vibration in a basement floor the way you might in a wood floor on the main level. Still, not everyone has a basement and you can use a main floor room, as well. Once you decide which room you’re going to use, you’ll need to make sure it’s dark and quiet in there. If it gets the morning or evening sun through the window a good heavy curtain or blind, or even a blackout shade, may be the right choice to reduce light. Wine that gets exposed to sunlight can degrade over time, so you want to make sure you’re storing it in a way that will preserve it as long as possible.
What about your shelving?
In the purchase of a home, you probably didn’t spend a lot of time considering whether you needed a spare room for a wine cellar. Now that you’ve decided to use the space that way, you’ll need shelving. If you’re leaving your wine in cases, you’ll want deep, sturdy shelving that will hold a lot of weight. Wine that’s being stored by the bottle, lying on its side as recommended, won’t weigh quite as much, because the weight from the bottles will be distributed better over the shelf space. Either way, though, you want to make sure you have shelving that’s designed to hold more than you intend to put on it, just in case. Be sure to use wood, not particle board, and if you want to store your wine bottles on their side you can put a notched piece of board along the front of the shelf. That will keep the neck slightly hair than the base and also give each neck a place to rest so the bottles won’t roll.
To refrigerate or not to refrigerate?
Most experts recommend that wine not be refrigerated. Trying to refrigerate an entire room would also be difficult and expensive. If you’re concerned about making it as cool as possible in the room you can install a window air conditioner, but you should expect that to affect your power bill. There’s no reason you can’t keep the room cooler by keeping it dark in there, though, and by closing off the heating vent during the winter months. In the summertime make sure the vent is open, so your air conditioning can get into the room and keep it at a good temperature. Only consider supplemental cooling if your home doesn’t have air conditioning, or if you find that your wine bottles just aren’t staying cool enough to help them keep their quality as long as they possibly can.
Do you really need expensive lighting?
One of the ways to improve your home is by adding some great lighting, but you don’t need to do that in your DIY wine cellar. The darker the better. You will probably need a light to see which bottle you’re selecting, or to put bottles away once you’ve made a purchase, but other than that you’ll want to keep the cellar dark. You don’t need a fancy light fixture for that, and it’s not necessary to put a high-wattage bulb in it. Go with only what you need to adequately see when you’re in there, so you help your wine stay fresh.
Did you remember to insulate the door well?
Even if you’re not all that handy, making a wine cellar out of an unused room isn’t too difficult, and it can be a great way to use that space and get something you love. Before you pat yourself on the back for a job well done, though, take time to insulate your door from the inside. That will help the coolness of the room stay put, and keep any heat from the rest of the house out. Normally you want good air circulation in a room, but a wine cellar is different in that keeping it a steady, cool temperature is the best choice. With adequate insulation, you can do that and have great tasting wine for a long time to come.
2 Point Highlight
Because it’s your own project, you can make it look the way you want and have the space you need for a set number of bottles of wine.
Even if you’re not all that handy, making a wine cellar out of an unused room isn’t too difficult, and it can be a great way to use that space and get something you love.
