How to make a cellar with ventilation in the country with your own hands

Recommendation points

• Types of cellars
• Cellars with different depths
• Materials for the construction of the cellar
• Ventilation device in the cellar
• Stages of building a cellar with your own hands

Building a cellar is not as difficult as building a house. However, in order for the products to be stored in it for a long time, it is necessary to create the correct microclimate, which is achieved by its design. Consider the types of cellars and types of materials used, ventilation device options, as well as phased construction with photos and videos.

Harvesting is not enough, you need to save it. Vegetables, fruits, home preservation are perfectly stored in the cellar, which maintains the optimum temperature and humidity. To do this, there are various design and technical techniques that are easy for a home craftsman to master in order to equip an all-season refrigerator with zero energy consumption in the country. Construction is correct in summer, in dry weather.

Types of cellars

Cellars differ in the materials used, equipment, area, as well as the level of depth relative to the conditional zero – the surface of the earth.

Cellars with different depths

It is advisable to choose the deepening level based on the terrain, groundwater level, soil type and climatic features of the region.

Types of cellars: 1 – recessed; 2 – semi-deep; 3 – ground

Before starting work, it is advisable to determine the level of groundwater in the country. If there is no well nearby, use the old-fashioned method to see the water level. To find a dry place on the site, they used to use a simple method: in dry summer weather, in the evening, a little fat-free sheep’s wool was put on the ground cleared of grass, a fresh egg and covered with a jar or pot. Early in the morning they checked – if everything was in dew – the water is close, the wool is in dew, and the egg is dry – the water is deep, everything is dry – the water is very deep.

Ground cellar

If the groundwater level is very high, then you can build an underground cellar, but then you will have to carry out serious waterproofing and drainage work, so that it does not turn out that they were building a cellar, but a well turned out. The best design for such a case, especially if the soil is heaving, is a ground cellar.

It is built for reliability on an elevation like an ordinary house, and an earthen embankment serves as thermal insulation – an embankment that covers all sides of the structure with a thick layer, except for the entrance, which is insulated with various materials. Grass is planted over the entire surface of the backfill, which happens to be decoration and roots to keep the earth from sprinkling. It turns out something like a mound with a door.

Aboveground cellar: 1 – drainage pad made of sand and / or rubble; 2 – walls (wood, brick, stone); 3 – earthen embankment; 4 – overlap (boards or reinforced concrete slab, roofing material, straw + clay); 5 – waterproofing walls (bituminous mastic + roofing felt); 6 – adobe floor; 7 – flooring

Semi-buried cellar

If the groundwater is located deeper than 1 m, you can build a semi-buried cellar. Its design is similar to an overground structure, but half dug into the ground. The door to the cellar is located below soil level, so it is advisable to provide for the drainage of rain and melt water from the entrance, and the door itself should be insulated.

Semi-deepened cellar: 1 – overlap made of boards, slabs or reinforced concrete slabs; 2 – thermal insulation (straw + clay); 3 – clay; 4 – earthen boning; 5 – roofing material; 6 – walls (lumber, brick, concrete); 7 – bituminous mastic + roofing felt (roofing felt); 8 – castle – oily clay

Recessed cellar

This design saves the area of ​​the site, but is built only in the case of low groundwater or with serious waterproofing and drainage system. Some buildings are simply covered with a heat-insulated lid on hinges, but if the cellar area is large enough, it is better to build a cellar above it – a wooden house with a hatch in the floor, which is a heat insulator for an underground structure and can serve as a utility block with a sufficient ceiling height.

An underground cellar with a utility cellar: 1 – insulation; 2 – lime layer; 3 – bituminous waterproofing; 4 – walls

Cellar with a cellar – low gable roof: 1 – roof; 2 – drainage; 3 – shelves; 4 – storage for vegetables; 5 – adobe floor

Brick jug cellar: 1 – crushed stone; 2 – sand; 3 – floor film; 4 – concrete; 5 – side film; 6 – sandy soil; 7 – brick wall; bottom cover; 9 – clay. For descent and ascent, a ladder is mounted inside, and above the neck there is a hinged lid covered with iron

Video. Underground caisson cellar with a high level of groundwater

Materials for the construction of the cellar

Cellars can be made from a variety of materials, which are easier to purchase or based on your personal preferences. For clay soils, they even arrange small jug cellars just in the soil, without strengthening the floor and walls in any way.

A few inspirational ideas for materials, entrance and cellar design in the photo review below.

Entrance to the stone cellar, fortress in Vyborg

Concrete cellar decorated with large boulders

Sandstone cellar

Original entry

Cellar made of stone

An ambitious cellar entrance

Brick wine cellar

Beautiful, original, difficult

Wood and straw. Pirogovo Museum (Kiev)

Thatched cellar. Country style

Wooden cellar, built taking into account the relief

Construction of a cellar from a bar

Cellar made of bottles

Ventilation device in the cellar

The most common ventilation system in the basement is natural, based on the difference in air temperatures above the floor and below the ceiling and equipped with two pipes. One of them works as a supply channel, the other removes air from the room. In the open air, pipe outlets must be protected from precipitation and debris. If you install a small damper in them, you can adjust the degree of thrust. In winter, the inlet of the cellar is often closed.

To organize ventilation, it is convenient to take large-diameter pipes – steel or plastic, sewer, varnished to protect against ultraviolet radiation. It is best to exit the channels vertically upward or at an angle of no more than 45 ° to the side. At higher inclines, ventilation becomes less efficient. It is also important to align the pipes correctly. Below we want to show you an example of an erroneous and correct installation..

Incorrect installation of ventilation pipes

Correct installation of ventilation pipes (diagonal, level)

You can increase ventilation and make it year-round by simply integrating a fan into the exhaust pipe.

As a rule, natural, well-equipped ventilation in the cellar is sufficient. If a large room is being built, with strict requirements for humidity and temperature, for example, a cellar for the production of cheese or storage of wine, you can arrange forced ventilation.

It is important to remember about the electrical conductivity of damp earth, lay electrical wires in insulating tubes and use a fan operating from a voltage of 12-14 V. The same requirements apply when organizing lighting in the basement, plus the use of special shades.

Stages of building a cellar with your own hands

Consider the main stages of building a cellar from cinder blocks and concrete.

The construction of a semi-buried cellar begins with earthworks. They can be done manually, but if the volume of soil removed is significant, it is better to hire an earthmoving technique..

A trench is dug along the perimeter of the pit for the installation of a strip foundation under the walls. Prepare the foundation: knit a reinforcing cage and pour concrete. Sand and gravel are poured into the place of the future floor, and a layer of oily clay on top. After the concrete in the tape gains strength (a week in dry weather), they begin to erect the walls and lay a ventilation pipe higher than the cellar. The thickness of the masonry when the floor is supported only on the walls is a full brick, when it is supported on walls and retaining soil, it is possible in half a brick. Between the masonry and the walls of the pit, you immediately need to pour and compact the clay that was previously extracted from the pit.

If a rise in the water level is possible, it is recommended to make an interlayer of broken brick or stone along the perimeter of the walls and divert the flow into a drainage pipe. The walls are erected to the design height, checking each row of blocks with a plumb line and level.

If there is a possibility of a crane entering the site, the easiest way is to overlap from ready-made reinforced concrete slabs. Such an overlap can be done locally. To do this, the walls are covered with roofing material on top, and beams (100×150) are mounted on top. Boards are laid on the beams, leaving a square opening for the entrance, and dense polyethylene is laid on top, the edges of which extend beyond the structure of up to 0.5 m.

A reinforcing grid is laid on the film, a ventilation pipe is installed and a restrictive formwork is placed around the hatch. Pour a solution with a thickness of at least 5 cm.

After the concrete has hardened, a cover is mounted on the hatch, and a gable roof is erected over the entire cellar area or just above the hatch, using materials of your choice. If the roof is only above the hatch, the rest of the area is covered with soil – they make an embankment. The front wall is decorated, a door is installed, plants are planted or sod is laid.