Up next in 10
MY ONLINE COURSES:
► My Cabin Building Course: https://bit.ly/36bRARX
► MIG Welding for the Home Workshop: https://bit.ly/3CGuUFv
► Woodworking for Beginners: https://bit.ly/3w6ZnLW
► How to Build a Deck: https://bit.ly/3i2LWV3
► Build Traditional Wood Cabinets: https://bit.ly/3JbLQ9v
► Renewable Energy for Your Home: https://bit.ly/3w9K4ls
► 3 Solar Energy Projects: https://bit.ly/3KLNUp9
READ MY POPULAR ARTICLES ABOUT:
► Polyurethane Finish - https://bit.ly/powerbuffing
► DIY Hoop House Plans - https://bit.ly/hoophouseplans
► Submersible Pump Installation - https://bit.ly/pumpinstallation
► Air-Drying Wood Tips - https://bit.ly/wooddrying
► How to Build a Table - https://bit.ly/tablebuilding
► How to Stain a Deck - https://bit.ly/deckstain
► Choosing Waterproof Outdoor Glue - https://bit.ly/exterioradhesives
► How To Build A Wheelchair Ramp - https://bit.ly/wheelchairrampplans
SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/BLRchannel
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
This video is to get you familiar with what a basement root seller would look like from the inside out
0:09
Now, depending on your commitment to food security, you may or may not want something like this
0:16
but you should know that the larger the infrastructure you have in your home for storing food
0:23
the better the job you can do. And a basement root seller makes a lot of sense for people who live in
0:30
with basements because you've already got part of the space ready to go
0:35
So the plans you see here show a lot of details about how to construct a basement root seller properly
0:44
This comes from a book I wrote on root sellers. It's called The Complete Root Cellar Book
0:49
You can find it on Amazon. It's got a lot of details about exactly how to manage a root seller
0:56
as well as how to construct a seller like this and a bunch of other ones. So, first of all, you need to realize that this basement root cellar is located in a corner that makes use of two outside walls of the basement
1:12
So there's one outside wall here, and there's another one in here
1:18
Now, besides saving you the trouble of constructing these two walls, more important than that is the fact that this is where the cool temperatures come from in the summer
1:30
And this is where your frost protection comes from in the winter by being underground
1:35
And these two walls are, if this basement is typical, are almost completely covered with soil
1:41
The soil level might be up, you know, this high, you know, one, one and a half, at the most two blocks
1:47
below the top of the basement in this illustration. So you definitely want to position your cellar in a corner like that
1:57
so you get the advantage of two outside walls. It's also useful to have your cellar located on outside walls
2:05
because you're going to need to have ventilation access. And that's what's going on up here
2:12
You'll notice that there are two ventilation ports. There one here which opens up right near the ceiling of the cellar and then there another one here which is connected to some kind of a duct that goes down and sits at ground level in the cellar
2:31
So the idea between, um, of separating these vents is so that you can have air circulation
2:39
It's one thing to have a vent that you can open, but if the stale air in the cellar can't get out somewhere
2:45
through some other location, then you're not going to have the kind of ventilation you need
2:52
So you're also going to need to control the ventilation, and that's what you see here
2:58
This is one way of doing it. I like to make use of what's called a blast gate
3:04
which is a valve for controlling the ducts in a dust collection system for a woodworking shop
3:14
But it also works really well here too. So you can open and close this type
3:18
top vent and this bottom vent, in this case, remotely from outside of the cellar, if you want
3:25
And the idea there is to maintain as much as possible the ideal root cellar conditions
3:32
And that would be about 90 to 95 percent relative humidity and a temperature that's just a little bit
3:39
above freezing. Now, you won't be able to maintain those conditions perfectly year-round, but that's the target
3:47
and controlling your vents is part of how you make that happen
3:53
Another thing to understand is the need for highly insulated exterior walls
3:59
So these are the walls you're building. That's the ones I'm talking about now. There's one here and there's one here
4:05
There are different ways to make these walls properly. I've shown a few of them here with, for instance, spray foam applied against the inside face of
4:17
wallboard that you might put up. So that would be applied after the wallboard goes up
4:22
No matter, you could also use some, some bat insulation, although I much prefer spray foam
4:29
for basement use because of the moisture hazard. But no matter how well you, or how you insulate these exterior walls, you should go one step
4:39
farther and put some extruded polystyrene foam on the outside of the wall frame that stops any thermal bridging conduction going on through the studs and it really does boost the energy efficiency quite a bit And you do need to remember that this is
4:55
essentially a passive cooling unit. So there's no electrically assisted cooling here. So you need to be
5:03
quite efficient about insulation and air sealing. The insulation also needs to exist on the ceiling
5:09
of your root cellar, because don't forget the space above is living space and it's going to be
5:15
heated and things. So well-constructed, highly insulated walls are very important. A few other details that you need to know about. One is the door. It can't be just any old
5:31
interior door, not if you want good performance. It should be an insulated exterior-grade door
5:38
the best kind come already pre-hung in a frame, in a door jam, and you just put the unit in
5:45
There's going to be weather stripping built in, and the door itself will be insulated
5:50
So that's what you want for something like this. As I said before, you want to do everything you can to make this an energy-efficient kind of thing
6:01
Inside, when it comes time to install some shells, you'll be far better off if you
6:08
use the type of shelf that hangs from the ceiling, which is what you see here
6:13
These are wire frames. I buy mine from Lee Valley tools. You can get them from different places
6:19
But having the shelves hang from the ceiling offers a couple of benefits
6:24
First of all, it allows greater natural air circulation through the cellar, and that's pretty important
6:32
It also keeps things up off the ground. so you can sweep more easily
6:39
You know, in a root cellar, there's always going to be bits of onion skin and a little old potato that falls down
6:44
And, you know, there's going to be stuff that builds up on the floor of an active root cellar
6:49
So you need to be able to sweep that clean, keep it nice and tidy
6:53
Here in the corner, there's something you might want to know about. I call it a sand can
6:58
And if you want to keep root crops for a very long time
7:03
the sand can is the thing to do. So I use a metal garbage can a new metal garbage can I lay down a layer of sand on the bottom and then a layer of root crops like carrots or beets parsnips lay down a layer on top of the sand so that none of the produce
7:23
is touching each other, none of the pieces are touching each other. Then a little more sand
7:28
you know, two or three or four inches enough to cover them. And then another layer of produce and
7:33
and more sand, and then you completely fill the can up. I have done some experiments, and I've actually kept beets in a can like this for 18 months
7:43
in my root cellar, and they were still crisp and firm when they came out
7:49
They didn't have a whole lot of flavor. I'm going to say they didn't taste as rich as they normally do, but they were still entirely edible
7:57
in surprisingly good condition. One of the advantages of the sand can is that it does allow
8:03
the chance for you to keep a higher than usual humidity level
8:10
than what you could do actually inside the root cellar, especially at some times of the year
8:15
it's kind of hard to keep that humidity level up and high. In the can with a lid on
8:21
because these produce is transpiring, it's a lot easier to keep high moisture levels in cases like that
8:30
so for extra long preservation. There are other details here too that you can see
8:37
There's the wall to ceiling detail. It shows how you can use wedges to tighten up the fit of the wall
8:45
with the joist underneath before you anchor it with screws. There's some more detail here about the blast gate
8:54
I recommend a light switch with an indicator light on it. Because when the root cellar door is closed, if you accidentally leave the light on, you're not going to know
9:06
But if the switch is lit up, you will know. It's important to keep things dark, too
9:11
Produce will last longer in the dark than it will if the lights accidentally left on, especially potatoes
9:18
The main thing to remember here is that if you try to apply this to your own home
9:22
you're probably going to have specific questions about what to do here and there
9:26
Because every situation is unique. so be sure to contact me. I'm standing by to answer questions about this and anything to do with this course
#Home Improvement
#Other