Building a custom Wine Cellar in your home

Building a custom Wine Cellar in your home

Wine aficionados have one, why can’t you? Adding a wine cellar to your home can increase the value, give a focal point and most importantly preserve your wine collection. There are a few things you need to think of before you take the leap and start remodeling. Temperature, humidity, light and vibration are things that need to be considered.

When choosing a location for your wine cellar location is everything! Most people keep their homes at the 70 degree temperature; a wine cellar must maintain a 55-58 degree temperature and 50-75 percent humidity. This means that you will want a room that isn’t frequented often and remains colder than the rest of your house. Basements, attics and garages are usually the best first choices.

Windowless areas are a must when choosing a location for your wine cellar addition. The ultraviolet rays found in sunlight can do serious damage to your wine, particularly if the bottle is made of clear or blue glass. You can invest in special low-UV lighting for your wine storage area, or you can take the low-tech route and cover your windows and wine racks to prevent light from reaching the bottles. Even artificial lighting can ruin wine, so dimmable lighting is a good choice.

Your floor will play a major role in your rooms’ humidity, thus being said carpet is not an option in your wine cellar. Hardwood, granite tiles and porcelain tiles are a good option for flooring. Not only is flooring important but your walls must be properly insulated as well as the door. Keeping your wine cellar at the right temp and humidity level is the most important thing.

Choosing the right cooling unit will make your life easy to maintain adequate levels. You can opt for a split cooling system, through the wall system or duct cooling systems. Ducted cooling systems, where the entire cooling unit is located remotely and cold air is ducted into the wine cellar, are the most expensive wine cooling systems. Their main advantages are that the wine cellars won’t be subject to noise from the cooling unit, and commercial systems can be serviced by most HVAC professionals. In addition, space in wine cellar can be maximized for wine storage, because the cooling unit doesn’t take any space inside the cellar.

This will end up being the easiest room to maintain, they require less maintenance then most rooms in your house. Once you have the climate controlled you will be able to enjoy this classic addition.

Now that you have the main points down, we can move on to storage. Another key aspect of wine storage is bottle position.  Placing bottles on their sides keeps the corks wet.  When corks dry out, oxygen can reach the wine and cause it to oxidize.  This will spoil the taste of your wine.  You can get wine cellar racks in pre made kits, or have them custom built for your room.

Décor and friends to enjoy your wine cellar with is the last piece to your addition.

Contact us today if you are interested in adding on a Wine Cellar to your next remodel.