Do you love and collect wine? Do you want to add a wine cellar to your property to increase its value? Wrought iron doors are elements to improve your home’s personality.
Whatever reason you may have for wanting to build a wine cellar, you need to check out the 10 tips outlined below to help make the entire process much easier.
-
Start with the end in mind
Before building your wine cellar, you should first come up with a design guided by your needs, and then plan how to build your wine cellar.
As tempting as it is to just clear a space and get started on purchasing devices and building materials to make things quicker, not having a clear plan for your wine cellar can wind you up with mismatching racks and doors. Or worse, you may overspend on some items and end up compromising important aspects of your wine cellar.
Knowing what results you want before you even get started helps you avoid such problems.
-
Find an insulated space
The most important considerations for proper wine storage are humidity, temperature, and lighting.
Though all spaces are subject to weather changes, you must choose the most insulated space in your home or building to construct your wine cellar. For most, this is going to be the basement.
-
Budget wisely
Once you have a clear plan and a space with which to build your wine cellar, don’t jump the gun just yet and start budgeting. Set aside an amount you would use for your wine cellar and set aside some more for unexpected expenses like freight costs, costs from unexpected accidents or damages, and so on.
Once you have your budget clearly set aside, you want to allocate your money into buckets of expenses. You should spend most on the things that matter most to you.
Depending on your design, whether you want a wine cellar that just stores wine or one that showcases your collection, you may choose to allocate more budget for functionality or aesthetics.
Regardless of how you choose to allocate your budget, don’t forget to canvas for prices. There are many vendors selling similar materials, devices, and furnishings you need. Find those that meet your needs and stay within your budget.
Doing so helps avoid overspending or misusing your budget, which can result in a poorly executed design that sacrifices either aesthetics or functionality.
-
Seal the space
A wine cellar needs to be insulated to maintain ideal humidity and temperature. To achieve this, you should look for possible leaks in your space and seal them. Look closely at corners, edges of the floor, and the ceiling. The floor should be concrete and sealed while the ceiling should at least have R-19 insulation.
To further insulate your space and maintain humidity, you should get a vapor barrier. These are plastic sheets installed behind the walls to help keep heat out and the interior of your wine cellar cool.
-
Furr out the wall
To enhance insulation in your wine cellar, you should furr out the walls. And to do so, install furring strips, thin pieces of wood, or similar material to the wall to thicken it and improve insulation.
When purchasing furring strips, opt for 2×2 inch strips or 2×4 inch strips for the best results.
-
Install a cooling system
Even if your wine cellar is highly insulated, weather changes can easily throw the humidity and temperature inside it out of whack. To avoid any premature oxidation of wine, install a cooling unit that helps control the temperature in your space.
Wine cellars should always be kept cool. If you’re in a place where the weather can get warm, get a powerful cooling unit or even a refrigerator that can maintain the coolness even in the middle of summer.
And don’t neglect to consider the size of your space. Measure your wine cellar and find a cooling system that can keep the entire place chilly all year long.
-
Invest in a humidifier.
Wherever you are, humidity fluctuates with weather changes. That’s why you should invest in a trusty air humidifier that can offset the dryness in the air, especially if you live in an area that is significantly dry.
To maintain ideal humidity levels in your space, a humidifier is crucial. This helps prevent your corks from drying up, which can cause your wine to prematurely oxidize.
-
Select a wine rack that suits your purpose and design
Your wine cellar is yours to design. You get to choose the furnishings you put in it and most importantly, you get to select the kind of wine rack you will use.
Depending on your budget allocation, you can spend a little more and get your wine rack customized to the size of your cellar and the number of wine bottles you plan to store. Similarly, you can also save some money and use store-bought wine racks which can store wine just as well.
-
Choose the right door
People don’t always think of custom iron doors. Selecting them as an afterthought is a huge mistake. Even with the best insulation, your wine cellar can have leaks with a poorly chosen door.
Choose a door with enough insulation. If you like wood, select Redwood, Mahogany, Pine, or any other wood that has natural oils in them. If you would like to showcase your wine collection, however, glass or wrought iron may be better choices.
If so, make sure to purchase them with insulation. Basic glass and wrought iron doors won’t serve you well in this situation, so talk to experienced door manufacturers and tell them about your needs. Most of the time, they can even custom-make doors for your wine cellar.
-
Make room for future bottles
Last but not least, you want to plan ahead. When allocating space within your wine cellar, don’t forget to consider your future collection.
With a wine cellar, you should look forward to growing your collection, and having not enough space in your cellar defeats that purpose.
Iron Wine Cellar Door
Custom iron doors are incredibly stylish. They can also make your wine cellar and property cost more.
Choose the wrought iron doors that best suit your taste from Baltic Iron Doors! We use only the highest quality materials and we always deliver the best results on time!
If you can’t find what you’re looking for, we will make custom iron doors for you. Contact us at Baltic Iron Doors today.