Tag Archives: climate control system

Custom Wine Cellars – What you need to know about the flooring

Wine Cellar Floors

Floor Preparation

When thinking about the flooring for custom wine cellars, you should remember that as part of a climate controlled room it must be prepared properly. This is an area that some people make the mistake of ignoring when creating a wine cellar in their home. If the floor in your cellar is above ground, you must add the same vapor barrier and insulation that you do to your walls and ceiling. Remember, the wine room must be wrapped up tight like a package. If your floor is on a cement slab which rests on the ground, you can get away with adding a vapor barrier only to the cement before applying your floor covering.

We recommend a product called Bostic’s MVP4. It is a Moisture Vapor Protection that is applied with a trowel and left to dry before adding your floor on top.  It is usually available at your local hardware store. Once the moisture barrier is in place, you can add a plywood base or add your flooring directly on top of the vapor barrier.

Flooring Materials for Custom Wine Cellars

What you use for your actual wine cellar flooring material is up to you, as long as you stay away from anything resembling carpet. Carpet or carpet-like materials can mold or mildew in the higher humidity of a wine cellar. Slate, stone, tiles of many materials are fine in a wine cellar. Engineered wood floors are also great for traditional wine cellar designs. However, do careful of wood flooring unless it has previously been aged in a humid environment.

For a particularly special looking custom wine cellar floor reclaimed wine barrel flooring is an excellent choice and becoming more widely used in wine cellars. It is oak and made by master craftsmen from real oak wine barrels that are between 6 and 50 years old. Because these barrels previously held wine, the wood has already been exposed to extreme humidity levels. The barrels are sent through a process that implements a variety of specialized techniques to create an olde world style product line. The flooring can be glued or nailed over an area that has been prepared with a vapor barrier.

 

Three separate styles are available. The Cooperage flooring is made from the barrel head with all of its patina, cooperage stamps and special markings. The Wine Infusion flooring is made from the inside of the wine barrels where the wood has been naturally stained by the wine during the maturation process. The Stave flooring is created using the outside of the wine barrels. When the outside hoops are removed they leave behind distinctive markings and texture.

The wine barrel flooring is a statement of style and brings the history and aged beauty of wine into the personality of your wine cellar. A real conversation piece, this reclaimed wine barrel product is also available in drop-in ready tabletops and counter-tops.

Cork flooring is another great way to create a wine cellar floor. It is durable and very inexpensive. It is what you call a “floating floor” installation. Cork flooring comes in tongue and groove pieces that snap together and are held in place with a simple molding. Several styles, patterns and colors are available.

Both reclaimed wine barrel flooring and cork flooring are very unique and obvious ways to say “this is my special and unique wine cellar”.

Custom Wine Cellars Seattle Washington Reynolds Table

Things to Consider Before Designing a Wine Cellar

Designing good looking and safe custom wine cellars does not need to be rocket science. You just need to be aware of a few basic things to ensure that you have the right set of racks and wine cellar design to store your favorite wine bottles safely and in an aesthetic manner.

Custom Wine Cellars Design Dallas Dave
Residential Wine Cellars TexasConsider your needs over time – How many bottles are currently in your wine collection and how much additional space will be needed for future storage. A good rule is to double your current bottle count for your wine storage.

  • Evaluate the wine cellar’s location and design with regards to potential enemies of wine – high temperature, humidity, vibrations. Will you be needing a climate control system?
  • Plan the design of the wine racks as per the size and shape of bottles that you want to store. 750’s, magnums, larger size bottles? Case storage, bulk storage, or individual bottle storage? Display rows with lighting?
  • Will you use your wine cellar for strictly storage purposes or do you want it to be more of a showplace?
  • What type of wine cellar cooling units will you be using? Will a unit or a fan coil be inside the cellar effecting where your racks can be placed?
  • How much are you willing to spend on your wine cellar? Discuss this with your designer so that he or she can more accurately design your cellar within your budget. Wood species, stain, lacquer, lattice or solid bins, carvings, many things can make a huge difference on the cost of your racks.
  • Do you want a rustic look, a furniture look, or perhaps something more contemporary? Many styles of racks are available from traditional, wine barrel, metal and more. Discuss your thoughts with your designer and share any photos of other cellars and racks that you have seen and would like incorporated into your design.

Custom Wine Cellars Dallas Texas Bottles

The dimensions of the room must be carefully measured before you complete your final wine racks design. Measure the length of each wall in the room. Measure the ceiling height. Measure exactly where the door will be placed. Also consider the space occupied by cooling units, soffits, or any other obstructions.

At Wine Cellar Specialists, we offer you personal guidance and help you to create a custom wine cellar that will compliment your style and home décor. Visit us at https://www.winecellarspec.com/ .

Wine Cellars – Design & Efficiency

After deciding to build a wine cellar in your home (or have one built), you should look at the cellar’s overall efficiency first. How the wine cellar will look, and whether or not it will match how the rest of your house looks, should be a secondary concern.

Wine Cellars – Design & Efficiency

Of course, design isn’t an afterthought, but at the end of the day, the colors you use in your wine cellar, if you use colors, will not help you protect and store your wine collection.

Making sure your cellar is efficient means that your wine cooling unit must be the proper size for the room and emit the proper BTU’s to efficiently cool the room according to your specific conditions. (see other blog posts for information on cooling unit options)

Your cooling unit, more than likely, is going to look and sound very different from what you might be thinking. Depending upon which type of unit you can use in your situation, the look of your cooling unit could vary greatly.

Selecting the right Wine Cellar Cooling Units

climate control system Texas

Wine Cellar Climate-Control System

When you pick your wine cellar cooling unit, there is usually an external temperature display on it. The wine cellars’ cooling unit will help you monitor and regulate your wine cellar’s temperature. With some units this display can be placed in a spot inside or outside of your wine cellar.

On others, it is attached to the unit itself. This temperature display will show you how hot or cold your cellar is, and if the temperature fluctuates out of your preset range, it will “tell” the cooling unit to readjust the temperature inside the cellar. This should happen automatically.

Because your wine cellar, as one expert puts it, is “dark and damp,” always install moisture-resistant materials during the build-out of the project. These materials can be covered with a latex paint.

Types of Wine Cooling Systems for Texas Custom Wine Cellars

Depending on how you plan to use your wine cellar (is it for an investment, or do you plan to drink the bottles of wine you will store in your cellar), you will want to choose the best cooling option for you. Wine Cellar Specialists can help you decide the system to put in place in your home.

Through the Wall or Self-Contained Units

self-contained wine cooling system

Self-Contained Cooling System

When it comes to practicality and ease of installation, the self-contained or through the wall cooling system is a top choice. Since this cooling option does not require a licensed HVAC/R technician, it will save you from the labor cost. The unit can be mounted between the wall studs.

An adjacent room, which must be at least twice the size of the cellar, is required. It serves as an exhaust of the heat generated by the refrigeration unit.

Ducted Self-Contained Systems

ducted self-contained refrigeration system

Ducted Self-Contained System

With a ducted self-contained unit, noise is reduced. The unit is installed 25 ducted feet away from your Texas custom wine cellar, resulting in a quieter operation compared to the self-contained system.

Another advantage of choosing this type of refrigeration system is that no cooling equipment is visible in your wine storage space. If you want a clean look in your cellar, go for the ducted self-contained system.  

Split Refrigeration Systems

split wine cooling system

Split Refrigeration Systems

Just like the ducted-self-contained cooling system, the split system allows for quiet operation. The condenser and the evaporator are installed separately. The condenser, which is a noisy component of a refrigeration system, is installed outside your wine cellar, while the evaporator is placed in the room.

Incorporating a wine cellar into your house is not overly complicated. Doing it right means taking your time, focusing on efficiency, and making sure you have the right people helping you make the right decisions that will best protect your investment and give you your desired result.