# Building my wine storage area. WITH Wife's blessing



## kevinlfifer

I have a 10'x2' closet in the basement 2 of the walls are foundation and stay fairly cool. The other 2 walls, I have insulated so when the French doors are installed the temperature should stay around 65-68 F.

The racks are 2 bottles deep. Total capacity is 504 750 ml bottles with room for 24 1500 ml bottles on the top.

I used the metal grid instead of vertical wood because that allowed an additional column of storage (84 bottles) by eliminating the thickness of those vertical supports.

This is area is for racks only. The wine making area will be in the boiler/mechanical room. I will start that as soon as these racks are completed in the "closet" 

Stage 1. Emerald Ash borer and fallen ash trees.
Stage 2. Cut 210 pieces 1 5/8 x 3/4 x 22 (that does not include pieces against the wall, 84 pieces 3/4 x 3/4 x 22 there that aren't shown).

Step 3. Sand and nocth all the center rails
Step 4. Stain using thinned Minwax with a garden sprayer
Step 5 install rails onto metal grid. I am pinning a nail across the angled notch to secure the rail.

I will post more pix when it is completed


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## sour_grapes

Awesome! I cannot believe you started from a tree! Now that is dedication!


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## francois_du_nord

Pretty slick. Did you custom make the metal grid, or is that something that you purchased? 

Thanks for the ideas, Fran


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## kevinlfifer

Tractor Supply goat feed grid. 16' x 4' about $55.


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## Kraffty

very nice design and execution,
looking good.
Mike


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## bkisel

Very impressive!


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## 2020steve

WOW ~~ I start at Home Depot spending $$ while you go out and cut up a tree. I'm impressed


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## olusteebus

Wow. I may do that for my next rack. I may have home depot cut up the timber!


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## calvin

The black ash is going to look awesome. Is the wood full of worm holes?


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## Runningwolf

This is so cool. Thanks for sharing!


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## kevinlfifer

The Ash trees were killed by the emerald ash borer a couple of years ago (vertical drying) The borer leaves curved grooves between the bark and the wood, effectively girdling the tree, as no nutrients or water can reach the leaves. There are no holes in the wood, it is quite clean and has some very nice grain patterns. We had a storm pass through that felled 3 trees, each about 16-18" in dia. I cut them into manageable lengths 7-10 ft and hauled them to a local saw mill. 

I don't think Home Depot mills raw lumber.

One side of the closet is finished. I have 105 pieces to notch and stain yet for the other side.

I still need to drop in a ceiling and mount the doors, ... details.


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## calvin

My brother and I own 27 acres that is heavily forested. Over 80% mature black ash. I am dreading when the borer reaches it. Many of the trees are 2-3' diameter. "They" say our cold winter may have slowed there progress north. We saw -30f a couple times last winter. Hope that helps.


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## Marauderer

Great looking storage. You definitely got outside the box designing it.


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## kevinlfifer

A few more pix. Only the doors left to do.

Used a fake tin ceiling with a light from Lowes.


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## kevinlfifer

Look at the first pix in the post and compare it to this one. We had some visitors.


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## Kraffty

Just in time for the holiday!
Mike


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## ibglowin

Very nice! Hope you don't outgrow it too soon!


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## Rocky

Really beautiful job, Kevin. Well done!

A couple of questions, if you would be so kind (in the event I totally plagiarize your design):

1. Why are the front grooves in the wood angled? Would they still work if they were at 90 degrees?
2. Are the grooves a "press fit" on the fencing? Do you know the diameter of the wire on the fencing?
3. Are the ends of the fencing pushed into the drywall (imbedded) on one side (the side opposite the poured foundation)?
4. How are the "half" wooden pieces attached or are they held in place by gravity and the bottle resting on them?

Thanks.


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## kevinlfifer

The front groove is angled so I could get to it with the air nailer more easily. It is not a press fit. The grid is 4 gauge about 1/4 in.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/feedlot-panel-sheep-goat-16-ft-l-x-48-in-h

I did embed the drywall side. I chalked a line, Positioned the grid into position only slightly angled and marked each spot where the grid would penetrate the wall. I drilled 1/4 in holes at each position then slid the grid into place. You cannot simply mark every 4 inches as the grid in not perfectly on center. there is an occasional (3 times) 1/4 to 1/8 deviation off the 4 in center where a wire is welded.

All the side pieces are held in place with a few dabs of hot glue.

To cut the grooves on my table saw, I used 2 - 7 1/4 in saw blades separated by a garden hose washer. Call it a poor man's dado blade. Cost was free. Menard's had a sale, buy a 2 pack of blades for 3.98 and get a 3.98 rebate.

Rocky, your welcome to the design and I'd be glad to spend a day here or there helping. 

In your set up, If I remember it correctly you could build so that there is 4 ft of width and you would not have to mess with inserting the ends of wire into the drywall. I was stuck with the 2 ft wide closet, and that 24" was before the drywall. 

View attachment Cellar Rail.pdf


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## kevinlfifer

FINISHED!!!! Cellar holds 46 cases and is maintaining 63 F temp.

Pix also shows what Santa left for me hanging on the wall.


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## Kraffty

Great project, really looks like all your effort paid off. How big is that set? - 70"?
Mike


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## kevinlfifer

Its a 65" RCA dumb TV. Best Buy $699. Works for me.


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## gaboy

kevinlfifer said:


> FINISHED!!!! Cellar holds 46 cases and is maintaining 63 F temp.
> 
> Pix also shows what Santa left for me hanging on the wall.



Kevin, What are the lengths and widths of your boards? This is SUPER!!!


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## gaboy

gaboy said:


> Kevin, What are the lengths and widths of your boards? This is SUPER!!!



Sorry, I did not see your original post!! Great PROJECT!!


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## mrramsey

kevinlfifer said:


> FINISHED!!!! Cellar holds 46 cases and is maintaining 63 F temp.
> 
> Pix also shows what Santa left for me hanging on the wall.



What did the temps get over the summer?


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## hardworkin

Very classy look. Great job!


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## Boatboy24

kevinlfifer said:


> Its a 65" RCA dumb TV. Best Buy $699. Works for me.



A few bucks for an Apple TV or ROKU box will make it 'smart'.


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## trolo

WoW way cool looks great !!!!!!! what size are the planks if I may ask??


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## Marauderer

I noticed you do not let the bottles touch each other. Is that a taboo when storing wine or just the way you wanted to do it??


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## kevinlfifer

1. The boards are 19.5 x 2-3/8 x 5/8.

2. I have a smart blu-ray player hooked up to it

3. It is in the basement, two walls are the on the crawl space (not exterior)with the doors closed, the temp stays in a range of 62-66 F.

4. the bottles don't touch because of the size of the grid @ 4" squares. 

I used the wire grid to eliminate the width of wood vertical supports. It gave me another column = 84 bottles of storage.





Cellar Rail.pdf


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