New Wine Room

Johnd · Mar 20, 2016

I've started this thread to chronicle the construction of my new wine room. As I live in the Deep South, this will be an above ground room with temperature and humidity control. You can see from the photo, this is a currently an outdoor area surrounded by my home on three sides. I installed a slab there several years ago, which slopes to a drain in the center. The space is 12' x 14'.

The current plan includes:
One 14' wall of bottle racking and one 12' wall of bottle racking, 6' high with 15" x 15" diamonds above.
One 14' wall (door is on this wall) with base and wall cabinets to store all of my winemaking equipment and supplies, deep stainless sink for cleaning, washing, etc.
Last 12' wall will have vertical racking for carboy and barrel storage, with 15" bottle storage diamonds above.
Stone floors, oak walls and ceilings, stone countertops. All oak wood racking, cabinets, and storage.
I'll be using a split, ducted, refrigeration system with humidity controls.
With building permit in hand, tomorrow it kicks off with a 6" x6" curb to install the fourth wall on top of. All the walls will be 6" with closed cell sprayed foam insulation.
Here we go!

Tnuscan · Mar 20, 2016

I'm excited for you, hope everything falls perfectly into place. Cheers!!!

bkisel · Mar 20, 2016

Very ambitious. I wish you the best.

I'm guessing you're not concerned about the cost but how long do you figure you'll break even - i.e. what you save on home making wine equals the cost of the new wine room?

Runningwolf · Mar 20, 2016

Anxious to follow your journey!

Natrix · Mar 20, 2016

That's a great project !
Will follow it.

Johnd · Mar 20, 2016

bkisel said:
Very ambitious. I wish you the best.

I'm guessing you're not concerned about the cost but how long do you figure you'll break even - i.e. what you save on home making wine equals the cost of the new wine room?

Quite contrary, cost is important, but it's worthless if done incorrectly.
Firstly, this will add square footage to my home, the value of the addition is about $25,000, at $150/sf. I hope not to spend any more than that.
Second, I also buy and collect some commercial wines, an investment which needs proper protection.
Third, and most importantly, I can't continue to store my wine in my home, for space reasons as well as storage temperatures.
So I look at the room as break even in terms of the value of my home, the rest is lagniappe!!!

ibglowin · Mar 20, 2016

Looking forward to following your progress! :br

Mismost · Mar 21, 2016

Which direction will your roof slope? Looks like it will be pretty flat unless you slope it back to the left...hard to tell from the picture. Sorry, I'm just a big fan of moving water off a roof as quickly as possible to avoid leaks. Interesting project, just not much height to work with.

Johnd · Mar 21, 2016

Mismost said:
Which direction will your roof slope? Looks like it will be pretty flat unless you slope it back to the left...hard to tell from the picture. Sorry, I'm just a big fan of moving water off a roof as quickly as possible to avoid leaks. Interesting project, just not much height to work with.

New roof high point will be as high up on the gable as possible, sloping down towards where the picture was taken from, roof slope will be 4:12, good water mover.

Johnd · Mar 21, 2016

New 5-1/2" x 5-1/2" curb formed and poured this morning by a couple of my carpenters. The fourth wall of the Wine Room will sit atop this curb.

Notice the 5/8" anchor bolts protruding from the top of the curb, these bolts will be used to anchor the exterior wall to the curb and slab, a requirement of the Building Code down here in the hurricane south. 3/8" bolts used to be the standard, upped to 5/8" after Katrina. Hurricane strapping will also be attached to these bolts, up the studs, over the double top plate, and attached to the roof rafters.

From here it gets slower, as I wait for the framer to finish up a job he's working on elsewhere.

Boatboy24 · Mar 21, 2016

Johnd said:
From here it gets slower, as I wait for the framer to finish up a job he's working on elsewhere.

You can clean out that gutter while you wait. Looks like it needs it.

Johnd · Mar 21, 2016

Boatboy24 said:
You can clean out that gutter while you wait. Looks like it needs it.

Cute, Jim. Actually, my gutters all have screens on them, so what you are seeing is pine needles caught up in the screen, I can assure you that the gutters are clean as a whistle inside. Can't let leaves and needles get in there and back up with the quantity of rain we get.

TexasWino · Mar 23, 2016

Cool project! Sounds like you did your research. What brand cooling system did you go with?

Johnd · Mar 23, 2016

TexasWino said:
Cool project! Sounds like you did your research. What brand cooling system did you go with?

Haven't pulled the trigger yet, but leaning toward the WineZone system it offers what I'm looking for, outside condenser unit, attic air handler unit, ducted supply and return with humidity control. All you'll see in the room is a supply and a return grill mounted in the ceiling. Quietest, most efficient, and longest service life of all the systems. Easy for HVAC technicians to work on, but also requires the largest investment. Brand may change, but I'm pretty set on the system arrangements and components.

ceeaton · Mar 24, 2016

John, curiosity is getting the better of me. Will the large window remain to show off the room to the main house or am I jumping the gun a bit?

Johnd · Mar 24, 2016

ceeaton said:
John, curiosity is getting the better of me. Will the large window remain to show off the room to the main house or am I jumping the gun a bit?

Craig:

The current plan is to remove that double window and close it up. That wall ends up being the wall where I have two high storage for carboys and barrels with storage diamonds on top. From the house side, that's the kitchen, we'll be rocking the hole and adding a couple more wall cabinets for storage. I must admit that we've talked about leaving the window, but since the room will be dark most of the time, it doesn't seem to be the best use. Additionally, the heat / cold gain and loss through the windows is greater than that of a wall. Ultimately, there will be one door in/out of the room, and no one will be able to spy on me while I'm in there!

TexasWino · Mar 24, 2016

Johnd said:
Haven't pulled the trigger yet, but leaning toward the WineZone system it offers what I'm looking for, outside condenser unit, attic air handler unit, ducted supply and return with humidity control. All you'll see in the room is a supply and a return grill mounted in the ceiling. Quietest, most efficient, and longest service life of all the systems. Easy for HVAC technicians to work on, but also requires the largest investment. Brand may change, but I'm pretty set on the system arrangements and components.

Perhaps you have already explored this option but if you have enough room in your attic you can save some money by going with just a ducted unit from Wine Guardian. http://wineguardian.com/wine-cellar-cooling-units/ducted/ Or CellarPro http://www.cellarprocoolingsystems.com/purchase-wine-cooling-unit.
With CellarPro you have to get the add on ducting to make it work.

We try to stay away from splits as much as possible as they cost more upfront and install is much more difficult.

Johnd · Mar 24, 2016

TexasWino said:
Perhaps you have already explored this option but if you have enough room in your attic you can save some money by going with just a ducted unit from Wine Guardian. http://wineguardian.com/wine-cellar-cooling-units/ducted/ Or CellarPro http://www.cellarprocoolingsystems.com/purchase-wine-cooling-unit.
With CellarPro you have to get the add on ducting to make it work.

We try to stay away from splits as much as possible as they cost more upfront and install is much more difficult.

I have looked at them, these are the systems that have the AHU and Condenser all in one unit in the attic. Where I live (Deep South), my attic temps get up into the low 100's (even with spray foam at underside of roof) during the summer. These type units, with their condensers located in the hot attic, can't get the temperature differential needed to adequately cool in these conditions, plus they add heat to the attic space, exacerbating the problem. The split system, with the condenser located outside, fares much better with the condenser located in 95 degree outside air temps with unlimited exhaust space.

You are correct, though, the install is more complicated and costly, but as a commercial general contractor, I can get it installed at very low cost.

Floandgary · Mar 24, 2016

Johnd said:
Craig:

The current plan is to remove that double window and close it up. That wall ends up being the wall where I have two high storage for carboys and barrels with storage diamonds on top. From the house side, that's the kitchen, we'll be rocking the hole and adding a couple more wall cabinets for storage. I must admit that we've talked about leaving the window, but since the room will be dark most of the time, it doesn't seem to be the best use. Additionally, the heat / cold gain and loss through the windows is greater than that of a wall. Ultimately, there will be one door in/out of the room, and no one will be able to spy on me while I'm in there!

Should be one-way the other way!! Also how about a pass-through (bottle size) to the kitchen

bkisel · Mar 24, 2016

Floandgary said:
Should be one-way the other way!! Also how about a pass-through (bottle size) to the kitchen

How about a beverage cooler that opens to both the wine room and kitchen? :HB

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