Properly built custom cellars are the best places to store wines in California. Experts recommend having an R-13 insulation installed, which is minimum value required for wine storage spaces.
Custom Wine Cellar Insulation: Three Types to Choose From
A custom-made cellar is an ideal wine storage structure. There are various factors to consider to make sure that your cellar can properly provide the right conditions for wine. An essential element of an effective wine room is the installation of dependable insulation. The three most popular materials used for insulating cellars are:
Fiberglass Batt – GOOD!
The minimum required insulation for wine cellars is R-13. If you’re on a tight budget, fiberglass batts can adequately provide you with this value. Fiberglass batts are a cost-effective type of material. However, they are often poorly installed. If there are small gaps, the material’s capacity to insulate the room is reduced by 25 percent. If you opt to use fiberglass for your cellar, it is imperative that you hire a professional to install the material.
Before any fiberglass batt should be installed in your California custom-built cellar, make sure that the entire walls, ceiling and floor is applied with plastic sheeting. This is necessary to create an effective vapor barrier.
It is important to make sure that a 6 mil plastic sheeting is applied to the entire warm side of the cellar walls. Typically, wine room builders wrap all of the interior walls and leave the plastic vapor barrier loose in the stud cavities. Fiberglass batts are then placed in between each stud. All of the custom cellar’s walls, ceiling, and floor need to be wrapped in plastic sheeting to create a durable vapor barrier.
Polystyrene, or rigid foam, is another type of insulation material for custom wine cellars. Just like fiberglass, you also need to make sure that plastic sheeting is applied to the walls, ceiling, and floor before you install the material. Two layers of rigid foam that are an inch and a half thick will provide your wine room with R-19 insulation.
Rigid foam boards are a good option for insulating custom-built cellars in California. They are easy to mount and are very affordable. Keep in mind that before you install this product, you have to make sure that a plastic vapor barrier is applied to all of the wine room’s walls, ceiling and floor.
Rigid foam is a popular cellar insulation material because it is cost-efficient and easy to install. But one of the major disadvantages of using it is if there is any wiring, conduit, or piping that needs to pass through the wine room’s wall. All wires and pipes must be wrapped in polystyrene. Some cellar builders cut the rigid foam board and place it on the wire or pipe. Then, they apply spray foam to the gaps.
Closed cell polyurethane foam is the best type of insulation material for custom wine cellars. If properly applied, three inches of spray foam can provide your storage structure with R-19 insulation. One of the reasons why wine storage experts highly recommend this product is because there is no need to install plastic sheeting with this material. When spray foam skims over, it forms its vapor barrier. The compound expands and fills all cracks and crevices leaving no gaps. If there is any wire, pipe, or conduit that needs to pass through the wall of the cellar, polyurethane creates a tight seal around it, so that there is zero chance for vapor to penetrate.
Polyurethane spray foam is the best material for insulating custom-designed wine cellars. But this product needs to be installed correctly in order to work effectively. You need to hire a professional spray foam technician in California to apply polyurethane to your wine room’s walls, ceiling, and floor. US Cellar Systems is partners with spray foam experts. Contact them today for more information on where to find these professionals. Call +1 (562) 513-3017 now!
If you want to use spray foam for your custom wine cellar insulation, it is important to make sure that it is installed correctly. It is best to trust a professional to perform this. US Cellar Systems is partners with expert spray foam application technicians that can help you create a well-insulated wine storage room.
US Cellar Systems takes pride in its many years of experiences as a wine storage guru. They are known for manufacturing robust refrigeration systems for all kinds of cellars. They are also partners with leading wine cellar builders in the country. Their team of experts are knowledgeable and trained in creating effective custom wine storage structures, both for residential and commercial purposes.
Want to become an expert in constructing effective and dependable custom-built cellars in California? US Cellar Systems helps wine storage builders become better in their craft by giving tips and lessons through their video series class. Learn the basics of wine cellar construction from them today! Click here!
Have your custom wine cellar built by a trusted specialist. Contact US Cellar Systems today at +1 (562) 513-3017!
Wine Cellar Construction Orange County California Project
California wine geeks not only love collecting different kinds of wines, but also throwing wine tasting parties and hosting wine dinners at their custom home wine cellars Orange County California. The main goal of wine cellar construction is to create the best possible environment for long-term storage, as well as design a comfortable space for entertaining.
More often than not, the most dedicated and passionate wine collectors install a private wine room in the confines of their home because it affords them access to their vintages at any time, while also allowing them to grow their collection. Home wine cellars Orange County California are designed and constructed with the aesthetic preferences, storage needs, and budgetary requirements of the client in mind.
Home Wine Cellars Orange County California – The Wine Racks Used
This particular wine cellar construction Orange County California project demonstrates how a simple room can be converted into a climate controlled wine storage space that can accommodate 2, 772 wine bottles. For maximum storage space, home wine cellars Orange County California builders installed a combination of custom and semi-custom wooden wine racks, constructed in Premium Redwood.
Wooden Wine Racks – Orange County California Project
The integration of different styles of wooden wine racks with varying bottle openings, ranging from 375ml, 750ml, and 1.5 liters, allowed the collector to organize and display wine bottles of different sizes and shapes. Premium Redwood was the material of choice for the racking system because of the wood’s natural beauty, durability, non-aromatic quality, and resistance to decay.
Wooden wine racks for this custom wine cellar construction Orange County California project include a high reveal display row that runs across the back wall and continues along the left wall. Concealed LED ribbon lighting dramatically highlights the client’s favorite wine labels on the display column. It also features a tabletop made from the same wood material as the wine racking, coated with a clear lacquer finish to protect against spills and stains.
Wooden Wine Racks for Home Wine Cellars Orange County California
In order to achieve optimal storage capacity, wine cellar construction Orange County California builders incorporated single bottle storage racks with a depth of 23 inches on the left side of the wall, and a combination of single and double deep racks on the back wall.
Bottle racking with small and large openings provides additional storage space for splits and magnums, respectively. To accommodate the client’s Pax Syrah collection, 7 columns with 4” x 4” bottle openings were added to the leftmost side of the racking frame on the right wall.
Wine Cellar Cooling as Part of the Wine Cellar Design and Construction Process
Maintaining a stable wine storage environment is a crucial element of wine cellar construction. An efficient custom wine room requires proper wine cellar cooling, which will help facilitate the aging process by regulating temperature and humidity levels inside the storage space.
Wine Cellar Cooling Unit with Wooden Grill Cover
A wine cellar cooling split system from US Cellars was installed to help achieve the ideal climate conditions. The Rack Cool Series wine cellar cooling unit is designed to eliminate fan noise and heat discharge. The evaporator was mounted within the racking frame, while the condenser was placed in a remote location.
A specially made wood grill box cover keeps the refrigeration equipment hidden from view. Constructed in Premium Redwood, it blends well with the rest of the wine cellar furniture, and creates a smooth and even appearance.
Home Wine Cellars Orange County California Project by Coastal
A properly constructed custom wine room must satisfy several prerequisites of wine cellar construction, such as properly installed insulation, vapor barriers, and an exterior grade entry door. Satisfying these conditions will help create a wine cellar environment that is conducive for storing and aging wines.
Tim: People produce a lot of pictures where there’s nobody in it and it’s always good to give it scale and perspective if there’s somebody in the picture.
Leslie: We’re talking about my liquid children and they’re in the photo.
Tim: Indeed. So we’ve got some great pictures from start to finish. We could just take a quick tour of the wine cellar construction process. These are all to do with the cellar, right?
Wine Cellar Construction Orange County California
Leslie: Yes. Basically what I did was took some pre-photos. These were the kind of things that I was sharing with Jerry. I think I remember sharing this exact album with Jerry that basically said ‘here is what my house looks like; here’s the wall, here’s this situation, here’s that situation,’ just to give him an idea of what I was thinking about doing and where. So that was the wall, the one that you’re really on and it even says in the comments that I really wanted to ditch that wall. My goal was to ditch that entire wall which didn’t happen and honestly saved me probably $30,000.
Tim: That’s a reasonable amount.
Leslie: The AC amount would have been huge because it would have been this nice, clear open and then the wine cellar construction amount on top of it.
Tim: I’m guessing that it’s useful to see the house as the wine cellar design is done. It helps to make sure that the style of the cellar is in keeping with the style of the house.
Pre Wine Cellar Construction Photos
Jerry: Certainly with color schemes and the species of the wood. If the home is more contemporary styling then typically there’s a stain or a topcoat or a clear coat finish put over them. Some homes are a bit more rustic and have distressed areas like distressed flooring, beams in the ceiling, so we would use something like we used at Sea Smoke.
Tim: In these pictures, does it give us an indication as to where the cellar is in relation to the rest of the house?
Leslie: Yes and no. The very first photo you see is my front door. You’re looking at my two front doors while one front door is missing, my living room, and then the wine cellar which has obviously now been replaced with a wine cellar door.
Tim: Is that here?
Before Photo – Wine Cellar Construction in Orange County CA
Leslie: Yes. That’s my custom wine cellars Orange County now. I did the same thing when I renovated my house because I do so much work in social media and everyone loved the experience so much that I thought I had to do this. On my one bulletin board, it’s actually the most viewed thread this year that people have been watching. I mean, who doesn’t love watching change happen, fun change like this?
Jerry: That’s a great picture of the custom wine cellars Orange County there. That’s the closet that we’re utilizing.
Tim: Oh, okay. Now I can relate it to those wine cellar design drawings. We’re looking sort of this way and that’s where it’s built into the closet. Very good!
Leslie: I don’t miss that ugly fan one bit. I was so happy with the day I asked to be able to throw it out and they actually let me. So that was great.
Jerry: You retained that beautiful flooring, though, did you not?
Leslie: Yes, the flooring is still in there. My concern is that I tried my best to see if it had plastic underneath it because it is an on concrete slab, so I just have to hope that whoever installed the item before me did indeed put it on plastic below it. So far it’s been fine. So we’ll see.
Tim: This is the April 1st picture. This is a picture of your completed custom wine cellars Orange County on April 1st?
Leslie: Yes, absolutely done! Absolutely! I keep the wines in the trash bags that you see in the corner.
Wine Cellar Insulation – Installation of Vapor Barriers
Tim: What are they doing here? Ripping out all the insulation in there?
Leslie: All of the drywall had to come down and all the insulation. Obviously I didn’t think it through but it had to come out of the ceiling as well. So this was day one and all they did on day one was rip it down and take out all the insulation, and then of course we had closing the window, taking the AC out. We had to cap the AC and move it. All that fun stuff.
During Wine Cellar Construction
Actually my power went off that day. It was pretty funny. This is the wall where the AC sits now. You’ll see that you can see half and then not. The top actually goes to my bedroom because I’m in a tri-level house. So that leads to my closet and that leads to my bedroom and below is walk-in storage that goes the entire width of my house. It’s kind of funny when this photo was taken. I had no idea just how much my bedroom fed into that level, but that’s how much it feeds into it.
Tim: You’re so good, so many pictures.
Leslie: Oh, I tried. So April 4th was a fun photo. I came home and I’m like, “Wow, that’s interesting.” Obviously the day that the window came down, it actually had termite damage on the window and they were going to enclose the entire window again and I said to them no because if I do sell the house in the future and if they don’t like wine, I want to try to be able to put this room back. So they actually just reframed it and I think two or three photos in from here, you’ll see that they actually reframed it to still be a window. My hope is that it never happens or happens many, many, many, many years down the line, but it is actually framed within the dry wall to be a window again if needed.
Jerry: That show’s it all boarded up and framed up.
Tim: Clearly thinking ahead there.
Framed Up Window to Ensure Airtight Seal
Leslie: Well, you know, the thing is that I either depreciated this house by quite a bit or I appreciate it for someone who buys this house in the future. My hope is that I live here many, many, many years from now very happy and all that good stuff. If I was looking for a house and I saw a custom wine cellars Orange County like this, I would probably think about changing cities to head to a house and I realized that those people might be out there, but not everyone’s like that.
Tim: April 4th, April 6th
Leslie: A little bit more progress with the wine cellar construction. They closed up the window which for the longest time they forgot to paint which was pretty entertaining. This was interesting; they started to put up the insulation and forgot to put up the vapor barrier. I remember calling Jerry and saying, “Jerry!” He was like, “Oh yeah, no, no, no, no, no! The vapor barrier needs to go up.” So they started putting the vapor barrier up and then they realized that the paper had to come down because you can’t have the vapor barrier and then paper because it creates a double vapor barrier. I learned quite a bit during this wine cellar design and wine cellar construction process.
Jerry: The vapor barrier needs to be behind the insulation in this process.
Leslie: And it wasn’t happening. So you’ll see in this photo they just started putting up the vapor barrier and then they had to rip down all the paper. Thank goodness I was posting this. In all honesty, I love my contractor but he wasn’t aware of a couple of things that he should’ve been aware of and a lot of my friends on a wine bulletin board are actually wonderful in helping out.
Tim: So now we’re on April 7th.
Leslie: It’s scary that I remember these days. You’re not going to see too much changes here, just the paper being removed in some places, more insulation being added, and then after this the lights were put in and were actually working.
Tim: April 9th through 14th
Vapor Barriers for Wine Cellar Insulation
Leslie: This is a cute story. This is when the process was going so weird that I didn’t know what to do and I was going out of town. I was going to be in Arizona for the weekend. As you know I love taking photos of everything, so I got a little concerned because I was going to be out of town. So I left my little Sony portable camera in the room and all the contractors when they came in to work actually took photos when they were done for the day. This was all of my contractors and workers taking photos, which I thought was very sweet.
Tim: I noticed they’re studiously not in the photos.
Leslie: There it is. There’s a shoulder shot of one of them.
Tim: I noticed here there are some instances where there’s paper and there’s instances where there isn’t paper. What’s that about?
Leslie: It’s just simply because they hadn’t gotten around to it yet. If you go down a few photos more, you’ll see all of the paper being removed which is how it should be done.
Tim: So this is the sheetrock ready to go in?
Leslie: Yes, that’s the drywall ready to go.
Tim: April 15th and it looks like it starting to take shape now.
Leslie: This is the weirdest thing because this is when the temperature level of this room completely changed. This was just because of the tape and the mud and everything, but this was exciting to start to see happen.
Tim: I don’t understand what you mean by the temperature of the room changed.
Leslie: Someone said that when you start getting into tape and mud and all that, it creates its own kind of moisture level and this room was considerably warm than the rest of my house. I mean, it was almost stiflingly warm to be in there. This was just standard. Once this whole room was taped, it was crazy hot. I would walk in there and I almost couldn’t breathe and other people felt the same way.
Jerry: Which is a sign that it’s a good airtight room.
Leslie: Yes, someone said to me that it is such a good sign, you don’t even know. So I was happy to hear that.
Tim: What are we looking at here?
Attic Space – Custom Wine Cellars Orange County
Leslie: I had to move my attic space because my attic space was currently in the closet. So I had to move it to this area and if you look there is a crack riding across. That’s from additional termite damage. We just decided to tackle all of this at once and reput the attic access there, reframed a couple of things that had some termite damage, and took care of that.
Tim: So what is that?
Leslie: It’s just the controller screen and for the longest time it had tape all around it. Everyday I’d show up and it would be in a different position. I just loved the fact that if this thing makes it through this construction process, I’d be so proud of it.
Custom Wine Cellar Refrigeration
Jerry: We used ductless split wine cellar refrigeration system, Tim.
Tim: We’re getting there now. It’s starting to look really interesting. What have we got here?
Leslie: April 18th was when this room was just crazy. You’ll see there’s a fan smack down in the middle. It was so damp and warm in there. This was when I was getting fed up with all the dust, but it’s so fun looking back to this. Watching the progress is fun.
Tim: What’s this?
Side Storage at Leslie’s Residence in Orange County CA
Leslie: Remember what I told you about the side storage that I have? That’s my side storage and they were using that area as a pass through. I just noticed I was actually back there on that day because ATT was here because I was going to wire the house for ATT pulse and I was happy they got to pass through backup. But that’s the side storage and that is the half wall you saw on the very first photo that was completely open to my storage. You’ll see the wine cellar refrigeration lines heading down and you’ll get a good chuckle if you look all the way to the left, you’re going to see what looks like wine racking wrapped up in plastic. That would be my very first wine storage system, probably five years ago. It held 50 bottles and I thought I would never need more.
Tim: It looks like they taped off the area they’re working because you definitely don’t want dust on the nice, wide screen TV there.
Remote Temperature Gauge with Bottle Probe
Leslie: I don’t know if you guys know about this device. This is from a company called Weather Direct and this thing rocks. It is a remote temperature gauge that also has a bottle probe, so I can have it give me air temperature as well as bottle temperature. And I can set the ping amount, so I can ping it every day, ping it every hour, ping it every 5 minutes, and then I can say to it when you ping it and the parameter is not met (e.g. it’s too warm, too humid, not humid enough) send me a text message and send me an email.
Tim: This screen that we’re seeing is presented on…
Temperature Control Alarm System – Wine Cellar Refrigeration
Leslie: You’re looking at the web screen. So it’s telling you at the top it says wine cellar, it’s saying when it was last seen, and then the last measured values. Of course, the AC wasn’t on and running at this time, but I’ve got the device and it was just sitting around my house and so I had it for fun toggling at 73 degrees and you’ll see that in red it saying that the notified parameter was met on both temperature and humidity.
Jerry: So it’s an alarm system for you?
Leslie: Absolutely. And it’s also one way of testing the AC because I’m getting different temperatures obviously near the AC system to the floor to the ceiling to the wall that feeds in to my backyard. They all are varying by a tiny bit. This has been really neat to be able to take this device and move it and just get a feel for the different temperatures that are happening around the room which is great and a lot of my wine buddies who have custom wine cellars Orange County use this. It has two pieces. The part itself that goes into the cellar and there’s another piece that needs an Ethernet connection. Up in my office, I have the other part that is hooked up into my wireless router and it has reception from I believe 200 feet away. It works great and it has a mobile website. I actually have on my phone a mobile website and it will tell me what temperature my wine cellar is any time I want to know.
Tim: We are definitely dealing with a geek here.
Leslie: The AC guy told me these things are fantastic. I have to agree and it’s a whopping $60.
Tim: You could be somewhere in a different state or you’re in a meeting somewhere and you could just say, “Excuse me a moment my wine cellar is calling me.”
