When planing to build a wine cellar, keep in mind that a home wine cellar must be designed and constructed like a refrigerator. If the room isn’t converted correctly, installing a wine cellar cooling unit will not give you proper results and could cause damage to your ceiling, walls and most importantly to your wine.
Proper room preparation is the key to controlling temperature and humidity that affect aging and storing of your wine.
The minimum insulation for a ceiling is R-19 and a vapor barrier.
Floor, if concrete, needs a vapor barrier only, but all above ground floors need to be insulated with R-19 and a vapor barrier also.
The warm side of the walls of your wine cellar is where you should install vapor barrier. I recommend you use a 6 or even 8 mm plastic sheeting for the best effects.
After the vapor barrier, you should install insulation. If it’s not possible to put the vapor barrier on the outside, then the plastic should be installed within the cellar room. Commonly, one should wrap the entire interior, but leave the plastic sheeting loose in the stud cavities, so that the insulation can be placed between the studs.
Remember, all the walls and the ceiling must me wrapped in plastic vapor barrier for a complete effect.
