Building the Walls of the Root Cellar

On one of the few non-rainy days this winter, I got a chance to get some more pictures of the root cellar’s progress. Here you can see that the outside of the extra-thick block walls have been sealed with a water barrier to keep rain from seeping in from the surrounding soil.

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From a glance, it looks like we must have put up the blocks ourselves since everything appears to be leaning to the left. Fortunately, that is incompetence on the part of the photographer rather than the contractor.

If you look carefully at the top rim of the blocks, you’ll notice a ridge. The concrete floor will be level with the top of the block. That allows for 6 inch thick concrete (2 inches more than required).

Here is a photo of one of the vent holes. To provide good ventilation, each of the four corners has a pipe. On one side it is down low. Directly across is a pipe exiting high. The positioning on the other two corners is reversed so that the high pipes are diagonal from each other. They will be connected to pipes that comes out above ground level and will have screens on them to prevent rodents and other things from entering.

This is the main pipe that will carry water (that runs down the exterior of the block wall) away from the root cellar. It runs well out into a pasture to drain.

The steps have been poured and a heavy duty door installed. The stairway will be covered by a part of the multi-purpose building we are putting on top.

On top of the block wall, the bridge decking is in place, ready for concrete. The project sat at this stage for quite some time since it rained and temps dropped into the low 30’s for the better part of 3 weeks. After the concrete is poured, it needs about 3 days of temperate weather to “cure.” If it gets below 32, the water in the concrete could freeze, causing it to crack. Though we were eager to see progress, we were willing to be patient since the integrity of that concrete ceiling is really important.

Original article and pictures take https://preppingtosurvive.com/2012/03/15/building-the-walls-of-the-root-cellar/amp/ site