# Old Root Cellar



## Laph9979 (Mar 29, 2016)

Wife and I bought a fixer upper home in Rural western Iowa and are wanting to get more independent, Canning, Root cellar, and all but don't have many Ol timers to get us going. 

First is the root cellar we have only has a single vent in the ceiling, Should I look at a incoming vent for more air flow?

Will get a few photo later on when I get it cleaned up.


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

You have to ask yourself "How old is this house?" If it's an old house and there are no signs of mold or rot, you probably are ok the way it is.


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## arrocks (Oct 26, 2011)

Is the root cellar separate from the house or in the basement of the house?


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## Dancingdoe (Dec 13, 2015)

I visited an old pre-1900s homestead and it had a separate root cellar built into the side of the hill with one vent. On top of the root cellar they built a summer kitchen and a smokehouse. They really knew what they were doing back then!


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## Abe R Crombie (Mar 13, 2005)

I built this root cellar from a 1000 gal. concrete septic tank,it measure 4x8x6 high inside.It came in two pieces like a clam shell,tongue and groove around the edges.The company I bought it from placed it down into the hole with a boom truck.The hole was the foundation from an old cottage that I re-dug,repaired the original drain from the foundation and placed the septic tank on a gravel pad with big O pipe all around and connected to the drain.I used threaded rod to bolt the 4x4 entrance down to the top and had to cut out a bigger opening than the opening it came with.It's about 10 feet from top to bottom.Stays just above freezing inside on the coldest days of winter.


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## Laph9979 (Mar 29, 2016)

Looks great Abe, Still working on getting mine cleaned up so I can get photos taken and uploaded for ideas, Have been in garden and planting fruit trees. Hoping to fill the cellar this fall.


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