Cellar under the house by own hands

For the storage of root crops of potatoes in a country house or a country house, a cellar under the house is often used. The arrangement of the cellar in the basement has a number of advantages: for vegetables you do not need to go anywhere, they are always at hand, in addition, there is no need for a device of insulated walls and floors, as the temperature in the basement of the heated house is almost always plus. Of the disadvantages, it should be noted the increase in humidity in the basement, however, it is easy to deal with this disadvantage by equipping the exhaust and supply ventilation.

It is possible to build a cellar under the house with their own hands both at the stage of laying the foundation and after the construction of the house. In the first case, the task is greatly facilitated by the fact that full access to the basement for earthworks is provided. In the case of building a cellar in a finished house with floors and flooring, the task is complicated by the fact that you have to dig the excavation manually and remove the soil from the premises.

Determining the water table and the depth of the cellar

One of the requirements for equipping the cellar in the subfield of the house is its depth of 1.5-1.8 meters, otherwise the temperature in the cellar will rise above + 8 ° C, and the vegetables will be poorly stored. In order to close the cellar, it is necessary to find out the level of groundwater in the site. If the construction of the cellar is carried out simultaneously with the construction of the foundation of the house, this task is facilitated - before the construction begins, the geodetic survey of the site is usually carried out. If the cellar is decided to be performed in a long-built house, it is necessary to determine the maximum level of groundwater independently.

There are several ways to find out:

• Drill a well to a depth of at least 2.5 meters and leave it for a few days to see if water appears in it;
• Find the water level in the nearest wells.

It is necessary to check the level of groundwater during active melting of snows and high water, or during autumn long rains. It will then be maximum, and when it is determined, it is possible to establish reliably whether the water rises to the required altitude.

If the groundwater level is closer than 1 meter to the floor surface of the house from the cellar device in the house it will be necessary to refuse and build a portable cellar in another place. If it fluctuates at a level of 1-1.5 meters, you can try to reduce it by arranging a drainage system along the perimeter of the house deeper than the expected floor level of the cellar. In this case, the walls of the cellar will need to be waterproofed qualitatively, and also arrange clay hydrosupply around them.

Ideally, the depth of the cellar should be 1.9-2.2 meters, it is at such a depth it will be convenient to stay in, and the temperature will be set at +5 ° C, which is optimal for storing vegetables.

Cellar technology and construction work

It is necessary to begin with determining the required cellar sizes - they should satisfy all storage needs of canned vegetables and cans. Usually the size of the cellar is not less than 5 m2 - at this size there is space for containers with root vegetables, and under racks with banks. The size of the excavation should exceed the pit size by at least 0.6 meters on each side, 25-30 cm of walls from monolithic concrete, and the rest of the space is necessary for the device of waterproofing and clay lock.

1. The pit is excavated with the use of special equipment when building a house, or manually, if the cellar is equipped after its construction. If the soil is showered, it is necessary to arrange the retaining walls as the trench is buried.
   

   The process of digging a foundation pit for a cellar

2. The bottom of the excavation must be lowered below the expected level by 20-30 cm, aligned and covered with rubble. The crushed stone is compacted, after which the bottom of the excavation is poured with concrete for reinforcing preparation. The armature can be either of rod or reinforcing mesh, it must extend beyond the inner area of ​​the cellar floor, so that when walls are built, a strong bond between the floor and the walls is formed. Concrete is dried for 2-3 days, after which it is possible to start erection of the walls of the cellar.
3. The walls are better to be made of monolithic moisture-resistant concrete - the moisture resistance of concrete acquires when special compounds are added to it for penetrating waterproofing. To fill the walls, formwork is made of boards, fastening them with nails with the help of bars, screeds and struts. Planks are better to take plow - it will facilitate the removal of the formwork. The width of the formwork is 30 cm, so the reinforcement cage should be installed as it is erected. The reinforcing bar with a diameter of 8-12 mm is laid along the walls of the cellar with 2 bars, connecting them in corners with the reinforcement of the adjacent wall. The bar is connected at the intersection with a soft wire, the lower tier, in addition, is connected to the reinforcement that protrudes from the floor of the cellar. At 1.5-2 meters of the height of the walls, 3-4 tiers of reinforcement are needed. Vertical connections are provided by a garter to the rods stuck in the corners of the formwork. The height of the formwork should reach the level of the rough floor. In this case, it is necessary to provide penetrations for pipes of exhaust and supply ventilation near the opposite walls of the cellar.
   

   Formwork

4. Fill concrete. Concrete for this purpose is better to order ready, as it will require quite a lot. After pouring the concrete must be vibrated with a deep vibrator or simply pierced with a metal rod, a piece of pipe or a wooden pole - this will help remove air from the concrete layer. The drying of the concrete lasts about a week, and another three weeks is needed to recruit them with full industrial strength.
5. After complete drying of the concrete, it is possible to remove the formwork and proceed to external waterproofing. Waterproofing is performed using bitumen mastic. Applying it on the outside of the walls of the cellar with a roller in three or four layers. After applying the last layer, the outer walls of the cellar are pasted with a ruberoid onto the mastic, dried and filled with soil or a clay lock. The need for a clay castle depends on the level of groundwater, if flooding is possible - it must necessarily be done. To do this, the clay is mixed with coarse-grained sand and water to form a plastic mass, similar in consistence to plasticine. The clay solution is laid layer by layer into the pit and densely rammed.
   

   Classical scheme of arrangement of the cellar under the house

6. Internal waterproofing of the cellar must be performed for both the floor and the walls. For the floor, the most reliable option is pouring with hot bitumen, followed by pasting it with a ruberoid. The ruberoid must be bent to the height of the floor screed. The walls can be waterproofed with mastics on a polymer base or with solutions for penetrating waterproofing - they are vapor permeable, so the moisture released by the root crops will be diverted to the outside of the concrete. The floor is made of concrete with a slope of 1-2 degrees towards the technical pit - this will ensure the dryness of the cellar even in the wet season.
7. The interior decoration of the cellar includes the execution of a ladder, a manhole cover, as well as an exhaust and supply air insulation. The staircase is made of an antiseptic impregnated wood, the angle of inclination is tried so that it is convenient to descend on it. The width of the steps is about 20 cm. The hatch cover is the entrance to the cellar, it must be fully reclining to avoid injuries when it drops down. The ventilation pipes are inserted into pre-prepared drills and sealed with a mounting foam or sealant. In this case, exhaust ventilation should be located at the ceiling in the wettest place of the cellar, where the pit is made, and the supply air pipe should be lowered almost to the floor near the opposite wall. Pipes lead to the street. About the ventilation of the cellar read on our website.
   

   Cellular ventilation process

If the cellar can not be made in the house, it is possible to equip it in the garage, or to take it to a detached building standing on the embankment. So you can solve the problem of the cellar installation in a site with a high level of groundwater.