Root Cellar Grow

specialkayme

specialkayme

Well-Known Member
I've been thinking over this idea for a few months now, and I've decided that I'm going to grow under ground. After further deliberation, I have decided the best path would be to build a root cellar (well, dig one out at least), and do a grow in it, in my back yard. I was going to dig out a space under my house in the crawl space, but I got a little freaked about fucking up the foundation and what not, so I decided the back yard was a better place to do it. I went to the library to research root cellars, and only found one good book. Did some online searching on it and came up with a few others. None of which answered too many questions of mine.

Generally speaking I am asking for help on building a root cellar, hopefully around 10'x10'x7' with one foot of dirt overtop. Other than digging a big ass hole, I don't know the particulars on what else to do. What I had planned on doing, was digging a hole 10'x10'x8', then taking 4x4's and creating pillars that go one foot under the cellar in all of the corners (so the 4x4's would be 8' tall, 7' visible and one foot below the actual cellar), and one in the middle of each wall. Then taking these and connecting them to their adjacent pillars with 4x4's over top. Then connecting the 4x4's on top with 2x4 slats, 8 inches appart. Covering this with plywood, then adding polyurithaine (spelling?) to seal it off. Then covering this 2x4/plywood/plastic roof with one foot of dirt. Of course building a door and stairs at one end of the cellar. All of which would be completly underground. All of the wood would be pressure treated.

What I'm not sure about, is do I need a foundation? Is a dirt floor ok, or should I plan on pouring concrete down there? Are dirt walls ok, or should I plan on sealing them up with cinderblocks? I don't know much about foundations, or suport systems, but it won't have to support much, probably just a persons weight when they walk over top, maybe two or three at a time. No vehicles drive over it, so nothing big. Anyone build one/know anything about it to help me?

Also, will I have drainage issues with going 8 feet underground? Would I need to install a subpump, or not really? Any problems that I havn't considered? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, and here are the links to the websites I have found that have taught me what I learned so far.

An Old Time Dugout Root Cellar

Root Cellar Basics

Natural Life Magazine #50 - Building An Outside Root Cellar

Building A Root Cellar

Once I start (assuming that I don't get too many pre-digging obsticles) I will take pictures and keep everyone posted.
 
P@ssw0rd

P@ssw0rd

New Member
I would think a cement floor would be a plus, not sure if you "need" it but certainly would be better. I would consider a sump pump to be a must and i would create a space lower then the floor to mount it, say a 2' deep hole in one corner.

Ventilation will have to be damn good as well, maybe not so much if you put up walls and a floor but lacking either of theses you will have humidity through the roof. Perhaps consider a dehumidifier. And how exactly do you plan to vent it? Maybe if its close enough to the house you could run 4"/6" pvc from the houses crawlspace, but i would put some kind of a trap in to prevent bringing in water, like a "t" piece with the open end pointed down and uncapped.

I applaud your drive but i hope you have the budget to pull it off, we are most likely talking about $1000's of dollars to pull it off. Good luck, I hope to see a journal of the construction if/when you begin.

As a final note, please tell me you won't try to power it with extension cords. Anything of this magnitude deserves at least 1 dedicated, hard wired circuit.

P@ssw0rd
 
specialkayme

specialkayme

Well-Known Member
Haha.

No powercords. I planned on digging out the cellar first, the digging out a trench to support a power line from the house, supported by it's own circut braker. Not sure exactly what it's called (CGI?), and I'm not good on wiring at just yet, but once I get to that point I'll inquire about some electrical questions. Don't worry, I'm not going to spend a summer digging out a hole just to let the bitch short circut or blow up.

As far as ventilation, I already planned out intake and exhaust holes, with one s&p tdx ventfan for cool tube function, and a separate one for general temp exhaust. All controled to a thermostat, for control. I also planned on hooking up a dehumidifier, if (and I expect it to) get that humid down there.

But I still don't know about the floors and walls. Any help? Obviously a cement floor would be a plus over a dirt one, but how necesary is it?
 
T

tentcity

Active Member
Definately need a foundation. You would have to place rebar or wwf no less then 2 inches off the gorund for your foundation then pour the crete. If you plan on using concrete blocks or poring the crete for walls you will need #4 rebar. For the roof you will need number 4 rebar. You will need rebar or wwf for rebar you will have to tie everything together to make a net looking deal with proper spacing(wwf is pretty much prefabbed you just have to lay it out) When you por the roof you will need screw jacks to hold the forms you make in place. Everything needs rebar or wwf(foundation, walls, and roof). I think what the cgi thing you are talking about may be a gfci. Think of this The plants devasting your life priceless.
 
T

tentcity

Active Member
What I wrote is probably confusing it is alot if work and if you dont do the research you will be risking your life. What is the time frame you are thinking of and what are you going to use to mix the concrete? if you dont go with the cylinder blocks for walls you will to have to make forms for walls and place snap ties to hold the walls together if your walls arent stout you will risk a blow out and the crete will get everywhere causing a holt in production. This is alot of work to make a little building plan on months to get it up.
 
P@ssw0rd

P@ssw0rd

New Member
yeah when i was a little kid a had this plan to move to a small shed out in the back yard. I even drew little designs of the inside and where i would put speakers in the corners and shit. Lol sounded great to a kid but my parents obviously knew better. High and forgot where i was headed with this sorry.
P@ssw0rd
 
specialkayme

specialkayme

Well-Known Member
I don't have a time frame set in mind. Hopefully in the next year, but longer is fine. I was hoping to avoid concrete, only because i don't have any experience with it. I don't have a problem making the floors out of it, but if at all possible I would choose to do the roofing and walls out of either wood or cinder blocks Nearly all root cellars that I had researched did not have concrete roofing, let alone ones with rebarb in them, so are you sure this is necesary? I'm not doubting you, just going off other plans for root cellars.
 
devilwacause

devilwacause

Well-Known Member
since I am assuming you would be utilizing the space above the root cellar as well, you might want to find some scrap steel piping or something of the like that could be used as "rafters" under the ceiling. The last thing you want is for the roof to cave in, everything else could be handled in time. Also you need to check drainage for your area. Dig a 2 foot hole in the ground and fill with water, wait till the first 6 inches are gone, then start timing how much time it takes for half the water to be absorbed. If possible, dig a bit deeper in about a 1/3 of the root cellar. Then lay drainage pipe on the upper section of the floor, hanging off slightly into the lower section. Fill lower section with fine gravel, and larger gravel (bigger as u go up) then when level with upper section cover with fine gravel again, and pour concrete. You will have a sump for water drainage that is passive and doesnt require a pump. All measurements are dependant on your drainage rate, rainfall etc however.
 
dew-b

dew-b

Well-Known Member
specialkayme said:
I've been thinking over this idea for a few months now, and I've decided that I'm going to grow under ground. After further deliberation, I have decided the best path would be to build a root cellar (well, dig one out at least), and do a grow in it, in my back yard. I was going to dig out a space under my house in the crawl space, but I got a little freaked about fucking up the foundation and what not, so I decided the back yard was a better place to do it. I went to the library to research root cellars, and only found one good book. Did some online searching on it and came up with a few others. None of which answered too many questions of mine.

Generally speaking I am asking for help on building a root cellar, hopefully around 10'x10'x7' with one foot of dirt overtop. Other than digging a big ass hole, I don't know the particulars on what else to do. What I had planned on doing, was digging a hole 10'x10'x8', then taking 4x4's and creating pillars that go one foot under the cellar in all of the corners (so the 4x4's would be 8' tall, 7' visible and one foot below the actual cellar), and one in the middle of each wall. Then taking these and connecting them to their adjacent pillars with 4x4's over top. Then connecting the 4x4's on top with 2x4 slats, 8 inches appart. Covering this with plywood, then adding polyurithaine (spelling?) to seal it off. Then covering this 2x4/plywood/plastic roof with one foot of dirt. Of course building a door and stairs at one end of the cellar. All of which would be completly underground. All of the wood would be pressure treated.

What I'm not sure about, is do I need a foundation? Is a dirt floor ok, or should I plan on pouring concrete down there? Are dirt walls ok, or should I plan on sealing them up with cinderblocks? I don't know much about foundations, or suport systems, but it won't have to support much, probably just a persons weight when they walk over top, maybe two or three at a time. No vehicles drive over it, so nothing big. Anyone build one/know anything about it to help me?

Also, will I have drainage issues with going 8 feet underground? Would I need to install a subpump, or not really? Any problems that I havn't considered? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, and here are the links to the websites I have found that have taught me what I learned so far.

An Old Time Dugout Root Cellar

Root Cellar Basics

Natural Life Magazine #50 - Building An Outside Root Cellar

Building A Root Cellar

Once I start (assuming that I don't get too many pre-digging obsticles) I will take pictures and keep everyone posted.
Click to expand...
get a crew to build you a tornado shelter. then they can do all that is needed like the elicrtal wiring. then you don't have to wory about colaping. rember safty is first. plus they will have the equitment to do the job faster. gl
 
K

korvette1977

Well-Known Member
Unless you have a backhoe save yourself the trouble and buy a grow box . or build one .. If you have a crawlspace with ample headroom section off a corner and grow there, with a 10'x 10' 7' root cellar . you will need ventelation. and 1' of earth on top will not insulate it It'll be cold in the winter (if you have a winter season) then what about flooding? oh and the electric box is a GFI (ground fault Int) I would try to make something work in the crawlspace .. Unless you dig away your footers you will not damage your foundation
 
T

tentcity

Active Member
For concrete you would want rebar or wwf. If you plan on building with wood then you would just want alot of bracing. Making a building out of wood would definately be easier and everything I typed before would not be needed. Thought you were going to do concrete everything. The only thing with wood is it rotting over time.
 
specialkayme

specialkayme

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I figured wood would be easier. I'm aware of the rotting issue, but if I get treated wood and care for it regularly, I might need to replace a board every now and then, but I don't think it will become too much of a problem.

As far as my crawl space goes, I only have a 2' crawl space. So if I were to do anything I would need to dig another 5' down, at least. Digging with a hand pick axe while lying on your stomach is not fun, I've done it before. So I figured if I was digging it out anyway, why not just dig it in my back yard. My thought process may be retarted, however.

The one unfortunate issue, is that I don't want to use a back hoe. While it would be SO MUCH EASIER, as well as quicker, I don't want the neighbors eyeing me as I bring this thing in the back yard, wondering what he is digging. I don't think they would care or even notice if I was in my backyard digging though. It sucks too cause I could have it done in a week if I could go mechanical.

I'll check out the drainage today, and get back to you.
 
specialkayme

specialkayme

Well-Known Member
I dug a hole at the location, about 18"x18" and about 2' deep, and filled it with water. I let it drain about 2 or 3", then waited an hour. In one hour it drained another 2.5". Is this good, or bad? I really don't know what I'm looking for. Do I need to wait for the hole to completly dry out before I decide if this is feasable?
 
RandomJesus

RandomJesus

Well-Known Member
I have found that keeping it simple works best for me
and this endeavor of yours seems a huge expense, and
a lot of work.
Is there nowhere more practical?
 
specialkayme

specialkayme

Well-Known Member
I've been trying to think of that, and I'm not sure if there really is. I have a cab right now, and have had a few in the past. They are nice and all, but a little cramped. I would love to just have a room to grow in, not for like comercial reasons, just to see the lady stretch her legs out a bit, if you know what I mean. I think the plants are just beautiful. But anyway, I don't really have the space inside the house. I live with two roomates, and they are not willing to commit common space. My room has too much stuff in it to take up 1/4 of it for growing, let alone to keep it somewhat stealth (not my main goal, but certainly high up on the list), and my closet is for my stuff, not really enough room there for plants. I wouldn't mind having a larger cab, like an 8' er or something, but having it raises questions to passer byers, and having it in my room again just takes up space. Attic is out, again being common space.

Not really that they disaprove of giving up the space, just they disaprove of giving up the space so I can grow pot. They don't understand my ladies like I do :). So really, that kinda left me with either sectioning off a space in the attic where my roomates wouldn't even notice it was gone, or going underground. Underground seemed more feasable (even though it seems the least). Digging under the house in the crawlspace seems illogical, and I don't want to end up digging too much and fucking up the house, then spending $30,000 to have someone fix the foundation. Digging in the backyard seemed like I could fuck up less.

I do have a back deck, where I could possibly grow under there, if I dug it out and sectioned off a peice of it, but again I wasn't sure about keeping it that close to the house and digging near the wall of the house. Sorta spooked I would fuck things up with the house or the deck.

I understand that this is not the most simple method, and there is a relatively large possibility of error and it consuming alot in materials, but I wasn't really sure what else to do.

If you guys could convince me to go with the attic, the crawlspace, or under the deck, that might work better, but I'm just not convinced yet. Would pictures of them help you guys help me?
 
ganjagoddess

ganjagoddess

Well-Known Member
I think your eyes are much larger than your brain in this situation..

Go with the attic, hands down....

I mean are you crazy trying to dig a swimming pool sized hole, that is gonna have ridiculous problems???

Although your really not instilling confidence here that your roomies are the "cool" type of peeps!!!!

Rent yourself a apartment, and do it JEFTEK style....
 
W

wowman5

Active Member
I guess I see it differently. If you have a cellar and it has dirt floors, couldn't you loosen the dirt like outside, if so then you eliminate pots, hydro to expensive to start, besides its all individual preference, really wish I could show my girls, there are a couple of problems I see. bugs, mold, also the musty cellar smell should mask most odor but invest in a ONA pro block works wonders have an apt set up with 3 plants flowering now, The best grow room will be when its legal again and I'll use my backyard
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top