A cellar can get by just fine with the unfinished cement floor, especially if you’re in a very well drained area. My cellar floor is laid over very thin sandy soil, which has caused some settling issues but the basement has never seen even a drop of water seeping up through the floors. Through the walls, well, that’s a different issue -- but through the floors, not a drop.
My brother lives about 2 miles away. His house is built on a hard clay pan. When it rains you can watch the floor change color, if you’re lucky. If you’re not, you can watch the water percolate through the floor! Obviously, we have different cellar issues. Actually, it’s the same because he realized anything he would do was futile so he now stores his wine in my cellar!
I would suggest that if you do choose to put down flooring, go with something that has a little bounce or give. Rubber mats commonly used in restaurants or playrooms make ideal cellar flooring for those moments when everything seems to be conspiring against you! While a broken bottle can add amazing perfumes to your cellar, and really make it smell like a cellar, no one wants to clean up all that broken glass.
If rubber isn’t your thing, you might consider a nice cork floor, or a floating floor; each gives enough to prevent all but the most inevitable spills, and allows for easy clean-up! And don’t ignore good ol’ linoleum.
Chapter 5: Wine Cellar Windows and Doors
Return to Building a Wine Cellar
This article is part of a series on building your own wine cellar:
I. Building Wine Cellar Walls
II. Wine Cellar Vapor Barriers
III. Wine Cellar Ceilings and Lighting
IV. Wine Cellar Flooring
V. Wine Cellar Windows and Doors
Similar Topics:
Wine Racking Wood Choices
Comments
Linoleum is great for the occasional "oops" in the wine cellar...I got some industrial strength inexpensive linoleum that they use in schools for extra durability.
Sep 01, 2010 at 1:32 AM
I've always preferred brick floors. They play a useful role during the 'seasoning' of a wine cellar for the long haul, especially the creation of a properly humid environment, etc., when I christen them with the remains of unfinished bottles at the beginning of the cellar's life. Love that real-wine-cellar yeasty smell that does dissipate a bit over time, but still remains in the background, kind of similar to the new-tatami-mat smell in a Japanese style house that lessens over time.
I've always viewed antiseptically clean, eat-breakfast-off-the-floors wine cellars as somehow faux poseurs... ;-)
Sep 01, 2010 at 5:55 PM
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