You never know what you’re going to need, until you need it. Be prepared!
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Just finished loading up my extremely utilitarian, but very space efficient cellar. I converted an old 30x80 closet. Vapor barrier and insulation on the existing walls. After running wire for the cooling unit, I built a false ceiling using 3” foam insulation. I am using a whispercool though the wall unit. I built the doors myself. The French door design is key: it means the entire interior footprint is shelving, not space for me to stand. The shelves are plywood, 24” deep. I had cardboard tubes made. Most are 3.5 inch with one section at 4 to handle champagne and pinot. Everything is double deep. One cool trick: I used steel pipe, connected to the shelf, to crest a vertical separator so that I can use the full height of the space for most of the Edison but still leave the required clearances for cooling. The third picture shows that detail.
All in it will hold almost exactly 900 bottles. Total cost excluding the cooling unit was $1200.
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That is very cool!
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thanks for this. im building a new house with a cellar but want the opposite of a showpiece cellar. just not my style.
several questions:
can you share where you sourced the cardboard tubes?
also, any concern with these relative to moisture?
are they connected via adhesive?
are they angled upward?
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I just love the third picture because…Cantalupo Ghemme!
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I am now such a cardboard tube enthusiast that I started an entire thread about them.
I bought them from Custom Tube Company in Inver Grove, MN. You may be able to find somebody local.
I did not use adhesive and don’t think there is much of a point. With the vertical walls on all sides, they are stable.
I did not tilt them. I made sure my shelves were very level and is attached to the back wall. Also in my case, the doors close to be working a couple of envies of the shelves, so if something tilted forward when I’m not around the door would stop it.
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awesome, gracias amigo.
if i made a SWAG of comparing this to a series of sectioned off plywood boxes, i’d say performance wise it’s a better system (as bottles aren’t touching one another), price may be comparable.
i think i would be more likely to do some adhesive to these rather than to slope.
i know you said you have separate lengths for sparkling/pinot- do you think there is any utility for doing different length tubes?
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That depends on the space. I went as short as possible because the outermost columns on each side end up behind the stub wall that holds the door frame. It’s only about 10 inches from the end of the tube to that wall, making access difficult to impossible. Basically, the end of the wine bottle would be stuck inside the tube as the other end hits the wall. By going short, I hoped to be able to squeeze in. On one side it works. On the other side 18.5” is still too long. I’ll either cut those down or just use that column for the few 375s I have.
If you have the depth available, I would go with 20” for double deep. I’m not sure on single as mine is 100% double.
Good eye! I didn’t even bother putting those with the general population because the are all going to be opened for a dinner party tonight. Going to have to hunt down more.
Those tubes are a great idea for the impossible-to-stack pinot and champagne (and other) bottles. This is brilliant!
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One of my offsite lockers has this double-deep racking (5 columns W x 18H) with columns A thru E. Column F is 18- 24" x 4" tubes. When using tubes double deep, it helps to have the extra width to get your paw in there. Top shelf is for mags and Champagne bottles.
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I used cardboard tubes in a locker, capable of three deep for BDX and 4 deep for most 375s. Stability was never an issue, the honeycomb spread the weight around. It was much more efficient than open containers or boxes. I didn’t need to move anything to get to the very bottom tube. I used a simple claw / trash picker / granny reacher to get to the third bottle deep. Cheaper than wooden racks, and frankly, easier to retrieve bottle #2 and #3 deep. I had that locker for at least 10 years and the tubes could have been used again when I cleared it out.
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Anyone else zooming in on these pics to peek at the wines? Can’t be just me!
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If you mean the entire wall of MacDonald mags…then no, not at all.
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Where was that? Didn’t notice… 
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beautiful cellar Pat, what’s the bottle capacity in there?
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If you include all the wooden boxes on the ground there’s about 1200. Racking alone is probably closer to 800-900.
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I honestly thought those were just rumors, nicely done Pat 
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That shelf and mirror fooled me. i thought it was a window into a second cellar room. Great collection there.
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