I am thinking about putting a matching veneer on the walls behind the racking and shelves. It will add some cost and a little work but not much more than a proper paint job. It seems to me that it will create a look that is more cabinet quality than if it is painted drywall behind and thus higher end finish. Curious if others have gone this route or decided against it for some aesthetic reason I haven’t considered.
James
I’ve installed cellars where we clad the walls with plywood to match the racking. There can be fire code issues depending on the application, so you may need drywall behind the ply.
I really like the look, but it does add expense. No issues as of yet with delamination due to humidity, but I see that as a potential concern.
I went with full 3/4" TiG cedar and it’s worked well:
Depends on your racking material, but instead of true veneer you might look for thin panels you can put over plywood (assuming no firecode issues). FWIW, my cedar went over 1/4" plywood so that there was something beyond studs to nail into.
I also did a thin wood veneer behind my racks (maybe 1/8"), stained dark brown to match the racking, and it looks great. No issues so far, and hopefully won’t have any in the future. I assume so long as the RH is kept below 70%, there shouldn’t be any issues. I agree, IMO it looks much more finished than the contractor’s suggestion to paint the drywall a deep red color - it lets the wine be the focal point versus letting the contrast of the rack and wall compete with the bottles.
I seriously considered TIG mahogany, but in the end decided to go with Densarmor drywall painted a dark red color. The red blends into the background and the focus is on the wine and racks and the Densarmor has fiberglass rather than paper to handle any humidity the cellar can throw at it.
I’m in the midst of remodeling our guest bath and the contractor buddy who I consult with before starting major projects couldn’t speak highly enough about Densshield - which is the tile backer version of Densarmor. I guess code for shower installation was recently changed for Napa/Sonoma counties and now calls for Densshield.
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. I think I am leaning towards 1/4 walnut plywood on the flat walls behind the wine racks and walnut veneer on the concave curved walls. Apparently its not easy to glue veneer to drywall so thin plywood seems like a better call when possible.
Andrew, nice looking cellar. I’m jealous after 4 years of off and on construction on my own cellar.
We did a bathroom at the same time as the cellar (they came out of the same space) and used the Schluter Kerdi shower system for the shower. It goes over regular drywall and is completely water tight.
BTW, the Densarmor is not terribly expensive. I think we paid $38 a sheet.
Andrew - I started puzzling over this a bit. I thought drywall (firerated) was necessary only on walls where there was some chance of combustion. E.g., in a garage against the living area, or around a furnace/boiler. On the inside of the wine cellar there wouldn’t be any combustion device (one hopes!), so shouldn’t any requirement on this be met by putting drywall on the outside of the cellar?
Electrical wiring & junction boxes could be considered a possible ignition source… ??
We did 3/4" TIG redwood to match redwood racking.
Then you could never have paneling!
Somewhere in my poking around and planning for my cellar I saw someone who had used siding. From the photo, it looked decent, and presumably that would do away with humidity concerns.
I’m just going for maximum capacity, so I’m not planning anything fancy.