in the process of building wine cellar in our home, just wondering if everyone has done tile or if anyone has ever done pea gravel. I’ve seen pea gravel a couple of times and really liked how effective it was, especially if you ever dropped a bottle the gravel acts as a cushion. If I went with pea gravel I would make sure it have it washed beforehand so there doesn’t years of dust being tracked into the house. I was at Selosse’s hotel cellar this year and they had a steel grate in place of a door mat on the inside of the cellar so any gravel stuck to your shoe would fall into the grate.
I’ve heard of some folks using cork tile, but the idea of cork scares me (more what I don’t know, than what I do)
any thoughts out there? Anyone ever do anything other than traditional tile??
If I were able to have a wine cellar at home, I’d definitely do this, or rubber mat, something soft. Just setting bottles down on tile or concrete can crack them if you’re not really careful every time.
I wouldn’t do gravel. I’m in the construction biz and make sure clients carefully consider gravel, even when we do it for paths and patios.
It gets stuck to shoes, especially athletic shoes and invariably gets brought into adjacent indoor areas. I doubt that even a grate would remove pieces lodged in tread.
Even washed gravel will be dirtier than a solid surface floor. Unless it is smooth like river pebbles, it creates its own dust over time with the friction of walking.
The ladies often don’t like gravel as it is much harder to walk or stand on with any sort of heel.
I realize that there is a risk of breakage on a simply stained or painted concrete floor. My wine has always been stored over concrete or tile and in 20 years I’ve only broken two bottles. Knocking on wood.
It might be possible, but I have never heard of cork taint in cork flooring. The other aspect of cork is that it has some insulative property that might make it slightly less beneficial in a passive cellar.
Has anyone made or seen a cork floor out of used wine corks? My thought would be slicing the rounds about ½ inch thick and gluing them to a backing of some sort. The biggest drawback I can see is if you do break something or have a mess cleaning it would be a pain. That said, depending on how the backing is setup you could probably just pull out the impacted section for cleaning or replacement. I shouldn’t have a shortage of cork when I actually get around to building something.
Have tile in mine. Only 1 bottle broke in 20 years and that was due to my son crawling on the floor and pulling a bottle out of its racking. Too bad it was a magnum.
I certainly wouldn’t do gravel as noted above. Just way to messy and can see the issue with women’s shoes being a problem. Cork would certainly be nice but tile will help keep a passive cellar cooler in the summer months.
Last home we used foam puzzle mats cut to exact floor dimensions. Remarkably cheap, not cold to walk on and although I never dropped one, would have saved any dropped bottles.
If I were to do pea gravel, I’d keep a slightly raised more solid walkway or stepping stones in the middle to stand/walk on most of the time.
This might be harder than you think to do. Certainly interesting and creative but trying to get them all the same length and then glued to a backing might be too high of a labor of love for most. I guess it depends on how big of space you have to cover. Also, old corks tend to dry out and could easily be chipped or begin to crumble apart. Ypu might be repairing more often than you want. Nevertheless, love to see some prototypes. Post pictures when you start your trial phase.
I used 18" square carpet tiles, they are backed with about 3/8" of rubber and are intended to be glued down, but I just cut to fit and they seem fine. I am Very Glad there is something soft on the floor of my wine closet!
How much time do you intend on spending in the cellar anyways? If you keep it at the proper temperature it won’t be all that comfortable to hang out in.
That said, I spent about 6 months collecting wooden wine crates from local retailers, and then built a floor out of the decorative ends. They came in all sorts of different sizes and thicknesses, so I cut them down to match, got some help from a carpenter buddy to shave down the thicker planks, glued them down to the concrete subfloor and lacquered the heck out of them. I was worried how they might hold up but after two plus years they still look great! If your cellar floor is too large for this kind of project you might consider decorating a wall like this - in that case you won’t have to worry as much about making all the labels the exact same thickness.
Have you tried any of that Antoniolo Spanna yet Steve? I’d be interested in what it’s like. Well to be fair, I’d be interested in all the Northern Piemonte nebbiolo wines stood up there, but especially the Antoniolo.
