Project Root Cellar ......out of a 8' tall x 14' metal culvert

[MotorSeven]

The War Dept requisitioned a root cellar over a year ago and she is getting impatient. I was in contact with a local septic tank company during this time, and the owner was working on building the forms to pour a 2,000 gal tank just for storm shelter/root cellar purposes. It's a long story on his end, and partial forms were welded up, but it just is not going to happen anytime soon. So, after researching, calling around and getting prices(up to $3,500) I decided to build my own.

My local COOP had special ordered a heavy gauge 8' tall x 14' long metal culvert a while back. The buyer had health issues and was unable to ever pick it up, so I negotiated a good price on it since they were ready to move it.....$700

I am going to pick it up this week. I have a location picked out to bury it, but I am trying to decide how to seal the ends......form/pour walls, block the walls(I have enough leftover 12" block)...or........? I am also considering planting it vertical, then forming/pouring a domed concrete roof. Obviously the strength of a culvert is horizontal, not vertical. This thing is really heavy duty, so I think I do have the option of orienting it either way. Vertical would be less work.....one roof vs two end walls.

So, have any of your TBN-ers seen one of these done up as a cellar? If so how did they attack this problem?

 

[scott_vt]

Good Morning MotorSeven,
That looks like a really interesting project !

I really cant help with construction ideas, but I do remember my grand parents having a root cellar and it worked great. It seems like you would get more usable space in the horizontal. Im thinking after you get it installed you could weld brackets for shelves etc. Possibly a block wall on the far end.

Are you planning on putting it into a side hill ? That might work out well that way for access...

Will be following your progress !

 

[wawajake]

People in my neck of the woods have used those same size of culverts for outbuildings , by plywooding in both ends using wood studs and putting a door thru the wall of one end. I would do the same for a root cellar, but would use Pressure treated plywood and studs. They make foundations out of PT wood so it will work fine for your application.
Last summer I helped a friend build a root cellar using the cedar logs he had on site. Using a 2 x8 PT plates top and bottom and vertical cedar logs , and then a roof of logs with tin over and then finished burying it in the gravel hillside. I wish we had had a culvert like yours , would of been WAY easier.

 

[Ed of all trades]

Had a friend that worked on a big horse farm. Had a big dining room so they just had to find a room for each worker. My friend lived in an old fuel tank buried in a hill with the end coming out on ground level. Don't forget if you lay it down you have to put in a floor. If you put it on end you have to climb in and out for the next 20? 30? years.

 

[SPIKER]

I would probably lay some block vertically on one end, then lay block with stairs for the other end. Put a above ground cellar exterior type doors on it to keep it dry from rain. The stair end I would put in a sump and have a concrete floor poured below bottom of the culvert so that sump is lowest spot.

Galvanized metal is deadly if you weld to it in enclosed area the fumes will take out your lungs. For brackets drill and bolt after it is placed but not back filled. If you have a Clean Oil Free Air supply then it can be welded but don't do it without fresh air into a enclosed helmet.

Other option is to make up a heavy metal end for one end and other end with a door but you still need steps down into it.

M

 

[forgeblast]

I was thinking on this if you put it in vertical, and then added shelves etc you would not have very much room. Horizontal (if you have the room) would be better. Also Amazon.com: Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits & Vegetables eBook: Mike Bubel, Nancy Bubel: Books or just go to amazon and root cellar....they have a lot of design books. Some produce requires humidity, some does not, you will also need air exchange pipes, a floor etc.....the more I think about it, could you
make a concrete/block floor walls and cut the culvert in half giving you the roof? or at least the form for a domed roof?

 

[dave1949]

I was thinking on this ....the more I think about it, could you
make a concrete/block floor walls and cut the culvert in half giving you the roof? or at least the form for a domed roof?

Yeah, I don't think that culvert makes an ideal root cellar as is. Cutting it in half length-ways to support a domed roof would make better use of it. You could place the halves (on top of short walls) end to end with a doorway between them to create two separate storage condition areas. More or less ventilation/humidity/warmth in one than the other.

You could bolt a piece of 3"x3" angle iron on the cut edges, then use the other side of the angle iron to bolt into concrete filled blocks. That would anchor it securely in place on top of the wall before you cover it with soil. You could drape pond liner across the whole thing before burying it to make it reasonably water-tight.

 

[SPIKER]

Yeah, I don't think that culvert makes an ideal root cellar as is. Cutting it in half length-ways to support a domed roof would make better use of it. You could place the halves (on top of short walls) end to end with a doorway between them to create two separate storage condition areas. More or less ventilation/humidity/warmth in one than the other.

You could bolt a piece of 3"x3" angle iron on the cut edges, then use the other side of the angle iron to bolt into concrete filled blocks. That would anchor it securely in place on top of the wall before you cover it with soil. You could drape pond liner across the whole thing before burying it to make it reasonably water-tight.

Those are great ideas, Knee wall of Block with a concrete pour inside the block with the culvert cut in half laid on top. The walls would/could have shelves build against them easier, with the roof supporting a 3rd/4th set of shelves 1/3 way up even suspended/hanging. Floor could even be left as gravel as long as one end sloped to some sort of drain/pump. With a foot or two of dirt over the top of it no one would know it was there. Sell the other half (unless you wanted to double the culvert up for a lot more rigidity) then.

Mark

 

[BHD]

my cellar, 10 foot tank with bad bottom, (non toxic contents), cut in half set on stem wall with a flat plate of steel welded to rebar that was in the cores of blocks, each filled with cement, the top was welded to the plate, and the two halves were welded together, the unit was the moped with tar, and covered with earth,

worst part of the construction was when a skunk walked into the hole and could not get out, and had to be put down where it was, made some very aromatic working conditions,

I built it in 1999, was accused of building a bomb shelter, a tornado shelter yes, and for food storage, it has been doing good ever since,

may be hard to see in the picture's, on wall opposite of the stairs, but there was hold cut in the roof about 30" around I cut a round cover, drilled holes and bolted it on with the nuts on the inside, welded the heads solid,
and then took a short piece of chain and attached that to the proper sized wrench and bolted it on one of the bolts the chain is long enough, to remove the nut it is attached to, (the wrench does not walk away), on the ledge is also a military type entrenching tool (short shovel), basically a escape hatch, if block stair well would be damaged by tornado,
if one look close one can see the wrench in picture 2, with the white paint one can not see the cover,

steel house type door set in metal door frame for exterior, all block is rebar filled with cross bars ever two courses, all cement filled, and entrance caped with concrete roof. I keep a few led lanterns in the cellar with spare batteries,

After first year a air vent was added with a wind powered ventilator, and an intake vent was added as well on the side by the stair well. in picture 4 one can see the 6" pipe, fitting I extended up later, (not in the pictures posted)

 

[Cat_Driver]

I Would m the ends with plywood 6-8" from the end. Drill holes in the pipe set in rebar in the middle of the form. Leave enough so you can put concrete in the form. Use fibers in the cement mix along with the rebar. If you need vents, electrical etc. leave room for that before you pour.