Cold Storage room

[beefytee]

So, I want to finish my Cold storage area down in my unfinished basement but am not a huge handyman so I'm seeking any input anyone wishes to share. I haven't found much online about it.

I've attached pictures of the room and its dimensions. The ceiling is a little higher than most basements -- 8.5 feet.

Here are the requirements:

We want to put a door on it or at least some way to seal it off in the mean time. With the basement around it not finished is there any tricks to making this work.

I understand that you need special material in shelving as the moister levels can get higher in there or something.

I also plan on putting an electrical socket in there, but that should be pretty straight forward, shouldn't it?

Please, let me know what you think.

[venkman]

So, I want to finish my Cold storage area down in my unfinished basement but am not a huge handyman so I'm seeking any input anyone wishes to share. I haven't found much online about it.

I've attached pictures of the room and its dimensions. The ceiling is a little higher than most basements -- 8.5 feet.

Here are the requirements:

We want to put a door on it or at least some way to seal it off in the mean time. With the basement around it not finished is there any tricks to making this work.

I understand that you need special material in shelving as the moister levels can get higher in there or something.

I also plan on putting an electrical socket in there, but that should be pretty straight forward, shouldn't it?

Please, let me know what you think.

I've never heard of that. I did with my cold storage what my parents have done: rudimentary shelves made of 2x3's and plywood. Works fine. Your cold storage room is nothing to go all Brian on...

[Surfah]

So, I want to finish my Cold storage area down in my unfinished basement but am not a huge handyman so I'm seeking any input anyone wishes to share. I haven't found much online about it.

I've attached pictures of the room and its dimensions. The ceiling is a little higher than most basements -- 8.5 feet.

Here are the requirements:

We want to put a door on it or at least some way to seal it off in the mean time. With the basement around it not finished is there any tricks to making this work.

I understand that you need special material in shelving as the moister levels can get higher in there or something.

I also plan on putting an electrical socket in there, but that should be pretty straight forward, shouldn't it?

Please, let me know what you think.

You can hang a door on there. It's easy. It looks like you already got a frame in the doorway. With those 2" x 4"s you have in there you're set to hang a 36" door. Rough opening is 38" and you got that with the frame in place.

An outlet or two should be easy enough. Since you probably don't want to frame out the inside I'd just use a powder actuated gun to shoot a 2" x 4" into the wall where you want the box for it to mount to. It should be pretty straightforward. Is you breaker panel there in your basement? Or do you have a box outside that room you could jump from that won't overload that circuit?

I don't know that you need special shelving. I'd be more concerned about having something heavy duty enough to handle the weight of your food storage or whatever else you plan on storing in there. You really just need something to keep your storage off the floor. Good luck. Should be a simple fun project.

I'd just get some nice heavy duty

[pellegrino]

You can hang a door on there. It's easy. It looks like you already got a frame in the doorway. With those 2" x 4"s you have in there you're set to hang a 36" door. Rough opening is 38" and you got that with the frame in place.

An outlet or two should be easy enough. Since you probably don't want to frame out the inside I'd just use a powder actuated gun to shoot a 2" x 4" into the wall where you want the box for it to mount to. It should be pretty straightforward. Is you breaker panel there in your basement? Or do you have a box outside that room you could jump from that won't overload that circuit?

I don't know that you need special shelving. I'd be more concerned about having something heavy duty enough to handle the weight of your food storage or whatever else you plan on storing in there. You really just need something to keep your storage off the floor. Good luck. Should be a simple fun project.

I'd just get some nice heavy duty

Or even a 1x3 would work. The powder guns are fun, wear earplugs in the basement, they can be loud.

[beelzebabette]

People finish their cold storage rooms? I thought the point was it was the one "free" room in the house you don't have to finish.

[falafel]

Is this like a walk-in freezer? I've never heard of a cold storage room.

[Donuthole]

Is this like a walk-in freezer? I've never heard of a cold storage room.

Very common in houses with basements. It is often a room right underneath the front porch of the house, though that doesn't have to be the case. It's uninsulated, so while it's not fridge cold (well, maybe in northern Utah in the winter it is), but it's a room that stays cool year round.

[beefytee]

Is you breaker panel there in your basement? Or do you have a box outside that room you could jump from that won't overload that circuit?

The breaker box is in the basement. I was just going to put it on the one basement circuit for the rest of the basement. Right now there are only 6 or 7 lights on it since the basement isn't finished. I'm sure this will all change when we finish the basement, but I'm thinking it will work for now.

Thanks for the help. It helps a ton.

[beefytee]

People finish their cold storage rooms? I thought the point was it was the one "free" room in the house you don't have to finish.

Finish probably isn't the right word. I'm not going to frame it and dry wall it or anything.

[beefytee]

Very common in houses with basements. It is often a room right underneath the front porch of the house, though that doesn't have to be the case. It's uninsulated, so while it's not fridge cold (well, maybe in northern Utah in the winter it is), but it's a room that stays cool year round.

This is what we have. An uninsulated room under the porch.

[venkman]

One thing...if you do have big buckets of food storage and stuff, you don't want them directly on the concrete (this is a moisture thing), you want them sitting on some 2x2's or something so that air can circulate underneath.

[beefytee]

One thing...if you do have big buckets of food storage and stuff, you don't want them directly on the concrete (this is a moisture thing), you want them sitting on some 2x2's or something so that air can circulate underneath.

Thanks. This is what I was talking about with using the treated lumber or something. The moisture can be a problem from what I understand.