Just looking for anyones experience and if the are any regrets

I' know many with lots of experience and major regrets from drinking. Why don't you build a game room instead. Maybe with coke and snack vending machines.

Mikie, your post was totally uncalled for. I assume Lolas is an adult and can make his/her own decision. He/she does not need your judgmental comments. There is nothing wrong with adults who have a glass of wine or drink of choice if they want. Please take your post to the recovering alcoholics forum.

Here's the book..

Here is a link that might be useful: How and Why to Build a Wine Cellar 3rd Ed. (Amazon)

thanks so much for the feedback, so many decisons. As for mikie....oy.

When one sets out to build a custom home they should be limited solely to their dreams and budget constraints. If they want a wine cellar so be it, and if the neighbor wants a conference room to host AA meetings that is thier choice.

I once did the plumbing in a house that had four bedrooms but 6 full baths and three 1/2 baths and only two people live in the house. Personally i thought it was a bit too much, but far be it from me to tell the next man or woman how to build their dreamhouse.

What truely amazes me is the number of people who are designing their dream house, then post on the forum asking the opinions of others as to whether they should have a certain feature or not? The whole idea of a custom home is to create an enviroment that befits your personal lifestyle and interests. In my personal opinion if a guest drops by and don't like your choices they have the option of going back to their little corner of the world where things are done their way. If a wine cellar complete with a tasting bar befits your social habits then by all means that is what you should have, just don't forget an adequate storage facility for the cheese to be served with the wine.

I definitely do think that it's good to post here for opinions on features you're thinking about putting in a dream house, though.. many good discussions have come from those questions that have shown things the OP hadn't thought about.

I know that I've learned a lot from posting my plans on these forums, and I've definitely gotten feedback that's prevented me from making expensive mistakes.

perel
thanks for being on my "wavelength" some of the other responses are puzzling:)What we ended up doing is building an 9'x 8.5' room in the n/e corner of the basement which will make 2 of the walls basement foundation. We have the room so we are doing 2x8 walls w/a vapor barrier, r30 insulation walls and ceiling,greenboard w/latex paint, tile floor. The intent is to go passive but building to cooling unit specs so in the future if it doesnt work we can pop in a cooling unit. We have not chosen a door (exterior grade w/double pane glass) or racking yet, both will be expensive. Found a few nice custom wine cellar websites that you can build your cellar on to test capacitys etc. Apexwinecellars.com was particulary good.
yep its our dream house. thanks again for the good info and links

Our new home is just about complete and we do plan to finish the wine cellar ourselves. It is in a corner of the basement, insulated walls and door. As for climate control, we are hoping the insulation will be adequate and won't need cooling. We're going to put in cork flooring and I too would like a tasting table, but you may be right about standing and drinking in the cold cellar! The shelving will come first (after the flooring). Good luck with your choices.

we are moving along on the project and one interesting thing our gc caught was to put a drain in for the eventual cooling unit otherwise I guess you have to have it drip into a bucket or be run on the exterior of the wall to an outside drain etc etc. Think of an airconditioner. What we are doing is running 2 flexible hoses thru the studs to the outside basement wall and running them along the basement walls to the drain in a utility sink we have in a nearby mechanical closet. He is running 2 in case one clogs/leaks. We have decide on cork floor,track lighting (on a timer) and most likely a glass door so the interior can be dimly lit and displayed when we want it to. We also put 2 plugs in additon to the one neccesary for the cooler unit. One below counter top level and one just above. Also will build in a drawer or 2 so I can keep receipts, markers, reviews,lists etc. I'll definetly post pics when its done.

lolas,
That's a nicely sized room. I would think a small tasting shelf would be nice. Emphasis on small. It would be like being at a winery. You don't want a lot of people inside because of the mass of body heat will bring the temp of the room up. Good luck with your project.

I wonder how mikie would feel about the brewery I have in my basement. ;^)