Hi Velda, My project is still a work in progress, so it's too soon to draw any final conclusions. But here's what I've seen so far. My GH is enclosed, more or less. The polycarb twinwall is up however all of the edge seams are not caulked/sealed yet, as the weather has been too cold for the caulk material to cure. And the upper 16" of topsoil that goes over the SHCS subsoil layer is not there yet either. Basic electricity is wired in, and so I have put the fan on the SHCS plenum, just to see what it can do (at present it is just on a timer for daytime running, no thermostat). On a sunny day, the GH can easily get to 120F with no cooling or venting. Since I've turned the SHCS fan on, the max temp seems to stabilize in the low 90'sF on sunny days. I also am opening the doors to the barn some on warm days, so some heat is going there as well. I've measured the air temp coming out of the SHCS tubes, and it is roughly a 40F drop in temp (although this is with no summer heat stored, e.g. cold ground; if the SCHS system had been working all summer I would expect the temp drop to be less this time of year as the soil would be warmer) On cold nights, the GH seems to stay at outside temps +20 to +30F. Not bad given that there are still open holes to the outside along the seams, the soil heat sink is not all there and wasn't charged up during the summer, and no insulation on the N wall yet. I have not measured sub-soil temps at the various levels in the SHCS layer, but since they started at outside temps (below freezing) when the GH was first enclosed, I don't think the full potential warming effect has been reached yet. From what I have seen so far, I think my expectations of the GH staying above freezing without supplemental heat on all but a few extended cold, cloudy periods is still very possible. I do plan on placing the topsoil in direct contact with the SHCS layer, over the entire surface of the GH floor. The SHCS tubes are backfilled with local sub-soil (mostly decomposed granite here, very minimal clay) and should be usable by plant roots. My planting "beds" will be moveable for the annual plants, and fixed for the few perennial plants which will be there. At this point, the logistics and use of the GH is not defined enough for me to feel comfortable putting in permanent beds. Perhaps after a few years of using the GH I will have a better idea if I want them and where. I also have a smaller GH which has fixed raised beds in it. They work well there, but in this larger space, I wanted to leave the planting space open enough to use power tools (tillers, small tractor, etc) as needed. As discussed above, I do plan on putting a vapor barrier down under the paths in the GH. But since this will be just under the path "paving" it should be simple to move if/when the bed configuration and paths change. FWIW I have seen humidity moving into the GH from the soil, even in the short time I have been running the SHCS fan. On mornings the GH humidity is 60-70%, where our normal outside air (and house) humidity is typically 20-40% in our dry climate. There are no plants or water usage in the GH yet, so this moisture must have come from the ground, moving up into the air overnight, when the fan is off. Hopefully the GH will be fully operational in the next month or so. But I don't think the final results of the SHCS system will be in until a full winter after a summer's charging are in.

Anyone building this type of cellar would be well served by getting Richard Gold's book on the subject. Also cork flooring is a very good option in the cellar. Cheers

I've built two wine cellars. One at 800 or so bottles and one at over 3000 bottles. Insulation is the first step. Part of that insulation issue is the VAPOR BARRIER. Remember your cellar will be COOLER than the other rooms in the house (including those overhead), that adjoin it. The vapor barrier goes on the warm side. If you're insulating from the inside of the cellar it means you'll have to wrap plastic around the studs/joists following the surface of the outside wall, then insulate. In my small "closet" one, I just used fiberglass batts after the plastic vapor barrier. I finished the inside with the new paperless drywall. The sad story is that most small wine room chillers are junk. I've got a Breezeaire which has failed twice already (the first unit went back, and the second after about six months the thermostat stuck on). Some talk about taking a regular window unit AC and hacking the thing to run cold enough, but that seemed a bit too experimental for me. A good thing to have is a little indoor/outdoor thermometer (get one that can measure outdoor humity). Shove the outside probe through the wall so it is measuring the cellar and leave the display somewhere you will see it from time to time when you walk by. I made an insulated door by taking a standard home center interior door (my door is only 24" wide) and cut out the interior "luaun" skin and scraped out all the cardboard spacers. This now gives you an 1" door "frame" and the outside skin. I put a 2" sheet of rigid insulation in there and then capped it with a skin of Luaun ply cut down to fit. Lots of spray adhesive and a few screws hold it together. The other cellar, I had spray foamed (since the house was getting it anyhow) and has an exterior door. Since it is a larger space, I have a small split system (like a regular house central air) that's commercially designed to run down to 55 degrees (I keep it at 57). Of course, racking can be as simple or elaborate as you are willing to pay for or build yourself. My small cellar has simple rectangular bins each holding about 12 bottles made out of plywood. The big cellar has custom redwood racking. So give us an idea of what the space is, where it is, and how big it will be.

You are going to have a lot of problems. You're sealing the concrete wall with the insulation? "I started with 1 layer of the 4” XPS over the ceiling and then covered all the walls with 1 layer of 4” XPS foam leaving 1’ of bare concrete at the floor on the exterior North and East walls)." What's on the other side of the concrete? Dirt? Or is it an attached house like a row house? If it's a detached house and it's just dirt on the other side, which seems to be the case because you said it extends 7 ft below grade, you will have a great deal of condensation and eventually mold. The concrete walls are not completely dry and sealing them the way you did allows no place for the moisture to go. Don't seal those walls off. "As for venting, no. It is a fully inclosed concrete box. Monitored humidity is a constant 70%." So the ceiling is concrete too and your entry stairs are over that? If so, no wonder you have condensation. On the other hand, you have the makings of a great wine cellar. I wish I had that. Depending on where you are, the soil temperature can vary quite a bit between winter and summer but you're in a cool area so you should be fine. If you have 70 percent humidity in the concrete room, why are you insulating with a vapor-proof material and then sealing off all possible avenues for the moisture to escape? You can't do that. What happens to the temperatures if you don't seal the ceiling and concrete walls and just insulate the walls exposed to the basement? I think you'd be far better off with that approach. If the concrete walls give you a stable temp, why insulate them? Also - the door is R10 and the rest of the insulation is R20? If you really want R20, put insulation on the door too. Otherwise, you have a huge section of your wall that has a lower R value than everything else and you will effectively have insulation of R10. To start, I would take down the insulation from the concrete and monitor the resulting temp in the room. It seems like you can actually get a pretty good temperature and perfect humidity with what you have, doing minimal work. Good luck.