If the storage area is completely closed up unventilated like that then the roots have to be buried and damp so they have no air contact, and quite cold. Below 40, closer to 32. Otherwise don't bother, it will rot before you get to it. I have had better success with outdoor pits. This year I had about a hundred pounds of potatoes outside in a two-foot deep hole with leaves on top and capped with plywood. Normally that works perfect but we got so much precipitation that they were a little too wet so there was a lot of sprouting and skin-cracking. Still kept better than the ones in the root-cellar which had quite a few rot. Climate is changing rapidly in the northeast IME, and it is affecting food storage. Potatoes and carrots have to stand more warm weather in the fall before it cold enough to put them up; indoor spaces suffer from more winter warm-ups and outdoor the ground is wetter in winter as I mentioned. I keep cabbages outside also under leaves on the north side of a wall or other shelter from sun. Usually those keep until early may but this year is a warm spring and they are starting to go already.

Liv2learn, mold needs two things, moisture in the form of condensation, and food. Pretty much anything will suffice for food. Gypsum and steel excepted. Moisture in the form of condensation is caused by basically, having a cold surface that water can condense on. If mold is not currently a problem in the basement, as long as the cold room is well insulated, vapour barriered and well ventilated, mold will not be a problem. You need to make sure that there is a vapour barrier on the warm side of the cold room. For the ceiling, that means 6 mil poly wrapped around the joists and across the underside of the floor, then out across the king studs and taped to the exterior foam sheathing. With out a vapour barrier, the insulation won't do much for keeping areas warm (R5 instead of R14 for example), and will provide that perfect surface for condensation and mold growth. For the walls, the foamboard on the warm side of the basement needs to have its seams glued and sealed, Tucktape or foil tape if mylar clad will do the job. That will provide a good vapour barrier. It's a good idea to wrap the kingstuds and rim stud, along with any studs that contact the wall, with 6 mil poly and pull it outside, (into the basement) and tape it to the foam to prevent air intrusion along the concrete and ceiling. Acoustic and vapour barrier mastic, ( a black, gummy caulk) laid in beads along these studs before they are installed will also help a lot. Spray foam injected into the interior door will help insulate it, but by the time you add up the costs of a proper door frame, weather stripping, spray foam, labour,....... well, I can get a cosmetic damaged exterior metal clad insulated door and frame, for $69, suitable for use anywhere in Canada but the high Arctic. Might have a dent in it, more likely the primer coat will have been scratched. Galvanised steel studs will still rust. The rust will start where the screws penetrate the galvanising and will rot them out in, (in housing terms) no time. 5- 10 years in a damp basement. Keep in mind as well that basements often flood. While floods will ruin carpet, wallboard, etc, they will not damage timber studs, metal studs however will be toast. Neglected in my prior posts was ventilation. You need 2" of passive, or 1" of active ventilation for roughly every 32 square feet (4' x 8'). Active ventilation is easy. All you need is a cold air inlet near the floor, and a hot air outlet near the ceiling. For an 8' x 8' cold room, the easy way to do it is drill two 2" holes through the sill plate to the exterior. Run a lenght of ABS or PVC pipe through these holes. For the hot line, run it from just outside the exterior cladding to just inside the foundation wall. Cut two small 2" circles of metal screening. Place them each inside a 90 degree elbow and glue one on each end of the pipe, inside and out with the elbow pointing down, so that the screen is wedged between the pipe and the elbow. The screens will keep out pests. On the inside, run just enough pipe from the 90 elbow down, to pass through the finished ceiling of the cold room. Do the same for the cold line, but run it from the inside foundation wall, almost to the end wall of the cold room. Add the screened 90 elbows. Then glue a pipe that almost reaches to the floor. Warm air will rise out the hot line, and cold air will flow in the cold line. Natural convection will power the ventilation system. Recycled Cotton batting (Denim batts) will do fine for the stud voids and joists, just make sure that on the inside and outside of the cold room you sheath the walls well. The one major drawback of cotton is that rodents find it to be an exceptional nest material. A lot of people think, well, I have a cat who is an excellent mouser,..... and while that is great for killing the resident rodents, it does nothing to repair the damage that the rodents made trying to nest. Trust me on this one. I had to replace all the wall insulation and ceiling insulation in a house due to rodent damage. In one 24" x 8' wall cavity, there was less than 24" of insulation left in the wall, after the mice had finished shredding it for nest material. Half of the walls and all of the ceiling were like that. A R20 house was left with essentually 0 insulation when the mice were done. Might as well have been a tarpaper shack.

I like the glass door idea. Easier to see what you want before losing the cold. Most exterior doors are larger than i need/can fit though. Not sure on the gravel...i am sick of the sand being dragged everywhere but i suppose crushed stone would not be as bad. Wouldn't a cement floor hold more cold....maybe that is the issue...the crush would hold cold but allow pockets of it is slip bellow the stones Keeping the flood cold with out the cold sitting on the floor. I would have to sink post or use hanging selves to be sure they were stable, building on crush means they could be dug out and under mined. Further reading suggests that i should not use this room for both perishable food and canned goods. That the moisture needed for the perishables is not good for the cans and jar lids. What to do, what to do?

I've come across large sheets of styrofoam and wondered how this would work insulating a wine cellar?