Meghan: Wine cellar started out as underground caves, which is pretty unglamorous compared to what we use today. I mean come in here, look at this. Wine cellar are symbol of luxury they are absolutely beautiful. And no one knows wine cellars better than Wine Cellar Innovations. The company has become the world’s foremost manufacturer and designer of custom wine cellars. And today, their Vice President of operations is going to set me straight on my wine cellar basics.
I am hitting the road, searching for answers and finding great design, it is a quest of beauty, function and of course, inspiration.
When I said wine cellars are modeled after underground cave in Europe, you did not hear me wrong. The conditions found in the underground caves are the same ones founded wines cellars today.
Tony Wilke: The underground cave is the temperature you are trying out replicate in your wine cellar. So we are looking for is 55 degrees actually between 55 and 58 and then relative humidity between 55% and 75%.
Meghan: But just because you are trying to recreate the condition of a cave does not mean it cannot be beautiful.
Tony Wilke: People wanted to build a large wine cellar, it also kind of a statement about themselves. They do a lot of neat accents to wine cellars as far as you know adding artistic elements.
Meghan: Planning the decor your wine cellar is the fun part, but before you start there are many technical details you must address. Turning your room of your home into a giant refrigerator requires more work and planning than you would imagine. And one of those things you should think about is the type of door you will need.
Tony Wilke: You need to make sure you are using an exterior great door because again you are building in a environment where it is one temperature and humidity on the side of the door and another on the other side. So, instead of using interior door we have that gap underneath. We need an exterior great door sealed all the way around with sweep on the bottom.
Meghan: In addition to choosing the right door, you also need to pay attention to the type of lighting used in your wine cellar.
Tony Wilke: There is some concern ultraviolet light will harm wine for long-term storage. So you want to make sure you do not used ultraviolet lights in your wine cellar.
Meghan: Do you special types of lights like fluorescent versus I guess incandescent or—
Tony Wilke: For accent lighting we normally use LED’s. One because they last so long between 50,000 to 100,000 hours and number two because they do not have any UV rays on them. And then as far as lighting if you use and like a recess can you have to used an IC can and that means it can be insulated around because you do not want to hot light in a cold room.
Meghan: While choosing the type of lighting might be a tad on the tedious side, those who love decorating will enjoy choosing the type of floor. Just make sure you avoid vinyl and carpeting.
Tony Wilke: You do not want to go with obviously some like a vinyl base excuse me vinyl flooring because with the high humidity in the wine cellar it will get underneath there and it will start to punch out.
Meghan: Interesting.
Tony Wilke: The second one you want to avoid at all cost is carpet. Number one, because your carpet tack going around the parameter will interfere with your wine racks you might have a problem with it leaning forward. A second problem is if the carpet stains and you get tired of and you want to replace it when it cannot because you are not going to be able to get it out from underneath the wine racks. So that is the two floors you want to avoid.
Meghan: Interesting.
Tony Wilke: And again the three most common are the hardwood floors, your porcelain tiles and core.
Meghan: Other than the built in feature in wine cellars there are many extra decorative accessories to consider. And one of the best type is decorative fountains. They do not only look beautiful but also have to increase the humidity in your wine cellar, which is important factor when creating those cave-like conditions.
While fountain
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services