One school of thought is that this is an opportunity to add a distinctive flair to the wine cellar by using textured finishes and other fancy wall treatments. I am of the view that that’s silly.

I opted for the simplest solution of all: latex paint. I always use good quality paint, since I have no desire to ever need to repaint the walls again, but even if you buy the top of the line paint, to paint a wine cellar will cost less than $100, so get good paint and don’t worry about it.

As you can see by the picture, it’s painted walls in a neutral shade. I guarantee that this is the most boring picture on this web site, and that’s my point. It’s a painted wall. Nothing fancy, just a wall. Don’t over think it.

The main reason for not getting fancy on the walls is that no-one will ever see the walls. They will be covered with the wine racks, so don’t get fancy. Paint it, and forget it.

One final comment: even latex paint smells, and it needs time to dry. Since a wine cellar is a closed room, there is no place for the smell to go. So, once you have finished painting, use a fan to circulate the air, and keep the door open for a few days to dissipate the smell. Don’t plan on painting one day and installing your racks the next day.

There is considerable debate over the materials to use for the walls. There are three obvious options:

First, use normal drywall. It’s inexpensive and readily available. However, it’s not a great material when their is moisture in a humid wine cellar. Of course the drywall is painted, and if the wine cellar is properly insulated and cooled there should not be water dripping down the walls, so normal drywall should be sufficient.

The second option is to use “green board”, which is the material used is damp environments, such as a bathroom or kitchen. It is resistant to moisture. More specifically, green board doesn’t encourage the growth of mold and mildew as you may find in standard drywall. On the down side, it’s more expensive than standard drywall.

The third option is to use a fiberglass based board, which is now used for areas like showers where you expect water to hit the walls. This is the most expensive option.

After much consideration, we decided to go with option #2, green board. It’s not that much more expensive than drywall, and it does offer some additional protection against mold and mildew. We decided that option #3 was overkill. In a properly insulated and cooled wine cellar there will not be excess humidity and moisture, so this should be the most cost effective solution.

The interesting part, however, was that our contractor forgot the discussion about green board, and as you can see from the picture, he installed normal drywall. I didn’t notice this until the next morning, when I asked him about it.

He thought about it briefly, and told me that he didn’t think there would be a problem with the normal drywall. I agreed, but I said that I would prefer the green board option.

So, with no further discussion, he had his guys rip out the drywall and install the green board.

Fortunately his guys are quick and efficient, so replacing the old with the new was a two hour task. I guess it helps if you know what you are doing (and fortunately only one round of tapping and mudding had been completed).

So, after some hiccups, I am now the proud owner of a green boarded basement wine cellar.

There are many different opinions on the proper insulation technique. One school of thought says that you should install a vapor barrier (a plastic sheet) on the outer side of the wall, and then mount your fiberglass insulation, and then your walls. A vapor barrier is essential to keep moisture from forming in the wine cellar or behind the walls.

We decided to use a different approach: spray foam insulation. The insulation is applied as a liquid, and expands as a foam, and then hardens as a “solid”. Our contractor blew the the foam into place, smoothed it out, and let it harden.

This approach has a number of advantages.

First, it’s relatively quick. The entire job can be done easily in half a day. If you were to install a plastic vapor barrier, then cut and install fiberglass insulation, and fasten it into place, the job would take much longer. You may be able to simply push the fiberglass into place in the walls, but gravity won’t allow you to do that in the ceiling; fastening is necessary. With spray foam, it’s quick and it’s done. Here’s how it looks in the ceiling.

Second, since the foam dries hard, there is no need for a separate vapor barrier. Fiberglass insulation will retain water if it gets wet, so a vapor barrier is essential. With “solid” insulation, water cannot penetrate, so a separate vapor barrier is not necessary.

Finally, as you can see with the ceiling picture, foam is great for filling in every “nook and cranny” in a ceiling or wall with wires, pipes and other impediments. Fiberglass insulation will not fit as tightly.

Therefore, my vote is for spray foam insulation.

Framing is a relatively straight forward task. A frame is built (we used 2 x 4′s) to serve two functions: it will hold the drywall, and it will hold the insulation. Here’s how the wall looks after framing:

You will notice that the framing is applied directly to the exterior basement wall. We have not installed any vapor barrier. More about that to in subsequent posts.

The existing interior wall is also framed (it already existed; we simply removed the existing drywall):