After framing and insulating the wine cellar walls, the next step is installing the drywall, and that’s where the story gets interesting.
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.
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