Framing and insulating the walls and ceiling is a good start, but if the wine cellar has as it’s base an uninsulated basement floor, the cold from the ground will gradually enter the wine cellar, so that the floor is much colder than the ceiling, and that’s not good. Obviously moisture can also enter from the ground. We framed the floor using the same method as used for framing the walls.

You may wonder why the wine cellars of 200 years ago could be constructed without the elaborate need for framing and insulation, including insulating the floor. Insulation would not be necessary if the wine cellar was built well below the frost line, where temperatures remain constant. In southern Ontario and the north eastern United States the ground may freeze to a depth of two or three feet in the winter, so the ceiling of an uninsulated wine cellar would need to be at least five feet underground, so the floor of the wine cellar would be 12 to 15 feet underground.

A typical basement in a typical house has windows at around ground level, so the floor of a typical basement may be only five or six feet underground, so most of the basement is at or near the frost line. If left uninsulated temperatures will vary considerably, and that’s not good. Therefore, insulation is essential, and to insulate, framing it a must.