A vegetable pit with your own hands can be made by any home craftsman, the main thing is to choose the materials, as well as decide on the technology for carrying out the work.
Preparatory stage
Before constructing the structure described, it is necessary to make sure that electrical cables, pipes and gas pipelines are not laid in the ground. Builders must examine the soil to determine the level of occurrence groundwater. The latter should be below the bottom of the cellar. Otherwise, the structure may be flooded. As practice shows, you should not create vegetable pits that are too wide. It is necessary to keep within 2.5 meters. The depth is usually 1.7 meters.
It is desirable that such a cellar be located at some distance from the wall. It is necessary to retreat approximately 0.6 meters from the surface, this will allow you to subsequently perform reliable waterproofing pits. When you make a vegetable pit with your own hands, it is insulated. The procedure for arranging a ventilation system and carrying out work to protect against moisture is mandatory.
Technology by interior design you can develop it yourself, everything will depend on individual requirements. The descent into the structure must be made in the form wooden stairs with strong crossbars. It should be covered with a hatch, which will act as an entrance to the cellar.
Construction of vegetable storage
A vegetable pit with your own hands begins to be built by digging a pit, which should have dimensions according to the project. A 10-centimeter layer of crushed stone is laid at its bottom. This pillow must be compacted, and then pour 15 centimeters of sand. The resulting preparation is compacted, and at the next stage bitumen or a similar composition is poured. If it is necessary to arrange a capital vegetable storage facility on the sand, it is located like roofing material. In this case, the next stage is reinforcement and pouring of concrete. However, the arrangement of such a foundation will be accompanied by additional labor and financial costs. The walls of the pit are made of brick. When making a vegetable pit with your own hands, you need to make one and a half pieces. The bricks are treated with bitumen mortar, which guarantees the reliability of the floors. The ceiling is laid out in the form of a vault. The bricks are mounted on templates, which must first be made from wooden boards. You can additionally make a concrete floor. The main rule is that the ceiling has the required power, since a car will probably stand on it (if we are talking about a pit under a garage).
For reference
A place for entry should be provided on the ceiling surface. Most suitable option is the location of the hole in the central part. In this case, shelves and racks for cans can easily fit into the storage area. In the place where the hole is supposed to be located, it is necessary to install a stop for the lid. The ceiling is thermally insulated using foam plastic or expanded clay. The ceiling surface is coated with hot bitumen, and then the selected material is installed.
If you are wondering how to make a vegetable pit with your own hands, then it is important to think about thermal insulation of the upper part of the cellar. The insulation layer should be 20 centimeters or more thick. You can take advantage of the experience of rural residents who insulate the ceiling of such storage facilities using a mixture of cement and sawdust. As alternative solution You can use glass wool. If the garage is built in an area with a mild climate, then thermal insulation may not be provided. If necessary, add ceiling surface pits attractive appearance you can use the installation method of modern facing materials by type of lining or slate. These products are fixed to the ceiling surface using the technology recommended by the manufacturer. The walls need to be thermally insulated with polystyrene foam. The vegetable pit is made in such a way that the insulation is carried out over a pre-plastered surface.
Arrangement of vegetable storage
The pit must be waterproofed. It may be necessary to carry out work to form a circular drainage system. Such measures are carried out when groundwater is located too close to the bottom. The simplest method of protecting a floor surface from water is considered to be treatment with a bitumen solution. For reliability, it is best to apply the material in two layers. Roofing felt is laid on the bitumen, and then the solution is laid again. At the final stage, the roofing felt is poured, where coarse sand should be used. If you do not want to treat the walls of the storage facility with traditional bitumen, then you can resort to more expensive waterproofing by purchasing a penetrating compound. Before you build a vegetable pit with your own hands, you must design a ventilation system, which is installed at the final stage. The easiest way would be to install a natural supply and exhaust system, for which you need to prepare two pipes. One of them will serve for exhaust, while the other will serve for the supply of fresh air. If you are not afraid of additional financial costs, then you can arrange a system forced ventilation, however, for this you will need to purchase an electric fan, which is installed in a pipe with two doors. At this point, we can assume that the brick vegetable pit has been made with your own hands and is ready for use.
Construction of a metal cellar
This design is made even before the construction of the garage, since it will be quite difficult to introduce it into the finished building. The shape of the product can be any, everything will depend on your preferences and requirements. You can weld such a vegetable storage facility yourself; there should be no holes or cracks in the welding areas, as water can penetrate through them. The walls are made of metal, but for the top you can use different materials, such as wood, slabs or slabs. Such a cellar may have two manholes, one of which will be more impressive in size and intended for lowering and lifting products, while the other will be used by humans. When making a vegetable iron pit with your own hands, it is recommended to protect the floors, walls and ceiling with insulating material to prevent the formation of condensation.
Installation of the structure in the pit
The metal box must first be coated with an anti-corrosion compound, as well as waterproofing materials, for which mastic or bitumen can be used. The dimensions of the prepared pit should be 50 centimeters larger than the box itself on each side. The bottom of the dug hole is leveled and compacted, then a waterproofing clay cushion 25 centimeters thick is laid on it. An additional layer of concrete of insignificant thickness is poured on top. The construction of a vegetable pit with your own hands is accompanied by the installation of wooden formwork between the metal cellar and the wall of the pit. Clay is placed between the box and the boards, which is pre-cut into plates. After filling the hollow space and compacting the material, you can begin to backfill the excavated soil.
Caisson for cellar
If you need a vegetable pit, you can install a caisson with your own hands. On sale today you can find similar designs from different materials. This can be a prefabricated reinforced concrete caisson or a product made of plastic. In the latter case, carry out additional processing no cellar required. The design is lightweight, and its installation can be carried out independently, while involving construction equipment won't be needed. For several decades, the plastic caisson will endure negative impacts.
Installation Features
Before installing the plastic caisson, it is necessary to carry out external thermal insulation, since the temperature difference between outside and inside can be impressive, which will certainly cause condensation to form on the walls. Installation of such a product is carried out on a clay pillow, the thickness of which should be approximately 20 centimeters. It is important to prevent water from getting into the hole before installing the caisson, otherwise the product will begin to float. If such a problem does arise, you will need to additionally install a hydraulic lock; for this, the gaps between the walls and edges of the pit are filled with clay, as in the case described above. Waterproofing is performed below the soil freezing depth.
At the end of the gardening period, the task of long-term storage of vitamin preparations arises. It’s easy to get a suitable place to place your harvest by equipping a vegetable pit - it can be placed under the house, in the basement, garage, and even under the loggia. Your supplies will remain fresh for a long time, without the need for any energy consumption. It is quite possible to set up such a storage for vegetables yourself, and you can use the most simple tools and materials.
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- Stages of work
- Metal vegetable pit
- Vegetable pit - photo
- Vegetable pit - video
Advantages of equipping a vegetable pit
Fruit and vegetable products grown by yourself or purchased for the winter will need to be stored somewhere. No refrigerator can accommodate several boxes of onions and carrots or bags of potatoes. You can make your life easier by arranging a convenient cellar for storing vegetables - in a similar way you can organize a storage place in natural conditions, with a certain microclimate. In such storage, the crop will remain fresh for a long time.
The most convenient to use is the so-called underground - a vegetable pit in the house or garage, because it will not take up extra bed on the site, besides, using such a storage for vitamin preparations, including in the cold, will be much more convenient than a cellar on the street.
Site selection and subsequent planning
First, you will need to decide on the location where you plan to build a vegetable pit. Traditionally, it is installed under a storage room in a private house or under garden house. For residents apartment buildings It is possible to organize a convenient storage place by equipping a vegetable pit in the garage.
It is important to note that despite the apparent simplicity of the design, simply digging a pit is not enough to arrange this type of cellar. If you are interested in information on how to make a vegetable pit, you need to take into account the following information.
When planning construction, it is necessary to take into account a number of points:
- so as not to damage anything accidentally lying in the ground electrical cable or pipes, you will need to make sure that there are no this place laid engineering and technical communications. From this point of view, it is more convenient to equip a hole in the basement or garage;
- it is necessary to determine the characteristics of the soil - it is important to collect information about the level of groundwater at the planned construction site (for this you may need to seek help from a specialist). In order for the structure to be sufficiently durable, it is necessary to select a place with a groundwater level below the bottom of the planned storage facility - at least half a meter. If they are located close enough, this problem should not be ignored - in this case, you will need to equip reliable system waterproofing (otherwise you can end up with a vegetable pit that is regularly flooded with water). Such an arrangement will entail significant financial and labor costs, and water may still find a loophole and eventually seep inside;
- in the vegetable storehouse you will need to ensure suitable temperature and humidity conditions. So that the fruits do not wrinkle or dry out, a humidity of 85-95% is optimal, as well as temperature regime slightly above zero (2 to 5°C). Storage under these conditions will protect products from spoilage and allow them to retain maximum useful substances. Monitor the temperature in vegetable pit a thermometer placed there will help;
- to ensure the flow of fresh air into the storage facility, it is necessary to equip it with ventilation - bring the supply and exhaust pipes outside;
- In addition, to prevent vegetables from sprouting during storage, the room must be kept dark.
How to build a vegetable pit with your own hands
Having decided on the most suitable place for vegetable storage, you will need to select suitable project. You can build a vegetable pit in the garage with your own hands next to the inspection pit, separating them with a partition. According to personal preferences and financial capabilities, wood can be used to build a vegetable pit, concrete slabs or brick. Metal is less suitable, since in such a cellar it will be quite difficult to establish a suitable temperature regime.
Next, you will need to draw a diagram of the structure of the future vegetable storage in order to calculate the quantity necessary materials. After this, you can begin to carry out work. It is not difficult to build such a vegetable pit with your own hands.
In this case, you will need to plan and arrange:
- heated bitumen, applied in two layers, will help insulate the vegetable pit and create reliable waterproofing of the ceiling;
- glass wool - after preliminary installation of vapor and waterproofing, using of this material it is easy to properly insulate the walls and ceiling (then the glass wool surface should be covered with slate or clapboard);
- wooden blocks(logs) or insulation boards (for example, penoplex) - they should be secured with a drill using self-tapping screws, and then the cracks and joints should be processed polyurethane foam;
- solution based on a mixture of sawdust and cement at a ratio of 1:8. This mixture should be applied to the walls, as well as the ceiling of the vegetable pit, in a layer of 15-20 cm. After waiting for the insulating coating to dry completely, after a few days it should be plastered;
- thermal insulation paint– its 1 mm layer will create insulation for a vegetable pit, similar to the installation mineral wool 5 cm thick.
Stages of work
The sequence of actions for the construction and arrangement of a vegetable pit may look like this:
- first you need to dig a pit with dimensions exceeding the planned ones by 0.5 m. The depth of the pit for storing vegetables is usually from 1.8 (optimally - at least 2.5) to 3 m. Next, you should dig a trench under the foundation;
- to equip the base of a vegetable pit, it is necessary to level the bottom of the pit and lay a layer of cushion broken bricks and crushed stone, or crushed stone and sand (10 and 5 cm, respectively). Each layer should be compacted thoroughly;
- the prepared base will need to be filled with heated bitumen. Next you will need to install metal fittings and perform concrete screed. In addition, the base of the vegetable pit can be filled with concrete, having previously installed a layer of hydrocarbons underneath. insulating material(For example, polyethylene film). Such a base will protect the storage from moisture penetration. Sometimes the floor of the vegetable pit is covered with wooden boards;
- Next you need to build walls. To do this you can post brickwork a brick or half a brick thick, or build concrete walls. In this case, the following must be taken into account - in order for the walls of the vegetable storage to effectively resist the lateral pressure characteristic of an earthen pit, the concrete should be tied with rods steel reinforcement;
- Next you will need to coat the walls with hot bitumen. In addition, you can insulate them by installing a layer of suitable thermal insulation material. After this you can start finishing walls - you will need to reinforce them with mounting mesh and plaster them;
- the ceiling of the pit can be made of bricks laid on boards - or you will need to build concrete floors by preparing the formwork, installing a reinforcement frame in it and filling it with concrete. Openings should be provided in the ceiling for ventilation holes, as well as a place for the descent equipment, and install a stop for the cover. It is recommended to place the hole in the middle of the ceiling - in this case, there will be more space in the hole for arranging racks and shelves along the walls;
- Next, you need to insulate the ceiling by coating it with bitumen and laying a suitable thermal insulation material(for example, foam plastic, slag or expanded clay).
To arrange a vegetable pit, you can build shelves from boards or install plastic racks, and also place boxes stacked on top of each other in it.
Metal vegetable pit
Subject to availability high level underground water on the site, you can equip a vegetable pit made of metal. To do this, it is best to use a ready-made container - for example, purchase part of a tank. In addition, you can use a piece gas pipe with a diameter of 1.8 m (its design provides a waterproofing layer - you just need to weld the ends, and the container for equipping a place for storing vegetables will be ready). Next you should dig suitable size foundation pit Having placed the prepared container in it, drainage drains should be installed vertically on the sides of it. PVC pipes with a diameter of at least 0.2 m, and fill the space with a sand-gravel mixture. This measure will prevent the container from moving under the influence of groundwater.
If in the future drainage pipes water will appear and will need to be pumped out using a pump. When arranging a metal vegetable pit special attention needs to be given supply and exhaust ventilation- otherwise, condensation will accumulate at the bottom, which can have a detrimental effect on the condition of the vegetables placed in it for storage. The pipes should be equipped with dampers and welded, placing them under the ceiling of the container, so that the exhaust pipe rises above it by 3 m, and the supply pipe by 1 m. By placing a container with salt in such a pit, you can significantly reduce the humidity of the air inside. The ceiling of such a storage facility will need to be insulated.
Vegetable pit - photo
The vegetable pit is the most in a practical way long-term storage of crops. Such a pit or cellar is a special place for storing food, which can be arranged on summer cottage, in the basement of a residential building, in the garage or even under the loggia. Its main advantage is the complete absence of energy costs - the freshness of your vegetables and fruits will be maintained naturally. From the article you will learn how to build a vegetable storage facility with your own hands and how to use its space most efficiently.
Preparation for work
At first, building a cellar with your own hands may seem like an extremely difficult task, but even a novice builder can cope with it. The most difficult step will be choosing a suitable location. Previously, it was believed that a cellar could only be located under a house or on a summer cottage. But in reality, it can be organized even in the garage. Therefore, apartment owners should not refuse to store their crops.
Before you start building a vegetable pit, you need to consider the following questions:
- Availability check engineering communications. If you are going to build a cellar within the city, make sure that you will not touch electrical cables, pipelines and gas lines. In this regard, it is much better to make a hole in a ready-made room - a garage or cellar.
- Soil study. Most often, you will need the help of a specialist to carry out this stage. It will help establish soil characteristics and groundwater levels. You cannot ignore these factors, as otherwise you risk getting a regularly flooded vegetable pit. Ideally, groundwater should lie well below the proposed bottom of the storage facility, otherwise you will need complex system waterproofing. This will entail large financial and time costs. Most professional builders believe that even waterproofing will not help - sooner or later water will still seep into the hole.
- Project development. Before starting construction, it is worth spending time calculating the area of the future storage facility and creating a drawing. This will reduce possible shortcomings and greatly simplify your work.
Many people believe that a cellar and a pit for storing vegetables are interchangeable concepts. This statement is true, however, the cellar is still a more complex structure, which it is not always possible to build with your own hands. A mini-vegetable storage can be made in the basement or garage. The only condition is that the selected room is dry and airtight.
An example of a design for a vegetable pit.
Construction stages
Digging a hole for storing vegetables is not too difficult. It is much more difficult to equip it correctly. When you need to take into account the issues of arranging the floor and walls, organizing hydro- and thermal insulation, as well as ensuring ventilation.
If you equip a pit on open area, and not in a finished basement or garage, first dig a pit of the required size.
Arrangement of floors, walls and ceilings
10 cm of crushed stone and 15 cm of sand are placed at the bottom of the pit. Each layer must be compacted thoroughly. After preparation, the layers must be filled with bitumen or another substance with similar properties. Ideally, pour a slab of reinforced concrete, first laying a layer waterproofing material. If this option is not possible, you can cover the floor with wooden boards.
Then you need to tackle the walls and ceiling. Alternatively, you can lay the walls out of brick. In this case, it is better to lay out the ceiling of the pit with a vault, laying bricks on templates made of boards. You can also make a concrete floor. To do this, you need to prepare wooden formwork and lay the reinforcement frame inside.
When working with the ceiling, you need to leave room for a crawl space. It is best to make it in the middle of the ceiling. In this case, you will have enough space to place shelving. A stop for the lid should be installed in place of the hole.
When the ceiling is ready, it is necessary to insulate it. To do this, coat it with bitumen and insulate it using the existing insulating material (foam, expanded clay or slag).
Waterproofing
High-quality waterproofing is a prerequisite for long-term storage of crops. This issue should be taken especially seriously if the groundwater level in the area is high enough. In this case, you will have to build a circular drainage system.
Thermal insulation
Natural vegetable products do not tolerate sudden temperature changes. Sudden warming can lead to rot and disease, and frost will cause severe flavor changes. For this reason, you must ensure that your storage unit is maintained at a suitable temperature at all times. This is easiest to do with proper thermal insulation.
It is better to insulate the walls on both sides - external and internal. But often the vegetable pit goes to the owner of an already built one, so it external insulation impossible. Then all that remains is to insulate it interior walls. This work can be done with your own hands using any slab insulation. Don't forget to make sure it is moisture resistant. Experts believe that best choice will become polystyrene foam.
Providing ventilation
Constant air circulation will help maintain the correct microclimate in the storage. Therefore, the final stage of construction should be the organization of a balanced ventilation system.
Option for installing ventilation in a vegetable pit located in the garage.
The simplest option that you can build with your own hands is natural ventilation using two pipes. One of them will be a supply, and the other an exhaust. They need to be placed at different heights in opposite corners of the cellar. You can use any pipes that you have, but for a vegetable pit, plastic or asbestos-cement pipes with a diameter of 10-15 cm are better suited. The supply pipe should start 20 cm from the floor and go out at a height of about 20 cm above the level of the cellar lid. The exhaust system should start right at the ceiling and extend as high as possible above the roof of the room.
Valves should be installed on the pipes to regulate the air flow. To protect the storage from pests, the end of the supply air duct is covered with a fine metal mesh. To protect against precipitation, the upper end of the exhaust pipe is placed under a special umbrella cap.
The difference in temperature and pressure will provide constant influx fresh air into the room.
Separately, it should be said about the need high-quality ventilation pit located in the garage. Exhaust gases from the vehicle must be removed in a timely manner and not reach food products.
Installation of shelving
Due to the fact that the area of the pit is often small, you should approach the organization of its space wisely. Experience shows that a shelving system is perfect for storing crops and products.
Taking into account the peculiarities of the microclimate of the cellar, some homeowners purposefully make shelving from wood. In this case, preference should be given to pine, since due to its special properties it will protect products from pests and rot. Some owners prefer plastic or metal, but this does not solve the problem of condensation. Once formed on the shelves, it will not be absorbed, but will fall directly onto your supplies.
Instead of shelving, you can use regular boxes stacked on top of each other.
Most often, it is not possible to find ready-made furniture that fits perfectly into the dimensions of the pit. There are two possible solutions. Firstly, you can make the shelves yourself or order them according to individual sketches. Secondly, you can abandon the idea of racks and prefer drawers. They can be filled with food and placed on top of each other. This way they won't take up much space.
Thus, a pit for storing crops is a building that you can build with your own hands. The main conditions for successful food storage are dryness, constant air circulation and the absence of sudden temperature changes. If you choose suitable premises and use the advice in this article, you can be sure that your fruits and vegetables will remain fresh and tasty for a long time.
A vegetable pit in the garage is an excellent way out for those who do not have a private house with a large basement nearby. This method of storing food has been proven not for years, but for centuries. What are the advantages of such storage? Firstly, this is a way to increase the size of your refrigerator and never again worry about the products you bought for the winter or brought with you spoiling in winter. summer season, and secondly, this is a way to use what you have land plot on full power. So let's figure out how you can modernize your garage.
Schematic section of a garage with an inspection hole
What you can get from the vegetable pit:
- Achievements optimal conditions for storing food in winter time, and this:
— air humidity within 65%-80%,
— 2°C-5°C,
- darkness. - Increasing the functionality of the garage.
- Proximity to the basement.
Cables and sewerage
First of all, you should make sure that there are no telephone cables running under your garage. sewer pipes or heating network pipes. It is not difficult to do such a check. Usually you can talk to either the water utility workers or the heating network workers. After all, if you dig under the garage where cables or pipes lie, you can accidentally damage them, and then this will result in a lot of money and trouble (especially if these are heating network pipes that contain boiling water).
Groundwater
The second step in safely building a vegetable pit in the garage is to check for the presence of groundwater. If they are present at a depth of up to 1.5 m, then the construction of such a pit is strictly prohibited! Otherwise, your pit, garage and neighbors' garages will be flooded. Be sure to clarify this point as well. And keep in mind that usually such cellars are made no more than 2 meters deep.
The walls of the cellar must be properly waterproofed (in the photo - coated with bitumen mastic)
Pit project
Building such a storage facility is not easy. You can't just dig up a piece of soil and call it vegetable pit. We need to approach this issue thoroughly. First you have to do detailed drawing, decide on the dimensions, and if necessary, ask for help from friends or specialists. The dimensions of the pit can be up to one and a half meters deep and up to two and a half meters wide. It is better not to make the hole larger, because with poor reinforcement and such dimensions, the likelihood of a collapse is high. What should the pit consist of:
- presence of a drainage system,
- availability of ventilation,
- availability of pest protection,
- presence of electrical wiring diagram,
- presence of stairs,
- presence of thermal insulation.
The design needs to be thought through carefully
Pit construction
Firstly, to create a vegetable pit with your own hands, you will need to dig a pit of the given dimensions (we have already discussed the dimensions above). Crushed stone will be poured into the bottom of the pit and carefully compacted. Above the layer of crushed stone there is a layer construction sand. After everything is laid, you can proceed to filling the bottom with concrete.
The subfloor is prepared
For the walls of the vegetable pit, ordinary solid brick is used. Even those who have never encountered it can do manual bricklaying. To do this, you lay layers of brick in the floor so that the middle of the next layer of brickwork falls with the middle of the brick onto the seam in the previous layer.
The walls of the pit in the garage are made of bricks
Advice. It is necessary to take into account that when constructing such a pit, the earth may not behave as you expected. Later for a long time it can crumble and fill up your entire cellar. To prevent this from happening, the corners of the excavated pit must be reinforced with metal corners, and protection must be placed along all the walls. A chain-link mesh is suitable as such protection, which will protect against shedding. After all protective techniques have been implemented, you can lay brickwork along the walls.
The walls of the pit are effectively reinforced with chain-link mesh
Decorating the ceiling will also be easy. To do this, you need to lay the boards at the required level, and put reinforcement on top and concrete it. This method will allow, firstly, to avoid heat loss, and secondly, it will serve you reliable protection. Such a ceiling will not fail even from the enormous weight from above. But there is one thing important condition: you need to decide in advance on the door to the cellar. The most convenient place is next to the wall. This way he will be in a more secure position. Afterwards, the ceiling and the crawl space will need to be insulated. This way you can carefully place the ladder, and fill everything around it with shelves, racks and boxes for storing food.
It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the basement cannot be under the car or under one of its wheels. This situation is considered unsafe and may lead to emergency situation. Therefore, if you don’t have enough space in your garage to place such a vegetable pit, then we strongly advise you not to do it!
Video: the theoretical basis of setting up a cellar for vegetables in the garage
Thermal insulation of vegetable pit
A vegetable pit in a garage of this size will allow you to store a sufficient amount of food, and due to its small size, heat loss through the walls and ceiling will be minimal. But to truly maintain temperature control, you need to do a few little tricks to ensure everything is truly top notch and you can be proud of your work.
Insulation of the pit can be done as follows:
- Select a heat-insulating material that meets the following properties:
- chemically harmless
- environmentally friendly,
- withstands long-term use without loss of quality,
- not affected by moisture.
- Coat the ceiling, floor, walls with hot bitumen.
- Place heat-insulating material on top.
Such a heat-insulating material can be, for example, polystyrene foam. On the floor, you can lay a floor made of boards on top of the foam.
Advice: you need to ensure that the thickness of the heat insulator is at least 10-15 centimeters!
Walls can be thermally insulated using expanded polystyrene. For efficient work, insulation must be applied to the plastered surface of the wall. The ceiling, floor and walls can be tiled for a beautiful and modern look.
Ventilation system
One of the most important parts of creating a vegetable pit. Products always need fresh air, otherwise they will lose all their properties, become moldy and rot. In order to avoid such incidents, you need to take the issue of ventilation seriously. How can this be achieved? You need to install two pipes, one of which is a supply pipe, and the second is an exhaust pipe. The supply air supply should be installed near the basement floor, and the exhaust air supply near the ceiling. They should be along the same line. Then they form a ventilation system that can effectively perform its function. Also, if necessary, you can install a ceiling fan that will run on electricity.
We must not forget that ventilation in our case can serve as an excellent chance for rodents to eat your supplies. Therefore, for everything ventilation pipes It is necessary to install additional nets that will prevent the penetration of rodents! And because condensation or, for example, melted snow can get through the pipes, then you need to put umbrellas on the ends of the pipes that will avoid these undesirable phenomena.
Drying the room
Often, when building such a cellar, the humidity may be too high. And such a problem, unfortunately, can lead to damage to food stored in the basement and to damage to the basement itself. The walls will become covered with mold, and condensation may collect on the ceiling. In a word, the picture will be terrible, and you simply need to avoid this. After you install coverings that protect against moisture, you will need to dry the room. To do this, you can take a couple of burners or portable electric heating pads and leave them on for two to three hours. You can also take a tin bucket and make a fire in it. This will avoid many problems and protect your vegetable pit in the basement.
If the reason for drying the vegetable pit is because it is flooded with groundwater and the depth of the water layer is more than ten centimeters, then you first need to get rid of the water using a pump, and then fill up the leakage area.
Advice. During use different way warming up with a fire, make sure that there is no soot left on the ceiling!
Filling the vegetable pit
In this case, you can again work with your own hands and make shelves and drawers yourself. There are thousands of ways to do this. For example, you can make metal supports and attach them to wood flooring. This shelf can withstand heavy weights. You can also knock down boxes yourself using wooden boards, securing the corners of the boards together and knocking them down with a metal plate in the middle. Arranging such drawers and shelves is not difficult. Can be done hanging shelves. In this sense, you yourself are an artist! The main thing is not to place drawers and shelves close to exhaust pipes.
What can be stored in the vegetable pit:
- conservation,
- vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, beets and onions,
- jam,
- stews.
As a last resort, if you no longer need a basement for food, you can easily make your own personal workshop there, a storage room for old things. With good ventilation it will be very pleasant to be there.
Another point for a good vegetable pit is the absence of fungus on the walls and shelves. In order to avoid this, the shelves can (and should!) be lubricated with drying oil. If you have hopes for metal shelving, then they also tend to collapse because they corrode.
Author's video: how to arrange a typical inspection hole in a garage
Thus, we can conclude that making a vegetable pit for a garage with your own hands is very simple. This option is suitable for those who do not have enough space in the house to store food in the winter, but have space in the garage. We wish you good luck and further success!
At the end of the gardening period, the task of long-term storage of vitamin preparations arises. It’s easy to get a suitable place to place your harvest by equipping a vegetable pit - it can be placed under the house, in the basement, garage, and even under the loggia. Your supplies will remain fresh for a long time, without the need for any energy consumption. It is quite possible to set up such a storage for vegetables yourself; you can use the simplest tools and materials.
The most convenient to use is the so-called underground - a vegetable pit in the house or in the garage, because it will not take up additional space on the site, and besides, using such a storage for vitamin preparations, including in the cold, will be much more convenient than a cellar on the street .
Site selection and subsequent planning
First, you will need to decide on the location where you plan to build a vegetable pit. Traditionally, it is installed under a storage room in a private house or under a garden house. Residents of apartment buildings have the opportunity to organize a convenient storage space by installing a vegetable pit in the garage.
It is important to note that despite the apparent simplicity of the design, simply digging a pit is not enough to arrange this type of cellar. If you are interested in information on how to make a vegetable pit, you need to take into account the following information.
When planning construction, it is necessary to take into account a number of points:
In order not to damage an electrical cable or pipe accidentally lying in the ground, you will need to make sure that there are no utility lines laid in this location. From this point of view, it is more convenient to equip a hole in the basement or garage;
it is necessary to determine the characteristics of the soil - it is important to collect information about the level of groundwater at the planned construction site (for this you may need to seek help from a specialist). In order for the structure to be sufficiently durable, it is necessary to select a place with a groundwater level below the bottom of the planned storage facility - at least half a meter. If they are located close enough, this problem should not be ignored - in this case, you will need to equip a reliable waterproofing system (otherwise you may end up with a vegetable pit that is regularly flooded with water). Such an arrangement will entail significant financial and labor costs, and water may still find a loophole and eventually seep inside;
in the vegetable storehouse you will need to ensure suitable temperature and humidity conditions. To ensure that the fruits do not wrinkle or dry out, a humidity of 85-95% is optimal, as well as a temperature slightly above zero (from 2 to 5°C). Storage under these conditions will protect products from spoilage and allow them to retain maximum nutrients. A thermometer placed there will help you monitor the temperature in the vegetable pit;
to ensure the flow of fresh air into the storage facility, it is necessary to equip it with ventilation - bring the supply and exhaust pipes outside;
In addition, to prevent vegetables from sprouting during storage, the room must be kept dark.
How to build a vegetable pit with your own hands
Having decided on the most suitable place for a vegetable storage, you will need to select a suitable project. You can build a vegetable pit in the garage with your own hands next to the inspection pit, separating them with a partition. Depending on personal preferences and financial capabilities, you can use wood, concrete slabs or bricks to build a vegetable pit. Metal is less suitable, since in such a cellar it will be quite difficult to establish a suitable temperature regime.
Next, you will need to draw a diagram of the structure of the future vegetable storage in order to calculate the amount of materials needed. After this, you can begin to carry out work. It is not difficult to build such a vegetable pit with your own hands.
In this case, you will need to plan and arrange:
Reliable waterproofing - in the case where groundwater lies close to the bottom of the vegetable pit, it will be necessary to organize a circular drainage system. If there are additional foundation walls, they must also be waterproofed. For example, the walls of a vegetable storage can be made of two layers of slate with a layer of bitumen.
Insulation - walls and ceilings are usually built from brick or concrete blocks. At first glance, this material seems impenetrable - however, concrete includes many microcracks through which moisture can penetrate into the vegetable pit. Wet slabs freeze in cold weather, so insulation will be required. To insulate a vegetable pit, you can use the following materials:
heated bitumen, applied in two layers, will help insulate the vegetable pit and create reliable waterproofing of the ceiling;
glass wool - after preliminary installation of vapor and waterproofing, using this material it is easy to qualitatively insulate the walls and ceiling (then the glass wool surface should be covered with slate or clapboard);
wooden blocks (joists) or insulation boards (for example, penoplex) - they should be secured with a drill using self-tapping screws, and then the cracks and joints should be treated with polyurethane foam;
solution based on a mixture of sawdust and cement at a ratio of 1:8. This mixture should be applied to the walls, as well as the ceiling of the vegetable pit, in a layer of 15-20 cm. After waiting for the insulating coating to dry completely, after a few days it should be plastered;
heat-insulating paint - a 1 mm layer of it will create insulation for a vegetable pit, similar to installing mineral wool 5 cm thick.
Ventilation providing a suitable microclimate in the storage. The simplest option is to place two pipes in different corners of the vegetable pit, which will provide supply and exhaust ventilation to the room. For this, asbestos-cement or plastic pipes with a diameter of 0.1-0.15 m are optimal. The supply pipe should be placed so that it starts at a height of 0.2 m from the floor surface, and at the same time rises from the outside above the ceiling of the vegetable pit (also on 0.2 m). The exhaust pipe should be led into the underground room under the ceiling and brought out above the roof as high as possible (at least 0.5 m above the roof of the storage room or garage). By installing valves at the ends of the pipes, it will be possible in the future to regulate the power of the air flow. To prevent pests from entering, cover the air ducts with fine mesh metal mesh. To protect against precipitation, special umbrella caps should be secured over the outer ends of the pipes.
Stages of work
The sequence of actions for the construction and arrangement of a vegetable pit may look like this:
first you need to dig a pit with dimensions exceeding the planned ones by 0.5 m. The depth of the pit for storing vegetables is usually from 1.8 (optimally - at least 2.5) to 3 m. Next, you should dig a trench under the foundation;
to equip the base of a vegetable pit, it is necessary to level the bottom of the pit and lay a cushion from a layer of broken brick and crushed stone, or crushed stone and sand (10 and 5 cm, respectively). Each layer should be compacted thoroughly;
the prepared base will need to be filled with heated bitumen. Next, you will need to install metal reinforcement and make a concrete screed. In addition, the base of the vegetable pit can be filled with concrete, having previously installed a layer of waterproofing material (for example, plastic film) underneath. Such a base will protect the storage from moisture penetration. Sometimes the floor of the vegetable pit is covered with wooden boards;
Next you need to build walls. To do this, you can lay brickwork as thick as a brick or half a brick, or build concrete walls. In this case, the following must be taken into account - in order for the walls of the vegetable storage to effectively resist the lateral pressure characteristic of an earthen pit, the concrete should be bound with steel reinforcement rods;
Next you will need to coat the walls with hot bitumen. In addition, you can insulate them by installing a layer of suitable thermal insulation material. After this, you can begin finishing the walls - you will need to reinforce them with a mounting mesh and plaster them;
the ceiling of the pit can be made of bricks laid on boards - or you will need to build concrete floors by preparing the formwork, installing a reinforcement frame in it and filling it with concrete. The ceiling should be provided with openings for ventilation openings, as well as space for drainage equipment, and a stop for the lid should be installed. It is recommended to place the hole in the middle of the ceiling - in this case, there will be more space in the hole for arranging racks and shelves along the walls;
Next, you need to insulate the ceiling by coating it with bitumen and laying a suitable thermal insulation material (for example, polystyrene foam, slag or expanded clay).
To arrange a vegetable pit, you can build shelves from boards or install plastic racks, and also place boxes stacked on top of each other in it.
Metal vegetable pit
If there is a high level of groundwater on the site, you can equip a vegetable pit made of metal. To do this, it is best to use a ready-made container - for example, purchase part of a tank. In addition, you can use a piece of gas pipe with a diameter of 1.8 m (its design provides a waterproofing layer - you just need to weld the ends, and the container for equipping a place for storing vegetables will be ready). Next, you should dig a pit of a suitable size. Having placed the prepared container in it, you should install drainage PVC pipes with a diameter of at least 0.2 m vertically on the sides of it, and fill the space with a sand-gravel mixture. This measure will prevent the container from moving under the influence of groundwater.
If water appears in the drainage pipes in the future, it will need to be pumped out using a pump. When arranging a metal vegetable pit, special attention must be paid to supply and exhaust ventilation - otherwise condensation will accumulate at the bottom, which can have a detrimental effect on the condition of the vegetables placed in it for storage. The pipes should be equipped with dampers and welded, placing them under the ceiling of the container, so that the exhaust pipe rises above it by 3 m, and the supply pipe by 1 m. By placing a container with salt in such a pit, you can significantly reduce the humidity of the air inside. The ceiling of such a storage facility will need to be insulated.
