Water pipes      06/12/2019

Do-it-yourself cellar in the ground. Ground structure of the cellar. Where does the construction of a cellar begin?

It's hard enough to imagine any a private house without a cellar. Such a room can be placed both under the house and next to it. From the right choice of material and compliance with building codes, the cellar will last forever, and most importantly, it will be able to preserve any product, regardless of seasonality. In this article we will tell you how to make a roof for a cellar, and also analyze the types of structures and the material used.

The construction of a cellar can be done in several ways:

  • the structure is completely placed underground; for this purpose, a foundation pit is dug and a roof is installed over the building (see photo for above-ground cellar)
  • the structure is installed on an elevated area, after digging a pit and fixing the building elements, an embankment is made (see photo of a cellar with an earthen embankment)

  • a ready-made and insulated container, which is installed in a pre-dug pit, and after installation, the entire structure is covered with soil (see photo of the finished cellar body)

The finished basement design eliminates the process of installing load-bearing wall elements and installing waterproofing.

Important! When choosing a design for storing food, consider the level groundwater on a plot of land, the water level should not exceed 0.5 meters from the groundwater level in your area.

To install a finished cellar, you only need to dig a pit, fix the container and fill it with soil on top. When choosing a design for your future basement, you should take into account the size of the land plot, its location and the volume of upcoming construction work.

Where to begin?

Before starting construction of a basement, a technical plan for the future structure should be made. You can complete the cellar plan yourself, the main thing is to take into account the following criteria:

  • waterproofing method;
  • internal dimensions of the cellar;
  • thickness of external coating;
  • type of building material.

A plan for the future construction will help to correctly calculate the amount of building materials required. The place where it is planned to build a cellar is selected according to the following parameters:

  • entrance to the premises must be unobstructed;
  • possibility of conducting electricity;
  • the place should be dry, with solid soil;
  • the distance between the building, foundation and groundwater level should be two meters.

Fulfill construction works It is best in the summer, when there is no precipitation and the groundwater level is minimal.

Types of cellar ceilings

When the pit is dug and that's it preparatory work done, you need to decide on the type of cellar roof, as well as what materials to use for its arrangement. Let's look at the types of ceilings for the cellar.

Support beams

If you decide to make a cellar roof from load-bearing beams, we recommend using railroad rails. You can purchase the product by ordering them in special workshops or at scrap metal collection points. To carry out the installation of beams, it is necessary to leave special beds that perform additional function strong fixation of the entire structure (the photo shows a roof made of steel beams)

Important! Tightly fixing the beams to the wall of the structure will eliminate the risk of them falling out in the presence of additional load, and will also increase the strength of the load-bearing structures structural elements cellar

Installation of the floor with load-bearing beams is carried out in the following way:

  • iron reinforcement rods are fixed between the beams and tied with knitting wire;
  • when the reinforcing mesh is ready, make wooden formwork and lay a layer of waterproofing on it;
  • a frame is installed directly under the formwork to hold the concrete mass;
  • the structure is poured with concrete, the pouring process must be continuous and uniform;
  • the finished ceiling of the cellar is additionally insulated with any building material, for example, you can use regular roofing felt.

Wooden roof

The ceiling in the cellar is made using wooden beams. The photo shows an example of a wooden roof

Installation of wooden beams is carried out as follows:

  • install beams on the basement walls;
  • to obtain additional support, small bars are mounted to the side of the beams;
  • with the help of self-tapping screws, the reel is laid;
  • vapor barrier is performed, and thermal insulation is laid on top;
  • mount sheets of plywood and treat them with antiseptics and mastic;
  • lay roofing material.

For information! If it is not planned to build a house or garage above the basement, it is necessary to fill the entire structure with a layer of soil on top of the roofing material.

Prefabricated monolithic slab

When choosing a prefabricated monolithic ceiling in the basement, the use of a construction crane should be considered. Before installing the roof, you should make sure that the width of the slabs corresponds to the width of the cellar.

For information! Prefabricated monolithic slabs are made standard sizes 9-12 meters in length, unfortunately, the product is not always suitable for making basement floors.

These plates are considered the best and most durable material. The photo shows a prefabricated roof monolithic slab

You can learn more about how to make a monolithic ceiling from the video

Monolithic slabs

Monolithic slab flooring is made using concrete and reinforcement cage. The photo shows a cellar roof made of a monolithic slab

To install a monolithic floor, you must perform the following steps:

  • the slab should be located on the walls of the room, the walls serve as support;
  • to maintain the integrity of the structure, beams are fixed under the formwork;
  • so that the solution does not leak out during pouring, it is necessary to seal the boards and formwork;
  • knitting frame reinforcement mesh carried out after the final installation of the formwork;

Important! The iron frame should protrude 4 cm at the edges of the slab, and the distance between the rods should be 20 cm.

  • when the mesh is ready, concreting is performed;
  • To avoid the formation of internal cavities, the solution is subjected to vibration, this is done using ordinary timber or special equipment.

When a structure is poured with concrete, it must be allowed to dry well and harden; as a rule, this process lasts about a month. It is worth noting that experts recommend double reinforcement to obtain greater reliability of the entire structure.

Floor ventilation

The ventilation system is responsible for high-quality storage of products, so its design must be carefully thought out. It is recommended to install two pipes, the functions of which are as follows:

The use of two pipes allows maintaining optimal temperature regime inside the cellar throughout the year.

For information! Installing a cap and a metal mesh will help prevent the formation of debris and precipitation.

If the basement area is small, one pipe will be enough to provide high-quality ventilation. Regardless of what function the cellar will perform, we recommend initial stage, decide on the type of roof and purchase high-quality building materials.

In order for the cellar to always remain dry and the temperature in it to be stable, its construction should be carried out in compliance with certain rules and requirements. The work ahead is quite extensive, but in the future it will pay off with interest.

The cellar can be located either away from other buildings or located under a house, garage, bathhouse or barn. The storage facility located under the building allows you to save space on the site, and can also be used in winter time it will be much more convenient for them.

If you decide to build it in an open area, then you should choose a higher place - in a storage facility located in a lowland there will be constant dampness. It is advisable that a free-standing cellar be located in the shade. In this case, in the summer it will warm up less.

To avoid the collapse of buildings, in no case should a free-standing cellar be located closer than half a meter from their walls.

Types of cellars

The decisive factor when choosing the type of cellar is ground water level . If the aquifer is too close, spring floods will flood your food supplies every year. Moreover, no drainage system will save you - the more you pump out water, the faster the ducts will erode, and every year there will be more and more of it in the cellar.

To prevent it from being flooded during floods, it should be located 0.5 m above this level. To determine how close groundwater is to the surface, you can use:

  • garden auger: 2.5 m long or more;
  • spoon drill: it is used to drill wells under water, but it can also be used for similar measurements.

After drilling, the well should stand still for at least a day. Next, the water level is measured using a long rod lowered into the well. Depending on the result obtained, they decide which type of cellar can be built on the site:

  • underground: a standard cellar located on a dry area, most often deepened by 2.5-3 m;
  • semi-recessed; less demanding on the soil, its depth is on average 1 m;
  • bulk: built on swampy soils where the groundwater level is very high;
  • a slope cellar, a type of bulk cellar, is used quite rarely.

To protect against frost heaving of the soil and preserve heat in storage cellar depth must necessarily be 0.5 m below its freezing level.


Construction of a cellar in stages

A cellar should only be built in summer – at this time the groundwater drops to its greatest depth. To prevent an open cellar from being flooded with water, work is carried out only in dry weather. If it does rain, cover the hole with polyethylene for a while.

Pit preparation

Construction of floors


It is not advisable to fill the floors in the cellar with concrete. The soil located below the freezing depth will be the main (and in the case of a cellar located outside the buildings) and the only source of heat in winter and cold in summer.

Clay castle

Our ancestors have long used compacted fatty clay to waterproof foundations and basements. Of course, it won’t save you from rising groundwater, but from capillary moisture, which constantly penetrates through the thickness of the soil, clay is able to protect completely. This kind of protection is called clay castle .

To create it, clay is laid in layers:

  • at the bottom the height of the castle is 0.4 m;
  • wall thickness 0.25-0.3 m.

To make the clay plastic, it is pre-soaked and left to soak for some time. Ideal option It will be harvested in the fall. Over the winter in the open air, it will gain enough moisture, and it will be easy to work with.

It should not crumble, but also not flow out of your fingers. Clay is laid using adjustable formwork in small layers. You can start working with a new layer if it has dried to the consistency of plasticine.

The quality of the clay will be much higher if 20% lime is added to it.

Wall decoration

The walls can be made of brick, concrete, rubble or asbestos cement sheets. Thickness concrete wall should be 5 cm, buta - 25 cm. To protect against capillary moisture, they are coated before finishing bitumen mastic, hot bitumen or pasted over with roll materials (roofing felt, roofing felt, etc.).

To pour concrete, vertical formwork is prepared. To create a waterproof film, the wall can additionally be plastered cement-sand mortar- iron. The ratio of sand and cement in this case is 1:1. To protect against cracking, lime is added to the solution (about 1/10 of the cement).

Be sure to insulate the hatch or door leading to the cellar. They should fit as tightly as possible and have no gaps. They are made of two layers and edged with a beam or a metal corner filled with any heat-insulating material (for example, polystyrene foam or expanded polystyrene).

Ventilation

Since most vegetables should be stored in dry, ventilated areas, the cellar must be equipped natural ventilation. To do this, perform the following work:

  • Exhaust and supply pipes are installed in the cellar:

Pros and cons of free-standing cellars

Free-standing buildings have significant disadvantages:

  1. Such storage facilities should be equipped with a ground part - an entrance and a roof, which significantly increases the cost of their construction.
  2. Inconvenience of use in winter: the passage to them will need to be cleared of snow. Plus, in severe frosts, in order not to freeze, it is often undesirable to open them.

But there are also positive aspects of having a cellar located outside the house. The temperature in the underground under the heated building is always much higher than in the cellar. Therefore, vegetables and fruits are stored in it only until the end of winter - by spring, potatoes, carrots and other vegetables begin to sprout, and fruits begin to flake. In a separate cellar they are stored excellently until the end of summer. Plus, if there is a subfloor in the house, rodents infest it faster. If stocks are stored in a free-standing storage, the likelihood of them coming into the house is reduced.

If land plot is small and there is no space for building a separate cellar, you can use the advice of the author of this video and make a mini-cellar with your own hands:

For many years, millions of our compatriots have been using cellars. This is simply an ideal place in which autumn harvest and canned products are stored almost in their original form. The average temperature in cellars, as a rule, varies from +2 to +4 degrees, which has a beneficial effect on food supplies. A cellar on the street is simply necessary for all those who have a private country house and reap a rich harvest from their garden. You can make all-season storage for fruits and vegetables yourself and without the involvement of specialists. Moreover, the cellar can be located either under the house or as a separate structure on the street.

The cellar, located under the house, occupies the basement of the building and can be accessed directly from the building. Storage facilities built outside have their own entrance. By and large, the options for constructing a cellar are very similar in technology, regardless of its location, and the differences lie only in the construction of the entrance.

Where does the construction of a cellar begin?

The first step is to correctly determine the depth of groundwater, because how to make a cellar correctly can only be done by knowing this indicator. It will help you understand how much to bury the structure into the ground. Find the lowest place on your site and make a deep hole there, 200–250 cm deep. In fact, this will be a well. A pipe is placed in it. This pipe can be used to monitor the presence of water. If after some time water appears in the pipe, this indicates that the groundwater is located above the recommended level for underground construction. It must be taken into account that when it is hot outside, the groundwater level is at its minimum.

Before starting to build a cellar, you need to clarify at what level the groundwater lies.

Before building a cellar, one cannot help but pay attention to such a phenomenon as soil heaving. It can occur when moisture-saturated soil freezes. The ice begins to melt closer to spring, as a result of which the density of the soil is destroyed and it becomes porous. When soil heaves, all work must be carried out with extreme caution.

If the groundwater level is higher than 2.5 m, then the problem can be solved with a device drainage system. Drainage means a pipe that is laid in a trench underground and is designed to divert all moisture from the cellar into a special container or a reservoir located nearby. It is also important to provide for a drainage slope, which should be 5-10 cm for every 10 meters. In addition, the device of the drainage system will be required for perch water on your site.

What can be distinguished from the basic rules for the construction of a detached cellar?

  • It is worth starting to make a cellar only in the warm season. It is advisable to plan construction for July and August.
  • The best place to build a cellar on the street is a small hill on the site, if there is one, of course.
  • Each storage room (if there are several) must have effective ventilation.
  • Each wooden detail, which will be used in the construction of the cellar, must be impregnated with a special antiseptic composition.
  • The entrance door, if possible, is best placed on the north side.

Digging a pit

The standard dimensions of the cellar on the street are 2.5x2.5x2.3 m. For the storage device, you need to choose the most high place on the site, which will reduce the likelihood of flooding. You can dig a pit for a cellar with your own hands, but, if possible, you can use the services of excavator equipment. The length and width of the pit should be larger than the cellar being created, because then the walls will need to be waterproofed.

The dimensions of the pit must be larger than the planned dimensions of the storage facility.

When the pit is dug, the soil at the bottom should be compacted, and then gravel should be poured. The size of the gravel layer is 30 cm, of which 20 cm is sand. The gravel is thoroughly compacted into the bottom of the pit. Then reinforcement with a rod diameter of 8 mm is laid. Then concrete is poured, which is prepared in the traditional way: sand and cement are taken in a ratio of 3:1. After pouring the concrete, you need to wait until the cement has completely dried, and only then lay the waterproofing material.

Waterproofing the floor

To build a cellar correctly, we must not forget about waterproofing the floor and walls with special materials. Inexpensive ones are simply ideal for cellar floors. rolled materials, which have the proper level of water resistance. For example, traditional roofing felt.

Roofing felt is laid on hardened concrete, after which it is coated with tar. If the transverse size of the cellar exceeds the width of the roll, the latter can be laid overlapping, and the upper edges raised along the walls and glued securely. At this stage of the work, the walls of the cellar have not yet been erected, therefore, roofing felt should only be glued to the concrete, after which the next stage should begin.

Walling

For the walls, you can choose brick or ordinary concrete. The construction of a wall must begin with the laying of a reinforcing frame, the width of which should not be less than 10 cm. When the work is done manually, the concrete should not be poured completely immediately. It is best to mix in several portions, given that it will last for 1-2 hours of construction work.

Reinforcement frame for concrete walls.

The reinforcing frame is made of rods with a diameter of 10 mm. They are laid vertically, after which they are tied with wire. The formwork is mounted along the walls of the pit on both sides of the frame, after which concrete is poured. To prevent the formation of voids, it is recommended to compact it concrete vibrator. The mixture will dry completely only after 8–10 days, so it is best not to remove the formwork for 2–3 weeks.

If the walls are made of brick, it is necessary to use M200 cement for the mortar. For a cellar, the best option is to use two layers of solid red brick. If the groundwater level is low, one layer will be enough. External insulation of walls is done by coating with mastic, and it is necessary to do 2-3 layers and no less. Then you need to glue the waterproofing material onto the mastic.

The outer side of the walls must be lined with soft clay. This approach will allow you to build a cellar with the highest quality protection from water and condensation. The clay layer should be about 10 cm, but only if the groundwater level exceeds the level of the bottom of the cellar. In addition, it would be correct to backfill the soil, thoroughly compacting it. The inside of the walls should ideally be plastered and whitewashed with lime. It's affordable and natural remedy from mold and germs.

Entrance to the cellar

Entrance from the street should be convenient and safe. That is why it is recommended to make a monolithic and preferably wide staircase, so that it is convenient to load food into the cellar.

Option decorative design entrance to the storage.

In addition, it is very important to make high-quality ventilation of the cellar. For this, a wide pipe is suitable, part of which will be placed in the cellar, and part will be located on the street.

The door can be made of wood, but using some kind of waterproofing material.

In some cases, a hatch acts as a kind of door. In this version, the ladder can be attached: it is welded to the hatch frame. This is not only inconvenient, but also extremely dangerous (for example, to move with products). Cellars with hatches were made during the USSR, when it was not freely available necessary materials to create a normal input. Today, such a problem does not exist, so you should not save on your convenience and safety.

Roof structure

A detached cellar must necessarily have a roof (it does not matter if it is single-pitched or gable). The top of such a roof can be insulated with turf. In addition, the use of synthetic insulation is allowed, however, the use natural materials guarantees a good microclimate.

Gable roof of the storage facility.

For air circulation you need to install exhaust pipe, which should go outside and not reach the cellar floor by about 30 cm. Ideally, you need to make two pipes, the second in this case will be a supply pipe.

The inside is laid out with boards flush with the surface of the ground. In most cases, croaker is used. Similar boards They have a smooth edge on one side, but a rounded edge on the other. WITH inside The slab must be plastered with clay and whitened with lime. The top can be covered with roofing felt and coated with a mixture of clay and straw. After which the coating should be covered with damp soil with moss or grass. This type of roof arrangement is especially convenient and effective if the rear upper part of the cellar is located slightly above the ground surface.

For free-standing cellars, it is best to use a roof with two slopes, which would be correctly built from a board that overlaps the pit by 50 cm. This is necessary to ensure that rain and snow do not get inside. The roof ridge is made of 50 mm timber, roll insulation is laid on the slopes, and straw is placed on top. If possible, you can lay slate or soft tiles.

Design verification

At the final stage, it is necessary to carefully check each structure of the constructed cellar and, if necessary, make timely adjustments. If the presence of any defects is discovered after several years of operation of the cellar, it will be much more difficult to eliminate them.

You can also improve the roof of the cellar by decorating it with beautiful turf, plants, artificial stone etc.

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In the territory suburban area It wouldn’t hurt to build a cool room for storing pickles, fruits, vegetables and other food products. In this regard, it is worth considering how to make a cellar in the country with your own hands. By completing all the steps step by step, you can create reliable and durable storage.

Even the small design allows you to store a lot of food

The cellar is usually located in a separate place on the street or under a residential building. Its main purpose is to store food supplies. Due to the device, shelves and other devices, it is possible to increase the functionality of the room.


Classification of cellars by depth level:

  • underground structures are installed in dry places;
  • semi-underground structures are erected in damp places with average groundwater levels;
  • above-ground buildings are made when groundwater is too close.

Note! In an area with too high humidity, a special cushion made of sand and gravel mixture. It will separate the structure from groundwater.

The construction of a cellar does not require obtaining permission from any regulatory authorities, however, the developer must in any case decide on its location, taking into account some nuances. You should choose a site that is as dry as possible, away from trees.


DIY cellar at the dacha step by step: basic work

After choosing a suitable location for the country storage, you can begin basic work. The listed stages are relevant for underground and semi-buried structures. As for above-ground structures, they have a slightly different construction technology.

Pit preparation

When digging a pit, the following points must be taken into account without fail:

Important! Do-it-yourself cellar under the house deserves special attention. In this case, the need for laying floors is completely eliminated, since this function is successfully performed by the floors of the first floor.

Floor base device

Most suitable option is the fill of the lower plane concrete mortar. To do this, all debris is removed from the pit. The surface is leveled and compacted, after which it is covered with a 15-20 cm layer of sand. A waterproofing membrane and reinforcing mesh are laid on top, then concrete is poured.

Thus, when wondering which floor in the cellar is best to install, first of all you should pay attention to the concrete base.

Construction of the walls of the structure

The side parts of the structure must withstand soil pressure. Mainly used in their construction are:

  • concrete mixture;
  • building blocks;
  • brick;
  • wood.

Floor laying

The first version of the floors - wooden beams. Load-bearing elements they are laid with edges on opposite walls, after which they are sheathed with boards. A waterproofing membrane is spread on top.The second option is to use ready-made reinforced concrete slabs. They are durable, which is why they are popular. They are laid on the end parts of the walls, after which they are covered with earth.

Creation of high-quality ventilation

Constant air exchange will make it possible to avoid the appearance of mold and rot in the room, and will also allow you to maintain optimal temperature conditions. Two pipes must be installed for the ventilation device. One of them will be a supply, and the other will be an exhaust.

Suitable for ventilation plastic pipes medium diameter. However, their sizes depend on the volume of the room. The supply elements are usually located on one side, 20 cm from the floor, and the exhaust elements on the other, 30-40 cm from the ceiling.

Problem with high groundwater levels: do-it-yourself cellar

A certain category of developers may have the following dilemma: if groundwater is close, how to make a cellar? It’s worth mentioning right away that this is quite possible. To do this, first of all, it is necessary to make a ring drainage of the site where construction is planned.

Perforated elements are located below the depth of the soil along the perimeter of the pit. Their slope should be approximately 2 cm per linear meter towards the well or sewage pit. Pipes should be covered with crushed stone and wrapped with geotextile.

If the floor and walls are made of reinforced concrete, then high-quality waterproofing should be done from the inside and outside.

You can use a plastic container as a sealed room. large sizes. It is completely buried in the ground. By building a plastic cellar at your dacha with your own hands step by step, you can avoid mistakes associated with waterproofing the structure.

Related article:

Work after building a cellar with your own hands: photos + additional recommendations

Ensuring unhindered ascent and descent is carried out using. Its width should not be less than 40 cm, otherwise moving can be very difficult. It is allowed to make a slope of up to 75 degrees. The material can be wood, metal or concrete.

To store supplies, it is necessary to build special shelves or racks. Typically, 100x100 timber is used for their manufacture. The height of the structure depends on the height of the room itself.

On any private plot or dacha, a huge number of buildings can be erected that are necessary for normal living and comfortable pastime. Do not forget about such a necessary room as a cellar. The cellar should be constructed immediately after or during the construction of residential premises. This building is needed for storage various types products, canned food, wine and vodka products and meat. Due to the fact that the cellar is a fairly cold room, due to its placement underground, it will be necessary to make efforts to construct it, and in this article you will get step by step instructions How to make a cellar at the dacha with your own hands, step by step. In addition, many other issues will be considered. Everything in order below.

Today there are a lot different types burial buildings, which, in principle, are similar to each other in design, but are somewhat different from each other in the functions they perform.

The main types include:

  • Vegetable stores;
  • Stone cellars for products;
  • Cellars with blocking;
  • Burts;
  • Underground;
  • Finnish glaciers and others.

Depending on the type of accommodation there are:

  1. Ground cellars;
  2. recessed view;
  3. Cellars located in residential buildings.

Before building a cellar, in order to achieve the desired result and perform the necessary functions, it is necessary to clarify the standards technological process and check the construction project. Be prepared for the fact that building a cellar is a very labor-intensive process, quite difficult and requires significant investment, but in the end it is completely worth it.

This article provides information on how to build a spacious cellar in your country house with your own hands. If all standards are observed, it will last for many years and will save products from the influence of temperature changes.

The simplest cellar is usually used for temporary storage of food, drinks and others. Its design is quite well known and you may have already encountered it. It is an ordinary dug hole, which is covered with a metal lid or any other with pre-vented ventilation. Such a pit is quite enough to preserve food for a day or more and leave vegetables in it for a long time.

The simplest version of a cellar can be built by yourself or, if possible, use the help of friends, since carrying out such work requires a certain amount of effort. Among other things, you need to have a tool and some materials, which we’ll talk about a little below.

From the very beginning, we choose a hill on the site or we do it ourselves in order to avoid damage to the building by groundwater. After making some calculations, even approximate, calculate the depth of the cellar and the amount of materials that can be spent on its construction.

It is completely logical that the next step is to dig a hole for the cellar in the country. It doesn't have to be too deep. A depth of 1 meter with a width of 1.2 by 1.4 meters is quite sufficient.


Digging a hole. The pit does not have to be large. For a small storage facility, a mini pit is quite suitable.

Having dug a hole, it is necessary to level its walls and strengthen them so that in the future they do not crumble and the cellar does not collapse. The bottom of the cellar, or rather its floor, is usually made of concrete with preliminary filling and cushion. Afterwards, a metal frame is installed. It must be installed in the corners of the cellar building.

After completing the work of digging a hole and strengthening it, you will have the following structure: the concrete floor is supported by a metal frame (if you took an iron corner, then from a corner), connected by transverse fasteners. Behind the frame there will be a fence that will prevent the earth from crumbling. Usually this is a mesh or chain-link, and a foam cover.

It is necessary to carry out the work one by one in a simple order:

  • Dig a hole under the cellar;
  • Fill the bottom with concrete;
  • Install a metal frame and earth shedding limiters;
  • Install the cover.

Afterwards, normal ventilation is done, and shelves are screwed inside the cellar, if necessary. This completes the construction of a basic cellar with your own hands. The scope of work, depending on the number of workers, lasts for 2-3 days, after which you get not the most efficient, but still quite capacious underground warehouse for storage.


To build, you must strictly adhere to the installation instructions and recommendations, follow the plan and instructions described below.

Selecting a location

An important factor is the choice of a place to build a cellar. Such a place is usually a hill. As mentioned above, this is necessary to minimize the impact of groundwater, and you do not need to invest a lot of money to waterproof the building.

Before construction, decide what kind of cellar should be. Will it be located inside a residential building or stand separately.


The positive factors of building a cellar under the building include:

  • lack of influence on it from various precipitation;
  • much greater ease of use, especially in the autumn-winter period.

After choosing a construction site, it is necessary to develop a project according to which all further work will be carried out.

Be sure to take into account all the tips provided below before making a cellar in your country house, and then the construction of a room for storing food will happen at less cost in the shortest possible time.

  1. Construction must be carried out in the summer;
  2. The construction of the structure should be on a hill;
  3. For years of service, don't skimp on materials;
  4. Be careful, follow all the rules when building walls and structures to prevent the earth from shedding;
  5. Provide good ventilation;
  6. When using wood in the internal structures of the cellar, treat it with special solutions in advance;
  7. Observe correct sequence and don't try to save on construction.

Cellar space

Necessary materials

Taking into account your financial capabilities, in a preliminary plan it is necessary to calculate the amount of materials and their cost. Taking into account your needs, the cellar, depending on the functions it performs, can be built from: wood, concrete slabs or bricks. The cellar can also be made of metal, but it will be almost impossible to regulate the temperature in it.


Scheme of one of the possible buildings

Cellar dimensions

  • A more acceptable size is 2 meters wide, the same depth and 3 meters long for a fully completed structure. It is necessary to take a reserve of approximately half a meter on each side of the wall in order to comfortably carry out all the work and be able to supply power, as well as perform Finishing work.
  • The bottom of the cellar should be at least half a meter from groundwater.
  • The ceiling should be 20-30 centimeters below the level at which the soil is still capable of freezing.
  • The minimum thickness of the walls must be at least 25 centimeters.

Organization of waterproofing

If you choose to build a cellar with your own hands, then waterproofing will be done without the intervention of specialized construction organizations. The quality of waterproofing is directly proportional overall quality construction of your cellar and it is this that determines how long the underground structure will serve you.

Particular attention in the organization of waterproofing is given to materials. The material is purchased taking into account the actual level of groundwater. If the groundwater level does not reach the level of the base of the cellar, then it is necessary to use non-pressure waterproofing. If the groundwater level is higher, then it is necessary to use anti-pressure waterproofing.

Cellar walls play an important role. They have the main impact environment and corresponding pressure. That is why the material for building walls must be durable and water-repellent, for example, concrete.

The equivalent of concrete can be a brick, which must be treated with special solutions before laying, and then a cement screed is made on both sides of the wall.

Also protective material roofing material can be used for walls. If you want to reduce the influence of groundwater around the cellar, you can organize drainage.

The sequence of building a cellar with your own hands

According to a pre-prepared project, a hole is dug for the future cellar. In this case, a hole is dug half a meter larger on each side of the original calculation. This distance is necessary for quality work and connection necessary equipment or lighting. If you have the strength and opportunity to keep the land fertile, excavation work must be carried out manually.

When the pit is ready, it is necessary to make the foundation of the cellar. To do this, create a cushion of crushed stone or broken slate, which is spread in an even layer on the bottom of the cellar and filled with bitumen. This pillow is made to protect against moisture.

The next step is the installation of walls and their strengthening. The correct construction is the organization of the foundation, and not the usual floor inside the structure. The walls, in turn, are built on the foundation. If it is brick, then masonry is done, if it is concrete, then reinforcement is done.

During the reinforcement process, do not skimp on the rods or metal corners used, since the pressure that the walls will have to contend with is quite significant.

After erecting the walls and carefully strengthening them, we move on to the finishing process. The outside of the wall is plastered using a cement mortar. Next, several layers of roofing material are applied as protection, preferably with preliminary bitumen impregnation for better waterproofing.

The treatment of the walls from the inside is organized by initially lathing under asbestos-cement sheets, onto which they are subsequently carefully attached with screws, pre-treated with bitumen and primer. It must be remembered that sheets must be processed on both sides, and even more so at the joints.

After external and interior decoration proceed to pouring the floor with concrete, after which a screed is made; the concrete is leveled, and all joints can be treated with a special waterproof material. Further decoration of the walls is purely decorative and can be organized according to your wishes. The walls can be puttied again, painted and whitewashed. You can put laminate on the floor or wooden blocks. Any finishing work depends only on your imagination and economic security.


In the process of organizing all the above works, do not forget about the openings that are left for ventilation and future connection of electrical energy.

Ceiling organization

To make the ceiling, depending on the type of your cellar, different materials are used:

  1. Reinforced concrete in the form of slabs;
  2. Wooden materials pre-treated with a special solution;
  3. metal materials.
reinforced concrete slab for overlapping

The main focus for mounting the roof is using previously mounted walls of the structure. Organizing the ceiling is an important stage that has its own sequence.

  1. We place the stops with channels approximately half a meter from each other;
  2. We organize perpendicular welding, and then parallel. In the end, you should get squares, one side of which will be approximately 0.25 cm.
  3. We prepare and install wooden formwork.
  4. We lead two pipes into pre-prepared openings for ventilation. The material for such pipes is most often asbestos.
  5. We install supports of sufficient rigidity so that, under the influence of the soil, do not allow the ceiling to bend. The support is installed with the calculation of the influence on each of them of about 1.5 square meters of the surface layer of soil.
  6. We make the formwork airtight.
  7. Fill in concrete mixture into the gap between the lattice of the reinforcing structure and the channel, making sure that there are no hollow spaces left. In the end, you should get a uniform overlap with a height of no more than 30 centimeters.
  8. We strengthen the ceiling from the outside using roofing felt or any other available material, which has the same thermal insulation properties.
  9. The final stage consists in backfilling the resulting structure with earth or organizing the roof in the form of an oversized structure in a shape resembling a house or a gazebo.

Final works

In this paragraph we will tell you about last stages construction, possible difficulties and ways to solve them.

Building a cellar is not a very simple process, but at the same time it is not so difficult, if you have enough experience. If there is a sufficient budget and desire, and you want to acquire such a building on the site, study the material above, be patient and the process of building an underground storage will go unnoticed.

A bulk cellar can be either a ground structure or a semi-burrow. The dependence of the choice is directly related to the groundwater level. To clarify all the details, you can use one of the well-known methods:

  • Drill a hole at least one and a half meters high. We look into the resulting pit after 24 hours and, if water appears in it, then the construction of a cellar in the country is possible only in the ground version. If there is no water, then a semi-recessed design can be used.

The best period for such drilling is the spring-summer period, which is associated with a sufficient amount of groundwater during this period.


Bulk cellar

Above ground cellar

The ground structure has a fairly simple construction algorithm, which is indicated below. Subject to all points, the structure will be of high quality and will last for many years.

Semi-recessed

The semi-buried cellar has a huge number of decorative designs. It is an ideal food storage and uniform climate environment. Such a structure is built in the event of a high rise in groundwater levels.

Scheme of a semi-buried burial room

Work is performed in the following order:

  • We dig a hole approximately 70 centimeters high;
  • We organize a brick or concrete foundation;
  • We lay out or fill the walls 20 cm high, leaving a hole for the door;
  • We insulate the foundation and walls using special material;
  • We carry out the installation of the ceiling, the material for which is most often used slab (its thickness is approximately 5 cm);
  • Afterwards, a layer of clay is poured, roofing felt is laid, preferably in two layers;
  • The soil is backfilled to a thickness of 70 cm;
  • The building is covered with turf;
  • At the final stage, the door is installed. After, if necessary, we hang a protective canopy over it and make several steps

Plastic cellar

A plastic cellar for a summer residence is a design that has certain features that differ mainly in the shape of the structure itself. The structure provides a wall width of one and a half centimeters. The forms of buildings in terms of their rigidity are determined by the presence of stiffeners or their absence. Plastic products may differ in their elemental content. Such cellars may include ready-made ventilation, as well as additional communications for the comfort of using the storage.