Basement Wine Cellar Generation 2

May 17, 2020

Richard Moore

In January of 2019, I decided it was time to upgrade and move my original wine cellar from under the basement stairs (see this blog post). The original wine cellar worked fine and could hold 300+ bottles of wine, but the location was close to the furnace and dehumidifier which could cause it to be a bit warmer than I wanted. Not that I have ever had a bottle that seemed to be damaged. I decided to move the cellar to the opposite corner of our lower basement area and build it around the sump pump. This side of the basement area seems to always have the lowest temperature and was more open. I decided to use more of the same wine rack modules I had in my cellar that you can get from Amazon. My plan was to try and stack as many as I could vertically while securing the racks to the wall and existing shelves I had built years ago. The end result turned out pretty nice and I can get close to 300 bottles into this new set of wine racks. I also think it looks much better than the old racks.

To start, I elevated the bottom rack module with a treated 2x4 on one side to match the existing shelves which already had a treated 2x4 riser. This allowed me to use the vertical 2x4 of the shelving unit as one point to secure each rack as I stacked them. As you can see in the photos below each rack module is secured with construction wood screws and a large washer to the 2x4 to the left and the 2x4 of the framed basement wall. I spaced the racks out a bit with wood shims (about ½ inch thick) to make it easier to install the next rack module. One benefit of the sideways 2x4 at the bottom of each tower of racks is that I can put one row of bottles right on the cement floor as seen in the fourth photo.

The same procedure of stacking and securing multiple rack modules was used to the right of the sump pump and next to an existing shelving unit.

After the right side of rack modules were installed it looked like I would be able to squeeze some more rack modules above the sump pump. To do this I elevated the first (bottom) rack module by using a horizontal 2x4 attached to the framed basement wall 2x4s and a vertical 2x4 for extra support. I also added a vertical 2x4 to support one of the front legs of the bottom rack module. The front vertical 2x4 is toenailed (screwed) to the treated 2x4 on the floor and then secured to the rack modules to the right using construction screws and washers as seen in the second and third photos below.

The rack modules are secured with construction wood screws and large washers with a ½ inch shim to the framed basement wall 2x4’s. At the top of the framed wall, I had to add an extra horizontal 2x4 so I could secure the top rack module. A piece of plywood was put behind any rack that needed backing to allow stacking a few more wine bottles. I was concerned that this arrangement would not be able to hold the weight needed, but there have been no problems in over a year of use!

As you may have noticed in the first picture, I added movable labels to the racks so I can keep track of where different wines are. I used some plastic 1x2 trim I had laying around. To label the trim I printed out wine labels on paper which is attached to the trim pieces using clear packing tape. On the backside of each trim piece, I put two 3M command adhesive hooks that hold the 1x2 pieces on the racks and allow me to move them as my stock of wine changes (disclaimer, I am a retired 3Mer). As you see I need to increase my stock of French wines!

Here are the wine labels as a PPTX File or PDF File.

Finally, any wines that I might be aging are put right on the cement basement floor below the existing shelving units. This is the coolest spot I have for long term storage.

I have been very happy with this new layout, and using the metal wine racks makes it look more like a real wine cellar. It is nice to not have to go into a confined space, like under the basement stairs, to pull a bottle of wine for dinner and the open layout allows me to easily see my stock of wines.

keywords: Wine Cellar, Basement Cellar

description: My second generation basement wine cellar