Cellar types and styles
Custom Wine Cellars in Ann Arbor, MI | Built to the Room You Actually Have
A custom cellar is a sealed, mechanically conditioned room that happens to be beautiful, and the order of those two things matters. Ann Arbor Wine Cellars builds the envelope first, insulating to a minimum of R-19 in the walls and R-30 in the ceiling, then sets racking that is cut to the actual room rather than assembled from stock modules with filler panels. A typical 1,000 bottle build in a Washtenaw County basement runs five to seven weeks from demolition to first bottle. That covers framing, spray foam, vapor control, cooling, electrical, millwork, lighting and a full commissioning cycle where we hold the room at temperature for several days before you load it.
Custom Wine Cellars Ann Arbor MI
Custom means the room drives the design. Basements in Ann Arbor are rarely square, rarely level and almost never free of a duct run, a beam pocket or a sewer stack in exactly the wrong place. A custom build works around those instead of pretending they are not there.
- Racking cut to the measured room, including angled and low-clearance runs
- Closed-cell spray foam envelope at 2 inches minimum, R-6.5 to R-7 per inch
- Cooling sized from a calculated heat load, not a bottle count rule of thumb
- Full commissioning: the room holds temperature for days before wine goes in
The two decisions that shape everything else are bottle count and whether you want the room seen. A 600 bottle cellar behind a solid door is a very different envelope problem from a 600 bottle cellar behind a glass wall facing a west-facing living room. We settle those two questions at the consultation stage, because they determine the heat load, which determines the cooling system, which determines whether you need a mechanical room and a dedicated circuit run before any millwork is ordered.
The usual approach
A stock rack kit ordered to the nearest size, shimmed to fit, with gaps boxed out in trim and a cooling unit chosen from a bottle-count chart on the back of the box.
How we do it
Racking drawn to the surveyed dimensions of your room including out-of-square walls, and a cooling unit sized from a calculated envelope heat load for a 40 degree summer differential.
Build specification
- Wall assembly
- 2x6 studs, closed-cell foam, R-19 min
- Ceiling
- R-30 to R-38
- Target conditions
- 55°F, 60% RH
- Floor loading
- 100-150 lbs/sq ft designed
What actually matters in a custom cellar
Almost every custom cellar that fails does so for one of three reasons: the envelope leaks vapour, the cooling was undersized, or the floor could not carry the load. None of them are visible once the millwork is in, which is exactly why they get skipped.
- A full 1,000 bottle rack wall puts roughly 3,000 lbs of static dead load on the floor before you count the cabinetry, stone cladding or the equipment. Older Ann Arbor floor framing frequently needs sistering or a mid-span post before racking goes in.
- The vapour barrier belongs on the warm side of the insulation, which in a conditioned basement is the side facing your living space, not the side facing the soil.
- Cooling capacity is a function of envelope area, insulation value and the temperature difference across the wall, not the number of bottles in the room.
- Every penetration through the envelope, including the light circuit, the sensor wire and the door frame, is a potential condensation path and has to be sealed as deliberately as the walls are.
Custom cellar pricing scales with three things: the size of the envelope you have to insulate and seal, the complexity of the racking, and whether the cooling can be self-contained or needs to be split and ducted to a remote condenser.
A compact conversion with a through-the-wall unit and straightforward redwood racking sits at the accessible end. A large glass-fronted room with ducted split cooling, redundant condensers, stone cladding and figured hardwood millwork sits at the other. We price from the measured room and give you the breakdown by trade rather than a single lump number.
Before we build your custom cellar
Custom work benefits from decisions made early. These are the things worth settling before the framing crew arrives, because changing them afterwards means undoing finished work.
- Decide your real bottle count and then add 30 percent. Almost every client we build for fills the cellar faster than they expected, and adding a rack bay later means cutting into a sealed envelope.
- Confirm whether the cellar door will swing in or out. In a tight basement corridor an outward swing can foul a stair rail, and the door is one of the few components with a long lead time.
- Clear a path from the exterior door to the cellar room. Rack sections for a custom build arrive as long assemblies and cannot be carried up a switchback stair once finished.
- Identify where your electrical panel sits and whether it has two spare breaker spaces. A custom cellar needs its own dedicated circuit, and a full panel adds a subpanel to the scope.
Not sure what size cooling unit you need?
Our wine cellar cooling sizing guide walks through the heat load calculation we use on every custom build, including the 40 degree design differential for Washtenaw County summers.
How your custom wine cellars project works
Survey and heat load
We measure the room, note every obstruction, and calculate the envelope heat load for your custom cellar against a 95 degree summer ambient.
Design and elevations
You get rack elevations, a materials schedule and a mechanical plan showing exactly where the cooling equipment and its condensate line will live.
Envelope and mechanical
Framing, spray foam, vapour control, the dedicated circuit and the cooling install all happen before a single rack goes in.
Millwork and commissioning
Racking is installed and finished, then the custom cellar runs at temperature for several days while we log stability before you load bottles.
Custom Wine Cellars questions we get asked
How many bottles will fit in my basement room?
As a working figure, a standard individual-bottle rack holds roughly 10 to 12 bottles per square foot of wall, and diamond bins hold considerably more per square foot but make specific bottles harder to find.
A 10 by 12 foot basement room with racking on three walls typically lands between 1,200 and 1,800 bottles depending on how much of it is bin storage and whether you want a tasting counter. We produce an exact count on the elevations before anything is ordered.
Can you build a custom cellar in a room with a low basement ceiling?
Yes, and it is common in older Ann Arbor housing stock. Ceilings under seven feet mean the racking gets redesigned rather than shortened, usually by moving to horizontal display rows and case storage low down.
The one thing a low ceiling genuinely constrains is a ducted cooling system, since the supply and return ducts need depth. In those rooms we normally move to a ductless split with the evaporator surface-mounted.
Do I need to be present while you build my custom cellar?
No. Most of our clients are at work for the majority of the build. We need access, a working exterior door and somewhere to stage materials.
We do ask you to be present for two specific appointments: the initial survey, and the rack elevation review before millwork is cut, because that is your last easy chance to change the layout.
Do you offer free quotes for custom wine cellars?
Yes. The initial consultation and written quote are free, and that includes the site measure and a first-pass heat load calculation so the cooling figure in the quote is real rather than assumed.
Call 734-415-4984 and we will arrange a visit anywhere in Washtenaw County.
What is the longest lead-time item on a custom build?
Usually the door, particularly if you want an arched or glass unit with a thermally broken frame. Those are made to order and can run six to ten weeks.
We order the door at design sign-off rather than when the framing is done, so it arrives in step with the rest of the build instead of holding up commissioning.
Will a custom cellar add value to my home?
A well-built cellar is generally treated as a finished basement improvement rather than a dollar-for-dollar return, and appraisers in this market tend to value the finished square footage plus the mechanical systems.
The one thing that reliably hurts resale is a cellar built without a proper vapour barrier, because the damage shows up in the surrounding structure. Build the envelope correctly and the room is an asset either way.
What goes wrong, and what we do instead
Most of the custom cellars we are called in to repair failed for one of these three reasons, and all three are invisible once the racking is in.
| The mistake | What it causes | What we do instead |
|---|---|---|
| Racking ordered to a nominal room size | Filler panels and dead space at every wall, and bins that do not line up with the room | Survey the room including out-of-square walls, then cut racking to the measured dimensions |
| Cooling picked from a bottle-count chart | A unit that copes until the first genuinely hot August, then runs continuously | Calculate the envelope heat load against a 40 degree design differential before specifying anything |
| Floor loading never checked | Deflection under a filled rack wall, and doors that stop closing squarely | Verify joist span against roughly 3,000 lbs per 1,000 bottles before capacity is agreed |
Build a cellar that holds its temperature
Tell us the room you have in mind and we will measure it, calculate the heat load, and show you what it can hold.