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Laguna Beach Wine Cellar
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The building and designing of Custom Wine Cellars is always a joy, every project having something special or unique about them. This custom wine cellar project was no exception to the rule; it was located in a home with a particularly stunning view far out to sea, situated on the cliffs over 1,000 feet above Laguna Beach in Orange County, California.
Our clients moved into their new home just 18 months ago. Although the house itself was an older home, originally built in 1956, it was recently remodeled in 2008 and now included multiple levels. The home in Laguna Beach, while perfect for our clients in most respects, was however a little smaller than they were used to. It was missing a good place to store their wine collection.
In their previous home they had a room with a good amount of wine racking in it for their quite substantial collection of wines. After some discussion with our clients and a site survey, we determined that we would transform a dry sauna room, which had been installed by the previous owners in 2002, into a dedicated climate controlled wine storage room.
The dry sauna, situated under a stairway just off the laundry room was originally considered by our clients to be used as a spare clothes storage room. The husband of the couple we were working with expressed some reservations with this plan being concerned that his wife might go shopping to fill it! As it turned out though, both husband and wife were very happy with their decision to convert it into a dedicated wine cellar, even if that meant a little less shopping for her.
With this project, as is often the case with residential wine cellar conversions, there were a few structural challenges. These became apparent as we prepared the room by removing the wall coverings, flooring and all the bench seating of the sauna.
Watch the Video Below for an On-site Tour of this California Custom Wine Cellar
Custom Wine Cellar Builders California – Laguna Beach Sea View Project
For example although the walls were insulated, there was no vapor seal to keep moisture from entering the wall cavities. Refrigerated custom wine cellars in residential rooms can, over time, become a draw for moisture. Care in construction needs to be taken if this is to be avoided. Moisture problems like this are usually not noticed during the first year or two, but over time mold can creep through the walls, this can then be very difficult and expensive to deal with.
In addition the base flooring and all the walls were not at all level and there turned out to be a Jacuzzi pump that serviced the master bathroom in the room. To deal with the pump problem, our wine cellar installer for this project, Mike Morris of ‘Finish Right’, got creative and fashioned a decorative panel to conceal the Jacuzzi pump from view. He also made sure it was easily removable, just in case it required servicing at some point in the future. Mike also added a 110V electrical service line for the wine cellar’s cooling unit and the special wine cellar lighting planned for the room. Lastly, as there was limited space to install the wine room cooling unit itself, the wine racks were custom manufactured to allow for the cooling unit placement within the racking.
Construction of the private home wine cellar conversion commenced October 2011 and was completed six weeks later in December. The finished custom wine cellar had a capacity of 556 750 ml. wine bottles and was manufactured in premium unfinished redwood. Unfinished redwood is an ideal material for construction of a wine storage room as it is resistant to warping and wear and tear.
Although only measuring 10′ x 6′, (60) Sq. feet, the wine cellar design included a custom arch and tasting table, diamond bin storage, a high reveal display row, and a custom quarter round display for vertical display of wines, decanters or decorative items. As you will see from the images, this combination not only created a great looking cellar it is also very practical for storing special feature wines along with batches of similar wines. The lighting is a combination of puck and soft LEDs and was specially fitted to enhance the look of the wine room racking. Lighting like this can really make a big difference to any wine cellar’s visual appeal.
For the wine cellar refrigeration system, we installed a self-contained cooling unit from WhisperKOOL. The cooling unit vents to the outside of the home avoiding any hot air being re-directed into another room in the house. The door was a purpose built ‘Barolo’ custom wine cellar door with full view, dual pane glass manufactured in Mahogany. These wine cellar doors are purpose built to maintain a complete seal for the wine cellars climate controlled environment.
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3D Wine Cellar Design California Laguna Beach Project
Laguna Beach Home – Custom Wine Cellar Project
Like to see more California Residential Custom Wine Cellars? Take a look at the Orange County Wine Geek Cellar and the Los Angeles Custom Wine Cellar projects.
