Custom Wine Cellars San Diego Renovation Project

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This Stunning Custom Wine Cellar was part of a much larger Renovation Project for a Home in San Diego, California

This custom wine cellar can now store 1003 bottles in the racks with room above the racks for cases of wine.

This custom wine cellar project in San Diego involved finishing a basement with a wet bar and a climate-controlled wine cellar. To stay within the client’s budget, the project used a combination of 6ft series semi-custom wine racking products and custom features.

The wine cellar was properly sealed, insulated, and equipped with a climate control system to prevent mold and mildew. It features single bottle storage racks, a display row, a solid Redwood tabletop, lattice diamond bin storage, and a stem rack for storing wine glasses. The capacity of the wine cellar is 1,003 bottles, and it is completed with a Barolo-style door with dual-pane glass for proper sealing.

The project was started in January 2012 and completed by March 2012.

Basement Custom Wine Cellars – San Diego California Renovation Project

One part of this wine cellar project in San Diego included fully finishing the client’s basement.  What better way to do that than adding a wet bar and a beautiful feature climate-controlled wine cellar?

When designing your own wine cellar one important factor to keep in mind is your budget. In our efforts to help our client to stay inside her budget window, we utilized a combination of our 6ft series semi-custom or kit racking products along with some more custom wine cellar features. By using this combination we were able to give our client a unique ‘custom’ look to their wine cellar at a ‘kit wine rack’ price.

Where to Start, Custom Wine Cellar Design

The whole project started by selecting a corner of the basement that would become the actual wine cellar room, including a small area behind the cellar that the wine cellar cooling unit would vent into.

1. After the framing was completed, the whole cellar including the floor was sealed and insulated
2. Next, a waterproof drywall along with half a wall in the front that was to have rock attached
3. The whole thing was then painted to match the bar area just outside the wine room

It is very important that your wine cellar is sealed and insulated properly, especially if you are going to install a wine cellar refrigeration system and make the room climate controlled. Mold and mildew can form very quickly when subjected to the cool damp conditions inherently found in custom wine cellars.

By insulating and adding a sealing vapor barrier, all the cool moist air is kept in the wine cellar room instead of it leaking into the house and causing irreparable damage.

Custom Wine Cellars San Diego California, Renovation Project 3D Drawing

Semi-Custom Wine Racks (Kits) & Custom Combo Mahogany with a Natural Finish

Single bottle storage racks were chosen for this project and they included a 15-degree pitch, label forward, and high reveal display row.

The display row is a great management tool as you can store like wines above and below the displayed label and it adds to the character of the wine room. In addition, you can show off those expensive collector wines which really add to the ambiance of your cellar.

The custom part of this wine cellar was the solid Redwood table top chosen by this client with lattice diamond bin storage underneath, this allows a work surface for pouring your wine or room to take note of all your vintages.

Because the table top is solid redwood it is recommended that you get a clear lacquer finish applied as it is forest wood and will stain quite easily, you can either get the factory to do it before it ships or you can do it yourself.

The opening above the tabletop incorporates a stem rack for storing wine glasses.

The diamond bins centered below the table top are another custom component created using a lattice-style configuration for even and efficient airflow over the wine bottles.

Using a lattice style rather than solid diamond bin storage is also a way to keep the cost down as 1″ x 12″ solid redwood is a bit pricier.

It did not take long for these clients to stock their new wine cellar with an extensive collection of their favorite wine as you can plainly see in the following image!

Custom Wine Cellars San Diego California, Renovation Project Window

There is a window that you can see on the left wall of the wine room itself. This window gives you a view into the hall from the cellar and gives a fantastic view into the cellar from the hall. It is important to note that the window is made from dual pane glass in order to minimize condensation and to help keep the cool air in the cellar itself.

You will also notice with the wine racks that the transition from one wall to another is created by using true radius curved corner wine racks which also hold a lot of bottles.

The curved corners on these racks are true radii with no segmented appearance at all. It is small details such as this that help give even our kit wine racks a ‘custom wine rack‘ appearance.

The custom wine cellar door used for this project is our pre-fit Barolo-style door with a dual-pane glass center panel. The wine cellar door also included weather stripping and an automatic door sweep to ensure a tight seal around the door.

All three of these features are what make our wine cellar doors unique. They are constructed in such a way as to prevent warping, the dual pane glass stops condensation, the weather stripping stops cool air from leaking out of the cellar, and the door sweep seals the bottom of the door without scratching your floor.

In the following image, you can clearly see the overall shape and size of this 1,003-capacity residential wine room.

The Wine Cellar Cooling System

The cooling unit is a self-contained through-the-wall placement that exhausts the warm air and noise into the adjoining area. This particular unit was provided by the customer but it should be noted that we can supply any type of wine cellar cooling unit required.

The design of the wine racks for this cellar began in January 2012 and all the wine racks were completely installed by March 2012. This particular wine cellar can now store 1003 bottles in the racks with room above the racks for cases of wine.  Our client then added a wine barrel and other accents to the wine cellar to enhance the appearance and ambiance.

Custom Wine Cellars Construction San Diego California, Renovation Project Before Construction Design Drawing Wine Room Builders San Diego California, Renovation Project Before Construction 3D Design Custom Wine Cellar Designs San Diego California, Renovation Project Before Construction Custom Racks Drawing

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Video Transcription

Hi, and thanks for visiting Coastal Custom Wine Cellars San Diego California.  I would like to take you on a tour of a project that we completed just this last spring in San Diego.  But before we get into some of the wine cellar design aspects, we’ll take a look at some of the before pictures during the construction.

This was actually part of a larger renovation going on of the home in San Diego CA.  In our efforts to help the client stay inside her budget window, we utilized a combination of 6’ series semi-custom wine racks and some of our custom aspects, but we will talk a little bit more about that as we get into the design.

The room was properly sealed and insulated.  Weatherproof drywall was placed over it, and in this case, you can see the walls were painted.  We took some measurements and had a conversation with the client about some of the aspects that she would like to see, you know, different ways to manage, store, and display the wines.

We created a three-dimensional wine cellar design package.  To help stay within her budget window, we used semi-custom wine racks, and we offer 6, 7, and 8 foot-series, but in this case, we used our 6’ series.  We also incorporated some custom features to help a little bit more with the character and the personality of the wine room, as well as some management.

This is an overhead view of the wine room.  You can see all the dimensions are posted around the perimeter.  Our total height of the wine racks is just over 6 feet, about 6 feet 3 in.  Using these semi-custom and custom features, we attained 1,003 bottles stored.  Each elevation is marked A, B, C, and so on.

Styles and Features of the Wine Racks Perfect for Custom Wine Cellars San Diego, California  

In elevation A, these are 6’ and in this case, a half-height semi-custom wine rack.  This is an area right here that is actually a window that you will see as we get into some of the photographs.  As you pass through the hallway into the wet bar area, you can actually see into the wine cellar.

We make a transition from one wall to another using a true radius curved corner.  Even in our semi-custom series, all the moldings – base moldings, the spacer bars, and such are true radius and not segmented.

We utilized a series of single bottle storage racks with a high-reveal display row where the bottles are pitched at a 15-degree angle.  Then along the wall just across the window, we created a custom feature where we utilized a tabletop area for serving and pouring.  Just above is a stemware wine rack that will allow you to hang glasses upside down by the base.

Below we have a lattice diamond bin.  Our client preferred the lattice diamond bin wine rack, as you can see here in this picture.  It allows the cool air to flow around the bottles more efficiently and evenly.  This was important to the client, plus it was a good way to help keep the cost down.

The solid material of 1×12 solid redwood is a little bit pricier.  Here are some of the photographs after being installed.  This is from outside the wine room and the wet bar area looking through.

Custom Features of the Home Wine Cellar 

We supplied our Barolo-style dual-paned glass custom wine cellar door.  This is an exterior-rated custom wine cellar doors with weather stripping, automatic door bottoms, and as I said, dual-paned glass, so you have a nice airtight seal around the door perimeter as well.

This is the custom feature that we spoke of a few minutes ago with the lattice-style diamond, the stemware rack above, and a solid redwood tabletop. We recommend, either at the factory or upon installation that you put a clear lacquer finish on this because redwood will stain quite easily.  Here is the window that we spoke of as you pass into the wet bar.

The client had added some really nice accents to the wine room, as you can see the wine barrel.  These wine racks have structure and integrity that will certainly support small items, but indeed wooden cases and hardboard cases.