Cellar in the country with your own hands step by step (instructions with photos)

A cellar is a room that is simply necessary in a summer cottage, especially if you have to store a lot of products and even equipment here. How to build a cellar in the country with your own hands step by step? First you need to understand how the cellar and basement differ, then think over the drawings of the future premises and choose the materials. After solving these issues, you can already begin construction.

Cellar or basement?

As a rule, a basement is a room located under the first floor. That is, it is below ground level, has the size of the area of ​​the house, so it is possible to arrange household blocks in it. The basement can include a pantry, a boiler room, a laundry room and even a swimming pool, if you think about a thermal insulation system.

Having decided to build a cellar in the country house with your own hands step by step, remember that you can only store food in it - from the harvested in the fall to canned food. This room has a large number of convenient shelves and racks, is equipped with a ventilation system, has a planned thermal insulation, which ensures optimal storage of products. The cellar can be located both in the basement of the house, and next to it, in a separate area.

Features of the construction

It’s enough to just build a cellar in the country with your own hands - step by step thoughtful drawings help in this. Most often, a noticeable hill is selected for the construction on the site. This is required in order to avoid the effects of groundwater on the contents of the cellar. If you find such a point, you can begin to draw up a project where the dimensions and depth of the room will be indicated, and an estimate will also be calculated. When a cellar is being built in the country house with your own hands, drawings play an important role - they will help to perform the job correctly.

What do the experts say?

There are several rules to follow when building a cellar:

1. Construction should be done in the summer.
2. Construction should be carried out using quality materials.
3. Walls and anti-dump structures must be constructed correctly.
4. High-quality ventilation in this building is indispensable.
5. You need to build exclusively on a hill - this applies to those who do not know how to make a cellar in the country with their own hands, if groundwater is close.

Waterproofing - close attention!

During the construction of the cellar, its waterproofing plays an important role, which, with quality installation, will increase the service life of the room. Materials for waterproofing should be selected depending on what level the groundwater is at. If they are lower, then pressure-free waterproofing will be required, if higher - anti-pressure. To build a cellar in the country with your own hands step by step and without problems, you need to carefully consider the choice of materials.

Since the main pressure will be on the walls, you need to build them from concrete with high waterproof properties. If the construction will be made of brick, then it will have to be treated with special compounds, then a high-quality cement screed should be made on both sides, and at the end of the work the walls should be finished using protective materials, for example, roofing material.

Construction Algorithm: Digging a Pit

How to make a cellar in the country with your own hands step by step? To begin with, we need to dig a pit, and this is done clearly in accordance with the plan or the finished project. About one and a half meters should remain on each side of the cellar - they are necessary for the convenience of construction work. And it’s best to dig manually - this will preserve the integrity of the soil layer.

With loose soil in the area, you should dig a pit with a slight slope - this will reduce the amount of crumbling sand. At a high level of groundwater, the pit becomes wider and deeper by about 50 cm, and this space is necessarily filled with waterproofing material. At the base of the cellar you need to lay a pillow of crushed stone and broken brick, and then pour them with bitumen: this will provide reliable protection against moisture.

Stage Two: Building Walls

High-quality materials are the main requirement if you decide to build a cellar in the country with your own hands. The photo shows that for the construction you can use any materials - from brick to concrete slabs. Experts advise you to proceed from the following rules:

• the most reliable walls for the cellar - made of bricks, foam blocks or concrete slabs;
• the floor is equipped with a cement screed with the addition of reinforcement, and sand and gravel are used for the “pillow”;
• floors are made of ready-made concrete slabs or planks for formwork, as well as reinforcement, which is needed to strengthen the structure;
• External waterproofing can be made of roofing material, which is attached with mastic.

Follow the instructions

Here's how to build a cellar in the country with your own hands (step by step instructions):

1. The cellar must be dry, so before you pour concrete on the floor, you should consider its high-quality waterproofing. The bottom of the pit is covered with a pillow of sand and gravel and carefully tamped. Crushed stone is poured on top and also tamped. Along the entire perimeter of the pit, it would be good to make the formwork, where to pour concrete and level it. After the concrete hardens, we remove the formwork. The sides of the cellar can be coated with tar - it will protect the walls from moisture. By the way, if the groundwater is deep, then the floor may well be left earthen.
2. Now we carry out the erection of walls. When using brick, the masonry can be performed both with cement mortar and with a mixture of clay and sand. An important role in the construction of walls is the arrangement of waterproofing, if it will be used as a layer between earthen walls and masonry.
3. Between the wall and the backfill, it is possible to lay a ruberoid in one layer - it will become a reliable protection against moisture.
4. After a couple of rows of masonry are completed, you need to leave a niche in the wall for the ventilation pipe: it will go upstairs. From above it should be covered with a lattice so that rodents do not penetrate inside.
5. Walls are erected to the very top of a dug pit, while their horizontal and vertical position must be aligned.

Create overlap

Installation of ceilings is one of the key moments when a cellar is being built in the country house with your own hands. The photo of this stage of work shows that the floors can be mounted in different ways. The easiest way is to lay concrete slabs on top of the cellar, which will rest on the ground around the perimeter. That is why many people prefer a simpler option - the use of combined floors that are easy to stack and process. With this option, the following work is performed:

1. First, roofing material is carefully laid on the walls and the soil itself, on which bars are placed on top. They are needed as beams for floors.
2. Wooden flooring is nailed onto the joist bars , in which you must remember to leave the hatch.
3. We put waterproofing material on top of the flooring , while it must go behind the ground.
4. On top of the material (most often it is a film of polyethylene) we lay the reinforcing grill, the resulting space is filled with concrete, which is leveled.

What to do with the roof?

The roof is another important point that you should pay attention to when deciding how to make a cellar in the country house with your own hands step by step. The instruction will help to complete the work as efficiently as possible. Most often, the cellar is covered with a gable roof, which is installed above the hatch. In this case, the roof should go to the entire perimeter of the cellar to protect all materials from external influences. The front part of the roof should be sheathed with boards, and the slopes should be equipped first with roofing material, and then with any roofing material.

Cellar of concrete rings: construction features

Concrete rings are durable and reliable concrete products that are widely used in the construction of cellars. Since making a cellar in the country house with your own hands from concrete rings is not an easy task, you should perform it correctly:

1. First, a hole is dug. It should be deep enough so that all structural elements fit in it without problems. In order for the rings to be laid firmly, add fragments of bricks to the ground.
2. The bottom, as in the case of a conventional cellar, is first equipped with a mixture of sand and gravel, and then covered with concrete.
3. The rings are installed in the right place. For this, most likely, you will have to use special equipment because of the heavy weight of the structures.
4. The roof is being built. The easiest way is to make it out of thick boards, and to top it with a roofing material. It is important to leave a hole that will provide ventilation.
5. If the cellar was built of more than two rings, waterproofing of the joints will be required. Internal insulation should be done with liquid glass or mastic, and external insulation with roofing material or again with mastic. After the materials are laid, the voids between the rings and the ground are filled with ordinary soil, and even better - with a more reliable way of fixing - concrete mixture.

The interior of the cellar

From the inside, the cellar can be designed as the owner wants it. In the case of the option of concrete rings, the difficulty lies in the fact that the shelves should be semicircular in shape. An important attribute of this room is the staircase. It is better to weld it to the top of the store, or you can make a removable one. As for the decoration of the cellar, it all depends on the features of waterproofing. If it was performed efficiently, then the finish can be done with any materials. For the ceiling on the bars, insulation with mineral plates, which is convenient to work with, is well suited.

Many leave brick walls without decoration, but you can make them at least even with plaster. Experts recommend treating such a surface with liquid insulation that will penetrate into the material, crystallize there and provide resistance to moisture.

Or maybe a finished cellar?

You can also buy a finished construction, if you do not know how to make a cellar in the country with your own hands. The photo of such a structure, located below, shows that it is small and can be installed anywhere on the site. A compact solution is a cellar in the form of a barrel, which takes up little space and at the same time differs in capacity. The walls of such a barrel are tight, strong and reliable, in addition, they are waterproofed, which eliminates the risk of corrosion and other negative influences. Installation is simple: a pit digs under the dimensions, where the base is carefully processed, a barrel is placed on it.

Whatever cellar you erected, you need to monitor it: keep it clean, ventilate and dry. In addition, it is impossible to store flammable substances in it, which violate the fire safety of the house. It’s quite simple to mount it with your own hands, the main thing is to think over the drawings and choose the right materials.