A cold room can be built to store anything you like, but the most common use is for storing food. The general concept of a cold room is simple: cool air lowers the temperature and it also keeps things cold as time progresses.
Building a cold storage room requires some preparation and planning beforehand, but anyone can do it. The final result will be a room that keeps food cold and fresh for weeks, ready to use whenever you like.
Little by little, adding insulation to the walls of your DIY cold room will increase its capacity.
What is a Cold Room?
A DIY cold storage room is an additional room that is built in the garage or some other part of your home. It uses insulation to remove heat, lowering the temperature inside the DIY cold room. The colder it gets, the more efficiently it can keep food cool and fresh for weeks on end.
What is DIY Cold Frame?
A DIY cold frame is a DIY cold room that is not built in a DIY cold room. It can be moved, and it generally consists of little more than a wooden frame with a transparent top to let the light through.
What does DIY cold storage use?
Materials needed: – sturdy wood for walls and door. You can get cheap lumber at Home Depot – insulation. Quite cheap to acquire, and can be added later on.
Starting So, do you want to build DIY cold storage? Well here is how to do it! First, you need to plan out your DIY cold room before you begin building anything. You will need to know how much space you will need for DIY cold storage.
Generally, a DIY cold room should be wide enough to fit the amount of food that you want it to keep cool, and deep enough to store them without any issues. A DIY cold frame can also be made with only one shelf, but two is generally preferred. You can always add more DIY cold storage later on.
Now it’s time to start building! First, you want to make a DIY cold room frame. Cut two pieces of wood to a length that suits your DIY cold storage needs and set them aside for now. Using a level, draw a plumb line using one piece of DIY cold storage wood. This DIY cold room will be used to determine where you need to place the DIY cold frame support beams on the other DIY cold storage wood.
When DIY, make sure that your DIY cold room is not under-insulated! The more insulation that you use, the better your DIY cold room will be at keeping your DIY cold frame cool and fresh.
Preparation The next step is to make DIY cold storage shelves for the DIY cold room doors. If you like, you can also add DIY cold storage racks for the better organization if that fits your needs. For now, though, those things need not concern us as DIY cold frame doors. Currently, you will need DIY cold storage shelves.
Make DIY cold room door by cutting plywood DIY cold room door to size and insulating it with some cheap insulation boards.
How to build this DIY cold frame
- Cut four eight-foot 2x4s. If you’re lucky, they’ll be perfect eight-foot lengths with no nicks or ends that don’t quite line up, but if not, cut them down to size.
- Locate the centre point of each of your four boards and mark it with a pencil or marker, then set one aside for later use. Using a circular saw, cut a 60-degree angle from the centre point to one end so you have two trapezoid boards.
- Make sure both pieces are the same size – an easy way to do this is to place them diagonally against each other so you can see whether they match up at the ends instead of just measuring them with a tape measurer.
Rotate the other three boards to create a square, then drill pilot holes diagonally along each board. The diagonals should form a 45-degree angle across the top of the box.
- Place one trapezoid diagonally on top of two square boards that are spread into an A-shape so that it looks like you have Xs where the corners would meet if they were covered with boards instead of open air. Drill pilot holes through all four pieces and fasten them together using 3″ masonry screws or a power drill.
- Repeat this process to build another cold frame – except this time put diagonals on the inside so you can’t see them from the front or back once it’s done – that’s what the second 4×4 will go inside of to ensure it doesn’t move around.
Either way, you diagonally fasten your boards together, slide one cold frame inside the other so they are parallel and facing each other with their diagonals. As long as the diagonals on all pieces are in line with each other when they’re diagonally lined up like this, the box will be perfectly square once complete
- Drill pilot holes through both layers of wood at 3″ intervals diagonally across both boxes (that is, cover every corner) and attach them using masonry screws or a power drill. Make sure everything lines up diagonally before inserting any screws – if not, the diagonals won’t line up and you’ll end up with an off-kilter cold frame box.
- To build the door, cut two trapezoid boards to fit on either side of one of your doors (this will be the front door if you’re building a shed foundation). Fasten them diagonally at three corners like you did for the cold frames, but leave the fourth corner open so it’s easy to get in and out of the cold room.
Use masonry screws or power drill .8. Cut two 4x4s into three pieces each – they should be 8″, 16″, 24″ long respectively (you’ll have one piece leftover that is 4″ long that can be discarded). Place the 8″ pieces diagonally inside the cold room (the 16 and 24″ pieces on the outside) and use masonry screws or power drills to attach them diagonally through both layers. This will create a doorframe for your front door.
- Fasten diagonally the leftover 4x4s from step 5 with 3″ masonry screws or power drill so you have two triangle boards that fit between the cold frame diagonals in the open corners where you left off in step 6.
These will be used to fasten your hinges onto, so they need to be diagonally attached at all three corners just like the cold frames were in steps 6 and 7 – this is important if you want a square box that won’t fall apart. Use the tip of your pencil to mark where the screws will go on your hinges, then use a drill or screwdriver to fasten diagonally through both layers at these locations (there should be six in all).
- Cut off any excess boards diagonally around the cold room with a circular saw so you don’t have too much hanging out – this isn’t critical unless you want it to look nice when complete. You can also cut diagonals into the bottom inside corners of your doorframe if you like for decoration, but it’s not necessary.
- Fasten diagonally one 6′ piece of 2×4 that is 4″ wide along each lengthwise sidewall of the cold room. Make sure the diagonals are level with each other by setting them diagonally against a carpenter’s square or another angle measuring device (the cold room should be perfectly square at this point).
- On both of these diagonals, fasten diagonally your hinges onto one side of the 2x4s so that they diagonally face toward the door you built in step 8. Use two 3″ masonry screws or power drill to attach them at each corner diagonally – this is important if you want your cold room to open and close easily. The hinges should attach diagonally at three corners evenly spaced apart on each hinge – if not, they’ll stick out funny when you try to shut the cold room door.
- Attach diagonally your latch onto the inside of the 2x4s at three points on each corner so it latches diagonally across and on top of the front door you built in step 8 – this is important if you want to keep your cold room closed tightly. Use two 3″ masonry screws or power drill diagonally for each corner where they attach, just as you did with the hinges.
- Now that your hinges and latch are attached diagonally, fasten diagonally your handles onto both sides of the cold room opposite where they face when closed (the side opposite from where the latch diagonals into This is also very important because the cold room door will be difficult to open if the handles diagonally face the other way.
- Once you’ve completed steps 14 and 15, hang your front door diagonally by aligning the 4×4 hinges diagonally with the back of the doorframe (where you diagonally attached your 6′ 2×4 in step 11). Use two 3″ masonry screws or power drill diagonally through each hinge (there should be six in all) to attach them at three points evenly spaced apart on each hinge – this is critical or else your cold room door won’t hang correctly when open.16.
Cut two 5-foot pieces of corrugated plastic sheeting that are 3′ wide diagonally to make two doors for your cold room. Make sure the short side of the sheeting diagonals measures 3′ diagonally – this is critical or else your cold room won’t be as tall as you’d like it.
- Align one diagonally cut piece of corrugated plastic sheeting diagonally across two ends of a 2×4 that is 4″ wide, then fasten diagonally with three 3″ masonry screws or power drill through both pieces at each corner (there should be six in all) where they overlap diagonally on each end – this is important if you want a tight seal when closed and will create a hinge for the cold room diagonally.
- Repeat step 17 on two more diagonally cut pieces of corrugated plastic sheeting diagonally to create a second door diagonally. Attach diagonally these new hinges diagonally opposite from each other across your first door – this is important or else it won’t hang straight when open.
Fasten diagonally the same way you did for the first set of hinges at each corner where they overlap diagonally on each end – this will be critical if you want a tight seal when closed and will create a hinge for the cold room diagonally opposite from where the first one is located.19.
Hang both doors diagonally with their attached hinges across the cold room. They should diagonally hang evenly and on top of each other diagonally if you did everything right – this is important or else your cold room won’t be as tall as you’d like it.
- Cut a piece of corrugated plastic sheeting diagonally to fit across the top opening diagonally inside your cold room (the side opposite from where the front door hung diagonals). Attach diagonally this new piece with three 3″ masonry screws or power drill at three points evenly spaced apart on each end on an angle – this is important for insulation and sealing purposes.
FAQ
How do you make a homemade cold room?
Cold rooms were originally made by using a spare closet or converting a porch into a greenhouse, but there are other options as well. Some people choose to create large cold chambers in their homes. This is done with an unused garage or basement where machinery can cool down the air inside the enclosed space. The colder it gets, the better plants will grow indoors without being too crowded together from lack of space.
Can you build a cold room?
Yes, it is possible to build a cold room in your garage. There are two ways that you can do this. You can either purchase a portable ice maker or you can have an air conditioner with somebody who has refrigeration experience hook up the lines to it so that you can convert your garage into a cold room.
Does a cold room need ventilation?
Yes, a cold storage room needs to have ventilation.