Why have a Spiral Cellar?

It's the quickest, cheapest and easiest way of building a home wine cellar. A watertight, pre-cast cylindrical system that's sunk into the ground, it can be located anywhere from kitchen to conservatory, workshop to study with wine storage space of up to 1600 bottles.

Wine cellar sizes

Every wine cellar from Spiral Cellars has the same diameter, but the depth varies depending on how many bottles you wish to store.

The Spiral Cellar has four depth options, running from two to three metres, the biggest of which allows for storage of up to 1,800 bottles. For those who feel a smaller home wine cellar would be more appropriate for their needs, The Mini Cellar, accessed by a simple wooden staircase, rather than a spiral staircase, would be ideal and allows storage for up to 770 wine bottles.

Compact wine cellars and small wine cellar

Spiral Cellars offer a range of compact wine cellars for home installations from small wine cellars (our mini cellar holds up to 650 bottles) up to large Spiral Cellars (our deepest holds up to 1600 bottles!). Larger Spiral Cellars are deeper rather than wider so still a compact option when space is limited.

How do you choose the right one?

To an extent, the cellar size you choose depends on whether you're likely to use it mostly for everyday-drinking wines (which have a higher turnover) or also to store cases of fine wine, which you may wish to hold onto for many years.

Even if you just buy three cases of fine wine a year, it's amazing how quickly even a good-sized cellar can fill up!

As a starting point, try the following calculation. Work out roughly how many bottles of wine you might drink in an average week; multiply it by 50 to get your yearly consumption (allowing for two weeks holiday away from home). Next add on the rough number of fine wines you might buy to drink in the long-term. Finally, multiply this overall figure by five and that will give you some idea of the size of cellar you need.

Where can a home cellar go?

You can install your home cellar from Spiral Cellars just about anywhere, provided our engineer approves it! It's up to you whether you want to have it in your kitchen, conservatory, dining room or study. There are a range of different options available to place your new home cellar as seen in the image examples opposite.

Where can't a home wine cellar usually be installed?

Each cellar installation is evaluated fully before we advise you however, we do not recommend installing home wine cellars in the following locations:

In a south facing conservatory (other orientations are acceptable)

Where the wine cellar is positioned more than 7m away from the nearest exterior wall.

What kind of trap door options are available?

Within reason, the answer is 'any.' Your Spiral Cellar can be built so the stairs go clockwise or anti-clockwise, depending on which is most convenient for access from your room, and so long as it covers half of the circular top of the Cellar, the direction of the entrance is equally flexible.

The cellar comes with a standard four-panel wooden trapdoor as standard, with a gas strut to ease lifting, but other door options are available for a supplementary charge:

- Including recessed (for wooden laminate floors and tiles)
- Reinforced glass (if you want to show off your wines from above)
- Specially strengthened versions for use in garages where they will be driven over by cars.

Getting a site Survey for your home wine Cellar

Once you have decided you would like to know more about a home wine cellar from Spiral Cellars, we will arrange for a site survey to be carried out to asses your options for wine storage in your home.

Our surveyor will visit your home (or meet with the architect and/or builder in the case of a new build home or extension) and assess the suitability of the property for the installation of your home wine cellar.

The surveyor will carry out a full technical assessment of the suitability of a home cellar installation, looking for drains; mains supply pipes and load bearing walls, as well as taking a note of room dimensions and your construction preferences.

Building a Wine Cellar - Calculations

Building a wine cellar couldn't be easier, once you decide to proceed, this information is passed on to our engineer, who prepares the necessary technical calculations and makes sure that your preferred home wine cellar location is suitable for the building structure.

Building Regulations Approval for Home Cellar Installation

This is not required if you are building your wine cellar in detached garages or outbuildings, but it is should you be installing it in an inhabitable space, such as in your home or an attached garage. We can submit this application for you, prepared by our engineer and submitted to the local authority on your behalf.

A building control officer will inspect the work during the home cellar installation, and issue a completion certificate once the cellar is finished. If other building works are being undertaken (i.e. extensions), we can forward our calculation package onto your architect or builder so the documents can be included with the master building regulations application.

Planning Permission

Planning permission to build your wine cellar is not usually required, but may be requested by the local authority if the property has already undergone extensive extensions or additions. In our experience a cellar has not yet been refused planning permission on the occasions that it was requested.

Build Your Own Wine Cellar:

Here are the typical steps taken as part of a wine cellar construction project by Spiral Cellars. Every home is different, as is every home cellar installation but our expert team make the process as simple as possible meaning you can achieve your dream of building your own wine cellar as quicker and with less disruption than the average home improvement project.

Installation options…

Full Installation - Spiral Cellar employees will excavate the hole for your wine cellar, organise skips for removal of waste, gain necessary permits from your local authority, and supply all building materials: waterproof liners, Spiral Cellar modules, trap door and lighting. Within a week your cellar will be fitted and complete.

Fit Only - Should you be already building a new home, garage, extension or conservatory, it may be easier for your own contractors to dig the hole, should they have the right mechanical excavators. The Spiral Cellars Team will then supply, deliver and install the home cellar... Please consider carefully the programme of your own building work, as timing is critical for an efficient installation of your cellar.

What happens after my home wine cellar is built?

The Two Week Check

4-5 weeks after your home wine cellar has been installed; our After Sales Manager will visit and give your new purchase a thorough going-over. He will vacuum it out, fit any extra additions (such as a carpet and/or safe) and check the temperature and humidity. Once he's happy that everything is as it should be, he will 'sign it off' and all you have to do is fill it with wine.

Cellar wine store guarantees

All our fully-installed cellar wine stores come with a five year guarantee. If during the first five years a cellar is found to be defective in any way, under normal use and service, we guarantee to repair or replace the cellar free of charge. Full details are provided on individual estimates.

What maintenance is necessary on my part?

None.