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You are here: Home / DIY & Crafts / DIY Root Cellar Plans (Low Cost & Simple Design)

DIY Root Cellar Plans (Low Cost & Simple Design)

October 25, 2022 by Ashley Adamant 13 Comments

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Root cellars are an old fashioned way to keep food fresh without modern refrigeration.  Insulated by the ground, a properly made root cellar will stay at “refrigerator” temperature year round, even in the heat of summer.

Generally, they’re expensive to build, but this plan is for a DIY earth bag root cellar that costs almost nothing.

Earth Bag Root Cellar

For years we’ve “root cellared” in our basement, and while it mostly gets the job done, it doesn’t quite stay cool enough in the summer heat.  I’ve always wanted a proper outdoor root cellar, dug into the earth and insulated above so that it’ll stay cool year round.

The problem is, they’re generally expensive to build and require heavy equipment (like a cement truck).  My friend Teri even has a really sleek design in her book on the topic, but it requires heavy construction equipment, concrete, etc.

It’s daunting to say the least.

I recently came across a design for an earth bag root cellar, that uses earth in sandbags to create the walls.  They’re held together securely, but inexpensively with things like rebar driven through the bags.

This construction technique is used in other parts of the world where labor (and time) are plentiful, but money is not.

The actual plans for this DIY root cellar come out of one of my favorite off grid book resources, The Doable Off-Grid Homestead.  Just about everything in this book is done with practical ingenuity, and on a shoe string budget.

This one can be done for (almost) free, and is the perfect solution for someone who has time but not money.

The Doable Off-Grid Homestead

Reprinted with permission from The Doable Off-Grid Homestead by Stewart and Shannon Stonger. Page Street Publishing Co. 2018. Photo credit: Shannon Stonger.  It has been edited slightly for format and length to fit the web.

Earthbag Root Cellar

If you have time but not money, then earthbag building might be for you. Earthbag construction is simply using sand bags filled with moist dirt that are tamped level as building blocks along rows. Think of it as building with simple dirt blocks that you create. Note that this will not work with really sandy soil because the bags would shift too much.

DIY Earth Bag Root Cellar

Estimated Time

With a team of one adult and two children (ages 9 and 11), we were able to fill up and place around 30 bags in a 3 ½-hour period. 

(Quick back of the envelope math with that estimates that it’ll take about 150 “man hours” to fill the bags for this project, or about 2 weeks of full time work for two healthy adults.  Again, you’re putting in time, not money here.)

Estimated Cost

This root cellar project used a bit fewer than 600 sandbags at less than $0.20/bag plus barbed wire, rebar and materials for covering the earthbags.

(Total cost for materials used by this project, assuming you already have basic tools like shovels and buckets, is around $250 to $400.)

Tools and Materials

  • Shovels
  • 4-foot (1.2-m) level
  • Dirt with some clay content
  • 6-mm plastic sheeting
  • Sandbags
  • Bucket with no bottom
  • Water for moistening dirt
  • Tamper
  • Four-pointed barbed wire
  • Leather gloves
  • Safety glasses
  • Wire cutters
  • Rebar cutter or reciprocating saw with metal blade
  • 3/8-inch (9.5-mm) rebar, as needed
  • Small sledgehammer
  • Treated 2 x 8 boards, optional
  • Drill and 3-inch (7.6-cm) deck screws, optional
  • Cement stucco or earthen plaster materials, as needed
  • Chicken wire or other mesh material, as needed

How to Build an Earthbag Root Cellar

Prepare your hole. Keep in mind that earthbag walls do not have to be square; in fact, they are stronger when curved.

We started with a hole approximately 6 feet (1.8 m) deep and 8 x 12 feet (2.4 x 3.6 m) at the base. Make sure you account for the space the earthbags will take up in your hole.

Using a shovel, clean up the hole in order to create a level surface (double checking with the 4-foot [1.2-m] level) around the perimeter that is wide enough for the earthbags and put all the dirt from the cleanout in a pile in the middle. This dirt will later end up in the earthbags.

Place a layer of 6-mm plastic sheeting around the edge of the entire hole. Temporarily secure it in place with rocks or bricks while you build your walls.

To fill a sandbag, place the bucket with the bottom cut out inside the sand bag. This will keep the bag open while you fill it. Moisten the dirt with water as necessary and fill the bucket with dirt. When you lift the bag and bucket up together, the dirt falls to the bottom of the bag and you can finish filling the bag.Tie off the bag (many bags come with built in ties) and repeat as needed.

Fill the earthbags and use a "Chute" to get them into the hole.

Fill the earthbags and use a “Chute” to get them into the hole.

Lay the earthbag down so that the tied opening butts up against the bag next to it. Tamp the bag level with the earthbag next to it. Continue filling and placing the earthbags, tamping as you go, until a single row fills the perimeter.

Carefully place 2 strands of the barbwire on the earthbags. After each layer of earthbags is laid down and tamped level, you need to put down 2 more strands of barbed wire.

You can hold this barbed wire down temporarily with rocks or bricks while you place the next layer of bags.

Finishing the earthbag walls. Notice the Barbed Wire strung on top to hold them together.

Finishing the earthbag walls. Notice the Barbed Wire strung on top to hold them together.

Cut the rebar.

If you’ve never cut rebar with a reciprocating saw before, you’ll find you can destroy a metal cutting blade on a single piece of rebar.

Two simple tricks help make the metal blade last a lot longer:

  • First, move the reciprocating saw blade back and forth while cutting so that it isn’t always on the exact same spot on the blade.
  • Second, between each cut, dip the blade in cool water. Heat is the primary thing that wrecks the blade, in our experience.
Dip the reciprocating saw blade in water between rebar cuts.

Dip the reciprocating saw blade in water between rebar cuts.

Pound the rebar through the bags with the sledgehammer.

For the foundation layers—the first two layers—pound 1 or 2 pieces of rebar into each bag. After that, you can pound rebar down through the bags every 5 layers.

Repeat layering earthbag and barbed wire and pounding rebar as needed until the desired height is reached.

Pound the rebar through wooden bond beams into the earthbags.

Pound the rebar through wooden bond beams into the earthbags.

Once the walls are finished, you need to tie everything together at the top. To do this, we created wooden bond beams.

We used 2 x 8 lumber laid flat across the tops of the earthbags, which attempted to cover a portion of each earthbag. We screwed all these boards together with the drill and 3-inch deck screws in a roughly shaped octagon.

Then we put on a second layer of 2 x 8 lumber over top to cover the seams in the first layer.

Screwing the second layer down to the first layer gives you a very strong continuous “beam.”

Drilling wood to create wooden bond beams.

Drilling wood to create wooden bond beams.

Finally, we drilled holes down through the 2 x 8 boards into the earthbags. Then we pounded rebar down through the holes into the earthbags. At this point the bond beam was firmly anchored to the wall.

Cap the cellar.

A popular way of keeping root cellar temperatures down is to create a small room with an overhanging roof on top of the root cellar. If this is your approach, your next step is to build a floor. If not, you are going to have to build a strong roof to cap the cellar.

In any case, you need to cover the bags with the roof or stucco to protect them from the elements. You can pin chicken wire to the earthbags to help the stucco adhere to the walls.

Cap the cellar with a roof.

Cap the cellar with a roof.

Off-Grid Skills Tutorials

Looking for more resources for your off grid lifestyle?

  • Off Grid Appliances
  • Maintaining Off Grid Systems in Winter
  • Pedal Powered Washing Machine for Off Grid Laundry
  • 10 Luxuries We Have Off Grid (That Most Suburban Homes Don’t)
  • Raising Goats Off the Grid

How to Build a Root Cellar

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Comments

  1. Marilyn

    November 2, 2022 at 10:39 pm

    This is a neat idea. We recently sold our homestead which had an amazing root cellar that we built underneath our shed. At our new place, there is no root cellar so it’s on the near future to-do list.

    Reply
    • Administrator

      November 21, 2022 at 8:59 pm

      One of the books listed in this post would definitely be helpful for you.

      Reply
  2. Janet

    November 3, 2022 at 10:29 am

    I want to see photos of the finished roof and cellar!

    Reply
    • Administrator

      November 21, 2022 at 9:00 pm

      The photos from this post were actually taken from the book which you can find here. https://www.amazon.com/Doable-Off-Grid-Homestead-Cultivating-Simple/dp/1624145388?crid=KHT80M34TY0L&keywords=The+Doable+Off-Grid+Homestead&qid=1666623494&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjgzIiwicXNhIjoiMC41NSIsInFzcCI6IjAuNTIifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=the+doable+off-grid+homestead,aps,257&sr=8-1&linkCode=sl1&tag=selfrelianc0e-20&linkId=3859dd6ac3bf134ea969f037649bdb6e&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

      Reply
  3. Pavel Andreev

    November 20, 2022 at 3:22 pm

    It cannot be used in regions with high level of ground water..

    Reply
  4. Beth

    November 21, 2022 at 1:47 am

    How is the finished floor/roof done in this one? Also, hubby said he uses circular saw to cut rebar and it doesn’t ruin the blade and cuts pretty fast. Why type of material are they finishing out the platform on top? Metal also where is the opening to get into cellar?

    Reply
    • Administrator

      November 21, 2022 at 9:06 pm

      There are lots of ways to go about finishing the top of the root cellar. You can build a small room above it with an overhanging roof or you can cap it by building a strong roof.

      Reply
  5. Hannah

    November 25, 2022 at 1:24 am

    Would love to see what your finished project looks like! What are the next steps after creating the roofing frame?? It would be nice to see some more details about the finishing steps, thanks! 🙂

    Reply
  6. Perrin Johnson

    November 25, 2022 at 3:06 am

    I rarely find something so simplistic but helpful as your sand bag celler. Thank you and I’d like to keep in touch to learn more ideas and share my my process as I build this amazing idea.

    Reply
    • Ashley Adamant

      November 25, 2022 at 9:39 pm

      You’re quite welcome!

      Reply
  7. Will

    November 25, 2022 at 4:28 am

    I get a lot of rain in my area (60+ inches per year). Will this building method keep water from coming in the side? I can build a waterproof roof, but I can’t afford to have water coming through the walls. Thank you for your time.

    Reply
    • Ashley Adamant

      November 25, 2022 at 9:40 pm

      If you live in an area with a high water table, this just isn’t going to work. This one pictured was built in Texas, with little rain and not a lot of ground water. It does have plastic sheeting to keep water from coming in the sides, but it’s not going to cut it if you have a lot of rain.

      Reply
      • Will

        December 2, 2022 at 6:56 pm

        Thank you for your reply.

        Reply

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I’m an off-grid homesteader in rural Vermont and the author of Practical Self Reliance, a blog that helps people find practical ways to become more self-reliant. Read More…

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