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Cold room ceiling

TractorJeff

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A guy in New York State has a cold room under his porch. He added a Coal Chute for the Trucker to dump the Rice Coal down. 4 ton is approximately 4 feet high in that room, if I remember right?
 
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OP
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Fixed

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A guy in New York State has a cold room under his porch. He added a Coal Chute for the Trucker to dump the Rice Coal down. 4 ton is approximately 4 feet high in that room, if I remember right?
In my area people seem to mostly use them to store a fridge, or just Christmas decorations, etc.
 

Dakota00

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Woodbridge, Ontario
A cold room in my area is referred to as a cantina or a cellar. Where home made wine and cured meats like homemade salami and sausages are hanged. I'm lucky enough to have 2 rather large cold rooms in my basement. One under the porch and one under 1/3 of the garage floor. They're mostly used for storage.

To the OP, the 2x4's and OSB can be removed. It's just a form for when the concrete slab is poured.
 
OP
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Fixed

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To the OP, the 2x4's and OSB can be removed. It's just a form for when the concrete slab is poured.

Yeah, that's what I hope... Can't believe it's structural, because you can't frame anything like that if there will be real weight on it. Although I guess that has to support all of the weight while the concrete cures, unless they jack it up and while it's curing?
 

GMCGarage

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A 2x4 with that loading would span about 5.5-6' before becoming overstressed per design code, depending on the species of wood.

A 3" slab with 1/2" dia bars at 12" o.c. is good for about 7.5-8'

Whats the width of the room?
 

garagechester

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Fixed,

Man, we have a similar structure just like that. And mine has the steel bar placed right on top of the plywood inside the concrete. Perhaps, it is safe to say that you can safely remove that plywood with mold. If you are in doubt you can do a simple checking by tapping on the surface and listen to he sound coming off of it. Surely you can recognize easily whether this theory is correct or not.

Anyway, its just a suggestion. You can ignore this if it sounds like a bad idea. But this was what we did.
 

jkeyser14

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This was starting to be a somewhat popular amenity for new houses built about 8-10 years ago with hopes of utilizing more storage space or at the very least move the oil tank out of the main basement area. Seemed to catch on but then quickly tapered off and i rarely see that nowadays. The ones i've seen constructed have used corrugated steel as the structure to support it however i've heard of people having very humid basements and what happens when that warm moist air hits that cool steel ceiling?? Yup, lots of condensation to the point people couldn't store anything in there. Some houses did not have that issue so it depends.

I planned my house build like this. I also put a drain line for a dehumidifer under the slab to handle moisture issues. Code required insulation under the steel decking, so they sprayed foam.
 
OP
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Fixed

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It seems that you are good for the span with just concrete
Yeah. That's what it looks like to me too, but I've spoken to a couple experts and they refuse to confirm that it isn't somehow structural (no matter how retarded that might be), so I'm considering just replacing it (and putting up the gasket and everything properly) before finishing it.
 
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Fixed

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Just an update guys:

I stripped out all the wood. What's on the photo below is the best of it, in the one area I just smashed it into mulch with a hammer.

a88b1f1ba48e976608be59372a3de674.jpg

Most of the rest of the room looks OK. I've fixed most of the water problems from the exterior, and will be repainting the one area of the porch next weekend.

c6d13275a39ffd6609e700ffd07c2cb8.jpg


HOWEVER, the side closest to the house (right at the threshold of the door) is even worse than I had expected. The previous owners had left it unsealed (I have since corrected it), but I'm a bit concerned about how bad the rot is, and the exposed sheathing.

587e4819ac3571a5212e152de9452231.jpg

I plan to have the ceiling spray-foamed by a professional, should I be doing anything above and beyond the usual exterior improvements and interior roll-on waterproofing?
 

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GMCGarage

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Just an update guys:

I stripped out all the wood. What's on the photo below is the best of it, in the one area I just smashed it into mulch with a hammer.

a88b1f1ba48e976608be59372a3de674.jpg

Most of the rest of the room looks OK. I've fixed most of the water problems from the exterior, and will be repainting the one area of the porch next weekend.

c6d13275a39ffd6609e700ffd07c2cb8.jpg


HOWEVER, the side closest to the house (right at the threshold of the door) is even worse than I had expected. The previous owners had left it unsealed (I have since corrected it), but I'm a bit concerned about how bad the rot is, and the exposed sheathing.

587e4819ac3571a5212e152de9452231.jpg

I plan to have the ceiling spray-foamed by a professional, should I be doing anything above and beyond the usual exterior improvements and interior roll-on waterproofing?

In the last picture is the concrete spalled and the rebar rusted thru?
 

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GMCGarage

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What I'm seeing up there is brick... I suspect that they poured the slab after the brick was done, and some of it was included right up against the house.


Is that a 4x4 and some OSB still? Who knows what they were thinking when they designed that!
 
OP
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Fixed

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Is that a 4x4 and some OSB still? Who knows what they were thinking when they designed that!
That OSB, I am nearly certain, is the house sheathing. That would make the wood underneath (which appear to be 2x6s stacked) the baseplate for the framing of the main floor level of the house?

I have a general familiarity with framing and finishing, but not enough to be certain of what SHOULD have been done here.
 

WeekendWarrior83

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I have a concrete porch poured over a cold room, it's a pain in the *** and we don't use it. So would like to bring it into the house.

When you say you want to bring it into the house, do you mean you want the cellar insulated/heated (like the rest of the basement) and perhaps even finished? How large is the cellar?
 
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Relax

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Curious to see what you ended up doing with this project and how it worked out. I've wanted to convert my cold cellar into heated/conditioned storage for a while now, but worried about doing it wrong and ending up with mold.
 

gtsgarage

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California
Curious to see what you ended up doing with this project and how it worked out. I've wanted to convert my cold cellar into heated/conditioned storage for a while now, but worried about doing it wrong and ending up with mold.



Dang just read this whole thread hoping get to see how it went. Didn’t realize how old it was.
 
OP
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Fixed

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Hah, sorry guys, I should have followed up; I'll take some pics tonight and post an update

Sent from my SM-G935W8 using Tapatalk
 
OP
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Fixed

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Curious to see what you ended up doing with this project and how it worked out. I've wanted to convert my cold cellar into heated/conditioned storage for a while now, but worried about doing it wrong and ending up with mold.
I have some useful info about that, I'll include what I can with my update.

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Fixed

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Ok guys:

I have some in-progress photos, but I haven't been able to locate them yet (suspect they're still on an old phone).

I ended up removing the framing, as I detailed in a prior post. I've since had a couple contractors confirm that it was just shoring for the concrete pour. I actually ended up basically replacing them though: 2x4s on side, 12" OC which I applied foam gasket to the top of and used to frame the ceiling.

Prior to any of that though I caulked any cracks and all of the inside corners of the foundation using an appropriate sealant product. I then applied a masonry waterproofing product. Rolled a gallon onto the wall in two coats and then let it dry (including the floor).

I installed the bottom plate with foam gasket with tapcons, and then framing in the wall, leaving about 1/2" of space between the framing and the existing concrete.

After the framing was done I ran the electrical and installed the box for the lighting, switch, and freezer plug.

Hired a spray foam contractor to do the insulation, and am glad I did. Was about $500 Canadian (I'm in Ontario), they were in and out in a day without any mess or inconvenience aside from us not being in the house. We already had them coming out to do other work at the same time, otherwise I'm sure it would have been much more expensive. No vapor barrier required because they applied the minimum thickness required for the foam to act as a vapor barrier. The room stays warm in the winter without needing any HVAC brought directly into the room, which saved headroom and inconvenience.

I then drywalled, taped and mudded, painted and did the electrical fixture, switch and plugs, and installed some shelving for storage. The floor was just painted over top of the water proofing. I may tile it someday, but the location of the room makes it very low priority.

The attached photo isn't great (we already have it packed with **** lol), and it's a small room so hard to get a good angle.

I'm very happy with the project: it wasn't cheap (probably around $1k), but we have the extra space for the freezer and storage, and it is dry and no longer growing mould. d575e972d177287b3aa6edc73c14a657.jpg

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