The city apartment does not allow storing fruits and vegetables for future use; there are no special cellars for this, as in a private house. But if you wish and the presence of a balcony, you can try to build a do-it-yourself corner in which you can keep vegetable supplies all year round. There are three options for solving this problem, you can make a wooden cellar-container (its use is justified if there is a heated balcony). Thermos cellar (it involves connecting a box for storing fruits and vegetables to electricity). Cellar with thermal insulation (here you need to connect heating elements). Before you make a box for potatoes, you must complete the full finish of the balcony.
How to make a cellar container?
The easiest way to do it yourself on the balcony is to make a wooden cellar container. Visually, it looks like in the photo at the beginning of the article.
If there is heating on the balcony, you can take plywood or chipboard sheets for its manufacture. It is advisable to first draw a drawing of such a container, the dimensions of the balcony and personal preferences should be laid as the basis. To create a frame, you need a bar with a cross section of 2.5x5 cm, battens, door hinges and nails. Assembly of the box takes place in several stages.
- First, according to the drawings, you need to cut all the blanks for the future container, which will store vegetables and fruits (these are eight short sides, the same number of cross-beams, boards, the length of which is equal to the width of the balcony). From the last lumber, the front wall of the box, and the bottom, and the upper part of the container will be made.
- Then we arm ourselves with the building level and make markings on the floor and walls, on which the frame of the future box will then be fixed. The bars of the frame are fixed directly along this contour, and then the side parts are fixed to them.
- After that, you can begin to cover the bottom, to stuff boards with your own hands. Small gaps should be left between them, they will provide the necessary ventilation (without it, potatoes, other vegetables and fruits can become moldy).
If, instead of wooden dies, sheets of chipboard are used, it is necessary to make ventilation holes in advance with a drill.
- The final stage is covering the front of the cellar. From above it will be necessary to make a convenient cover. For its manufacture, boards are taken, they are fastened together by wooden blocks. The cover is attached to the main frame using door hinges.
For the convenience of storing potatoes, other vegetables and fruits, the inner space of the finished cellar can be divided into several compartments, put in them an iron or plastic container. The box itself is easy to disguise, to do as shown in the photo. A constant temperature will always be maintained inside. If you put a similar cellar at the end of a wooden balcony or loggia, it will not take up much space, there is a wooden box made by yourself is much cheaper than a purchased plastic refrigerator. However, it is advisable to use this storage method, as mentioned above, it is only possible where the temperature in winter does not drop below zero degrees Celsius.
Thermos-like cellar
Many of us do not have wooden balconies in the winter during the winter, so if you want to make a spacious and convenient box for storing potatoes, other vegetables and fruits with your own hands, this fact must be taken into account. A simple cellar for designated purposes is no longer suitable; it is better to give preference to a wooden cellar, working on the principle of a thermos. With your own hands, you can make it by applying several manufacturing methods.
The easiest way to take as a basis is an old idle refrigerator, and adapt it to the designated needs. This option is not suitable for everyone: the old refrigerator is a bulky thing, not every balcony will allow you to install it and provide an unhindered approach to the designated subject. That is why it is easier to use the alternative option and assemble the thermos cellar from improvised materials yourself.
Detailed instructions
What is needed for this?
- Wooden beam with a cross section of 2.5x5 cm.
- Polyfoam (or any other heat-insulating material).
- Plywood.
- Several door hinges.
- Quality glue.
In addition, some tool should be at hand: a hacksaw, a screwdriver, a plunger gun and a building level. Work begins with a drawing up, which necessarily takes into account the width of the balcony.
The frame for the thermos is assembled in the same way as the wooden cellar described above, with only one difference: the floor (bottom) of the box does not need to be assembled. Instead, foam, or any other thermal insulation material, will lie. All four sidewalls are laid over by him. Thermal protection is attached to the walls of the thermos with glue. It is important to carry out the work in such a way that cracks do not form between the foam at the joints of two adjacent parts. The result should be the box shown in the photo.
If any defects are formed during the work with the foam, it is best to eliminate them with building foam.
After the basic design of the box for fruits and vegetables is completed, it will be possible to proceed with the manufacture of a lid for a thermos. You need to make it from plywood. The sheet is cut according to the dimensions of the main walls of the box. It is measured around the perimeter, then the dimensions are transferred to the plywood sheet, the workpiece is best cut with a jigsaw. Styrofoam is glued to the inside of the lid. It’s hard to do it yourself so that the new cover closes the thermos as tightly as possible, but it is precisely this effect that must be achieved. Otherwise, potatoes, other vegetables and fruits will simply freeze while in an unheated room.
If the lid fits snugly on a makeshift box, it can be attached to it using door hinges. Experts note that a thermos can not save supplies in the days of abnormal frosts. Therefore, in the presence of an unheated balcony, it is best to make a cellar with heating.
Heated drawer
You can make a heated cellar with your own hands under one condition, if you can provide safe access to electricity on the balcony.
The design of the heated cellar is more complicated than the design of the other two options described above. And that's why. For the construction of such a box for potatoes, other vegetables, as well as fruit, it will be necessary to make two boxes (one is placed in the other). The inner box is assembled from plywood, in which the ventilation holes were previously made. Between the first box and the second container, it is necessary to leave a technological gap, the width of which is several centimeters.
A pipe is installed in the vertical position at the bottom of the inner box (as it is shown in the photo (the image is shown in section)), inside of which are placed two ordinary light bulbs. They will act as the main source of heat. The photo shows in the form of diagrams the principle of operation of the described device. To save electricity consumption, experts recommend that at the initial stage of assembly do-it-yourself the simplest temperature controller. In the absence of skills in assembling such elements, it is better to purchase a finished part. It will help to monitor the air temperature inside the box and start heating if necessary.
You can adjust the thermostat in different ways: to a specific temperature or to the frequency of turning on the heating.
Thermostats are sold in stores, the device of which involves the presence of a heating system. Having bought this, you will not need to install a tube with bulbs in the heated drawer. Such an element is more expensive, but making a cellar with your own hands will be much easier.
As you can see, it is not so difficult to assemble the drawers yourself. If you have certain skills, as well as a carpentry tool, it will be much easier to solve the problem.