Cold Room door edges sealing?

There's an old cold room without a door off the kitchen in this house, it's tiled, and has 2 stone shelves. Maybe ice used to get delivered and stored in there to keep food fresh,

I could make a door from 2 pieces of plywood sandwiching kingspan, but what sort of hinges and what sort of sealing would you recommend?

Would it have to be ventilated?

Could I install some kind of a small fridge unit to keep it cool?

[george]
Reply to
george [dicegeorge]
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Even in my old 1960's house the kitchen cupboard had a tiled concrete shelf ( which took some smashing to get out!). I would have thought this was just as likely to keep things warm as cold, but old customs die hard I suppose.

If your room was indeed a cold room with ice, I would imagine there would be some drainage in there. A door and a small air con unit might indeed make a good modern equivalent: you'd probably get a lot of condensation on the stone though, and I suspect it would have needed a lot of regular cleaning when originally in use.

S
Reply to
Spamlet

How old is the house and how big? Ice was imported from Norway from the mid 19th century and earlier large houses might have an ice house to store ice from their own lake in winter. However, ice delivery would have been the preserve of the wealthy.

In the days before fridges became common, most houses would have had a larder - a romm much as you describe with shelves of marble, which always feels cold. Meat would be stored in there in a meat safe, which was a small cupboard with perforated zinc sides.

Door hinges? For sealing, look at the magnetic seals used around fridge doors.

Not if you want to fit a cooling unit, although larders were normally vented to the outside.

No reason why you could not, but if it was a larder, the walls, floor and ceiling will not be insulated.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar

I suppose someone has to say putting *a* fridge in the room will warm it up: a refrigeration unit would have to have its radiator tubes outside the room. Air conditioning units might be sufficient though, and they take care of the condensation too: here is a Which? report to get you started:

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Reply to
Spamlet

OK, maybe it was a larder.

The house is 150 years old, but originally this little room was steps down to the cellar, later someone concreted in a floor.

At the moment it has no door, If I put in an insulated and sealed door then maybe it would keep things cooler and away from mice, but as one of you commented condensation may then be a problem, as warm air from the kitchen would get in there when I open the door.

hmmm...

Should I put an air vent in the door?

[g]
Reply to
george [dicegeorge]

Such rooms weren't cooled originally, they were just cooler than the rest of the house, north facing etc. Cooling them by refrigeration is uneconomic due to lack of insulation, and the temps they experience arent safe for perishable food. So they're not overly useful except as food cupboards.

If you wanted it a little cooler, insulation between room and rest of house plus venting the place to the outside during the night (eg fan + air inlet) would cool it some, but youre not going to get perishable food safe temps with any consistency that way. There are also other passive cooling techniques if you wanted to play, and try to reach fridge temperatures.

NT

Reply to
NT

The worst place to put one if you want to keep it cool. Traditional larders had two vents to the outside, top and bottom. However, if mice are a problem, you would need to cover them with metal mesh. As a guide, if you can put a Bic biro through a hole, that is an entrance a mouse can use.

I would have thought the simplest option would be to keep it as an alcove off the kitchen and put a large larder fridge in it.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar

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