TheEngineer

[hotwine]

TW, not sure about insulating a small box to house a few cases. <P>I nickled-and-dimed the storage problem for years before finally tackling it seriously a few years ago, all documented in painful detail elsewhere in this thread. At a minimum, I think you should wall off a corner of your basement with 2X4 studs, frame in a door, apply moisture block paint to concrete walls, ceiling and floor (two coats), overlay that with heavy gauge poly sealed at the edges with insulating aluminum tape, and overlay that with 1/2" blue foamcore insulation (again, sealing edges with the tape). I used "Liquid Nails" to tack down the poly and the foamcore, then wedged 1/4"s against the foamcore panels all around to help hold them in place. So far, it's worked perfectly. But I chilled the space with an industrial refrigeration system, which you might be able to dispense with in your slimate.<P>Highly recommend Dr. Gold's little book, "How and Why to Build a Wine Cellar". Absolutely outstanding as a technical reference.<P>Good luck.