If you are looking to create the perfect storage conditions for your wine collection, WineWalls will advise you on why a vapour seal is very important in the construction of your wine cellar, wine pod or wine room. Installed during the construction phase, a vapour seal is critical in controlling the temperature and humidity inside the wine store. It acts as a barrier from the internal conditions of your home, which in turn are a factor of more external influences. If you have a humid climate, then the seal will prevent warm moist air from entering the space – this can cause mould and bacteria forming. In drier climates, it helps to regulate the humidity within the wine storage space.
A vapour seal is achieved by effectively wrapping 6mm polyethylene around the space. This is achieved by applying the 6mm poly to the warm side of all the wine cellar walls, ceiling and floor on the surface behind the insulation. For interior walls, wrap the 6mm poly around all joists and studs completely, that’s all the exposed areas both between and around every single one. This is the only way to guarantee a complete and therefore impenetrable vapour seal – and there is only once opportunity to install the vapour seal before the plasterboard is fixed – it is therefore important to gain professional advice and ensure professional contractors are employed.
But why go to all this trouble, what could happen if you don’t plan and take these steps?
The ideal storage condition for your wine collection will be between 12⁰C and 15⁰C, and 55-75% humidity – it depends on the wine and personal preference largely, also external factors that may limit certain extremes of these ranges. These conditions will not be the same as those found inside your home, which typically could be kept at 21⁰C. Therefore you’re trying to make a portion of your home – the wine cellar, wine pod or wine room – cooler than the rest of your home. This will mean that the moisture and humidity that is created inside your home will move towards the cooler wine store and will inevitably condensate on contact with the much cooler fabric of the wine store.
Also, consider fluctuations of temperature and humidity within your homes as the seasons change, heating and air conditioning systems are switched up or off, more sunlight entering the home, windows and doors left open – these factors mean a fluctuating environment which is normally never noticed or generally accepted by you and your family. However, you will need to prevent these fluctuations from affecting the wine store, as the key to creating ideal storage conditions for your wine is not only establishing the correct temperature and humidity levels, but maintaining them all year round.
Without the right barrier between your wine storage space and the rest of your house, condensation will build up within your walls and quite literally destroy them as it penetrates the materials and they start to decay. A vapour seal is therefore very important, to protect and maintain the ideal wine storage environment within your wine cellar, but also to prevent the environment from outside your wine storage space from getting in!
