New Cave in new house, what kind of door?

[paulabob]

Husband and I are building a new house, planning a small 4x4 cheese cave.  r25 enclosed walls, 5000 btu window a/c with coolbot.  I think kitchen tiles on both flooring and walls.

But what kind of door would we put in, and how to keep it sealed properly?

Any considerations, things I am forgetting?

Planning to put this "cave" adjacent to the pantry, and directly accessible from the kitchen.  Adding a second kitchen sink, so cheesemaking doesn't destroy dinner plans (not that I cook that much, but still!).

[paulabob]

Would still love any thoughts, we aren't close to construction yet.

[Chetty]

My cave has just a normal door that was installed really tight and has a really good sweeper on the bottom. 

My set up would be different from your as I have two sets of doors.   You go into a vestibule that acts as a air break from the cave.

You might want to add some kind of insulation to your door.  More insulation the better the power bill. 

[paulabob]

Thanks Chetty.  We definitely will only have the single door, so insulation will be important.  I found a lot of documentation online about how to insulate the room, just not info on doors.  And of course, we are trying to minimize costs for what is only a fun hobby.

[MakNCheese]

What door did you end up going with? Have you picked one?

I know you had mentioned cost being an issue but a few suggestions:
- Pre-hung (For convenience of installation)
- Fiberglass or steel skin
- Exterior-grade
- Weatherstripping
- Polyurethane foam core
- No glazing

[rsterne]

Yep, any insulated exterior door should be fine, with the normal draught seals and sweep/threshold....

Bob

[paulabob]

Thanks, what with lots of things going on, the house is still not in construction phase.  Just handing the kitchen plan over to the designer now (and lol, the kitchen is pretty much all I care about!)

[jamesza]

For your cheese cave, a solid door with good insulation is key to maintaining the right temperature and humidity. Consider using a door with weather stripping to ensure a proper seal. Additionally, a magnetic or heavy-duty door sweep can help keep the air tight. If you're also thinking about home improvements, don't forget to check out roof repair bloomington for any roofing needs in your new house!

[cheddarbob]

I just got my new house too from https://www.prefabricatedhomesuk.co.uk/ and got an interior designer, it helped so much.

[JayW]

my door to the cheese cave here is simply a 3" frame with a 1/4"panel for each side to enclose a 3"piece of rigid foam insulation with foil back to inside surface.
I use a magnetic catch to keep it shut so i can just bump it open from inside when hands need to be free. using minisplit with controller to keep the temperature tight. also the mitsubishi has a good fan which moves air left>right and up>down for air movement.

[tecla]

my door to the cheese cave here is simply a 3" frame with a 1/4"panel for each side to enclose a 3"piece of rigid foam insulation with foil back to inside surface.
I use a magnetic catch to keep it shut so i can just bump it open from inside when hands need to be free. using minisplit with controller to keep the temperature tight. also the mitsubishi has a good fan which moves air left>right and up>down for air movement.

Hey Jim, if you don't mind me asking a couple more questions. Is your cave partially underground (or basement)?  If you could guess, how much does that reduce the cooling and heating bills if so?

Also, given your location, do you end up with humidity issues in your cave, or does that end up being relatively easy to manage?

In my area, it's very arid, and the hot vs cold of the seasons pretty extreme. We would pretty much never need to reduce humidity, only add to it, and cool on the summer but get away with much less cooling in the winter if it's mostly underground. A leaky door would be a notable problem for both humidity and temperature control, otherwise we have to spend a lot on the energy to keep those at proper cave conditions.