Cave, Room, Above Ground - Recommendations

[steffb503]

Ok I am pretty sure I will be expanding one of these years.
My problem is a proper cheese cave. Right now I have a full size fridge set to age cheese. I can get another or maybe two more but what do I do after that?

Is there a way to effectively build such a room above ground without spending a fortune on climate control?

[Sailor Con Queso]

I use a walk-in cooler with a simple window air conditioner. You can use a Cool-Bot or lots of other temperature control options.

[mrawlins]

At work my cube is right next to a cinder block and cement wall (no insulation).  I find the temperature within a foot of the wall is about the average of the day's temperature (high+low/2).  That sort of thing gives a high thermal mass.  That's at least in part how underground/buried caves regulate temperature.  It would decrease the amount of energy needed to keep it warm or cool.

Piling up dirt around the walls will give a bit of extra thermal mass, and give you a bit of a better buffer.  I don't think rocks work as well, but they probably would help some.  This is mostly what I just did for my cave: 3' tall cinder block walls (about 1' thick), filled with dirt, and 1-2' dirt bermed arond that.  It's not walk-in, though.

If you're not building new walls then it's probably a matter of maximizing insulation.