We had talked about building a second wine cellar for years, but unlike our first cellar, this one would cost significantly more than the first and involve a considerable amount of work and time to build. The accountant finally broke down and agreed to let us build it. We got bids from multiple builders, but very few people have basements in this part of the country and thus have little idea of how to set about building one. We read detailed books on how to build basements and ended up using our trusty and skilled contractor since he was the only person confident enough to give it a try. The cellar itself was only a part, albeit a large part, of a large renovation. Other updates included wood floors and base moulding throughout much of the first floor, new texture and paint in most of the rooms, granite countertops in a few of the bathrooms, and new iron doors.
The first step was to move all of the furniture to one side of the house. We planned to install the wood floors in two parts (e.g. to complete one side then move the furniture and complete the other side), but first we had to complete the structure of the cellar before we could start on the other renovations. We removed a few of the floorboards in the living room and workers started digging the cellar by hand using only shovels and buckets. The digging was done by just 2 workers for the majority of the time and was completed in just 2 and a half weeks.
The first step was to move all of the furniture to one side of the house. We planned to install the wood floors in two parts (e.g. to complete one side then move the furniture and complete the other side), but first we had to complete the structure of the cellar before we could start on the other renovations. We removed a few of the floorboards in the living room and workers started digging the cellar by hand using only shovels and buckets. The digging was done by just 2 workers for the majority of the time and was completed in just 2 and a half weeks.