Posted: 2/27/2011 6:43:59 AM EDT
| Has anyone here built, or have experience with these. I am thinking of building one for the hell of it. With todays materials we should be able to build one that is pretty effective. |
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many moons ago, I lived in Vt..there was a fellow around Springfield who still cut ice by hand from the river and stored it in his barn, on the first floor, HAY filled the second floor, ice was stored thru the summer, stacked side by side with straw in between and covering it..
probably a 20' x 25' space and he still had ice in august... |
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many moons ago, I lived in Vt..there was a fellow around Springfield who still cut ice by hand from the river and stored it in his barn, on the first floor, HAY filled the second floor, ice was stored thru the summer, stacked side by side with straw in between and covering it.. probably a 20' x 25' space and he still had ice in august... WOW , I'd like to see that ! |
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many moons ago, I lived in Vt..there was a fellow around Springfield who still cut ice by hand from the river and stored it in his barn, on the first floor, HAY filled the second floor, ice was stored thru the summer, stacked side by side with straw in between and covering it.. probably a 20' x 25' space and he still had ice in august... WOW , I'd like to see that ! that would be cool, I bet you would have to have a bunch of ice for it to last that long |
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many moons ago, I lived in Vt..there was a fellow around Springfield who still cut ice by hand from the river and stored it in his barn, on the first floor, HAY filled the second floor, ice was stored thru the summer, stacked side by side with straw in between and covering it.. probably a 20' x 25' space and he still had ice in august... That's amazing. I'd love to have seen that. |
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I saw an old walk in freezer on craigslist a few months back. Maybe the wall sections could be re-purposed. They are designed to assemble easily. Get one up and put on a few more layers of 2" pink Foamular on the outside, then cover with cheap vinyl siding. One thing to watch out for is that sometimes the insulation in the panels degrade and disintegrates, falling into the bottom of the panel. Knock on the panels and listen for hollow spots. If either end of the panel sounds significantly different, pass. |
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funny...i am watching the full "victorian garden" series on utube as I surfed into the food and garden forum. it's a really interesting series. Staying on topic...the estate where I work has an ice house on site, not used anymore obviously, but is restored/in it's original condition and is part of the historic tour. I'll see if I can grab some pictures and get them up here. Essentially, it's a large box that is about 12 feet in width/12 feet in length and about 20 feet deep, built into the north facing slope of a small ravine. Lined with toungue and groove planks and a drain hole at the bottom, leading out into the bottom of the ravine. It would have been filled with ice from the Hudson River every winter and then used to supply the mansion with ice all year round. Pretty neat. To go along with it, the original ice harvesting tools are hanging on the wall in the barn. Long pull saws with handles perpendicular to the blade, several pairs of large tongs, as well as hooks and "pikes" to move the ice through the channels to the harvesting spot. VERY neat. For a size perspective, the mansion would have had anywhere from 3-6 "family members" and/or guests as well as 2-3 house servants and maids as well as 2-3 gardeners a gatekeeper as well as a full time stable man/groomsman/horse guy (whatever they would have been called). In reality, I imagine the ice was only used in the main house...for the "family" who owned the place. Not a huge estate, but one that was relatively well taken care of in regards to "the help"...and certainly well heeled enough to have the requirements of an ice house. |
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I saw an old walk in freezer on craigslist a few months back. Maybe the wall sections could be re-purposed. They are designed to assemble easily. Get one up and put on a few more layers of 2" pink Foamular on the outside, then cover with cheap vinyl siding. One thing to watch out for is that sometimes the insulation in the panels degrade and disintegrates, falling into the bottom of the panel. Knock on the panels and listen for hollow spots. If either end of the panel sounds significantly different, pass. Thanks for the replies everyone. I asked a few old timers about this and they seemed to think it wasn't that common around here (Mississippi). I've seen the remnants of ice houses at a few plantation houses though. I wouldn't mind making one for fun. Do you all think it wouldbe better to dig one in or just build a shaded, insulated above ground structure? |
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I saw an old walk in freezer on craigslist a few months back. Maybe the wall sections could be re-purposed. They are designed to assemble easily. Get one up and put on a few more layers of 2" pink Foamular on the outside, then cover with cheap vinyl siding. One thing to watch out for is that sometimes the insulation in the panels degrade and disintegrates, falling into the bottom of the panel. Knock on the panels and listen for hollow spots. If either end of the panel sounds significantly different, pass. Thanks for the replies everyone. I asked a few old timers about this and they seemed to think it wasn't that common around here (Mississippi). I've seen the remnants of ice houses at a few plantation houses though. I wouldn't mind making one for fun. Do you all think it wouldbe better to dig one in or just build a shaded, insulated above ground structure? Do you have any Amish communities within driving distance of where you live? I visited an Amish family that has an original ice house probably built a hundred years ago in their yard that they still use. Roughly 12 x 16, 8 foot walls with a steep 10 or 12 pitch tin roof. Just parked in the yard, convenient to the house, with only a large tree (pear maybe) for shade. Ice is cut in blocks, and packed with lots of sawdust. 18 or more inches around the walls, and 4 -6 inches between the blocks. |
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I saw an old walk in freezer on craigslist a few months back. Maybe the wall sections could be re-purposed. They are designed to assemble easily. Get one up and put on a few more layers of 2" pink Foamular on the outside, then cover with cheap vinyl siding. One thing to watch out for is that sometimes the insulation in the panels degrade and disintegrates, falling into the bottom of the panel. Knock on the panels and listen for hollow spots. If either end of the panel sounds significantly different, pass. Thanks for the replies everyone. I asked a few old timers about this and they seemed to think it wasn't that common around here (Mississippi). I've seen the remnants of ice houses at a few plantation houses though. I wouldn't mind making one for fun. Do you all think it wouldbe better to dig one in or just build a shaded, insulated above ground structure? Earth (dug-in) HAS to be more reliable. And it's available on site. Dirt does not usually fail. Just sayin. |
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http://www.monticello.org/site/house-and-gardens/ice-house after seeing this first hand ..... I wanted to build one myself. interesting read, looking at the notes at the bottom imagine yourself as a contractor building something probably new to you. with Jefferson trying to desribe what he wants built the bottom "well" and the bucket with the leather flapper as a valve had me laughing thinking about this. its not like the contractor flipped out his cell phone called Jefferson and had him email him over a cad drawing with dimensions for what he wanted built lol |