13. The doorframe is finished by installing the header.
14. Install insulation into the ceiling and add a vapor barrier to the interior.

Safety Alert: When working with insulation, be sure to wear a mask and safety glasses/googles. You may want to consider protective gloves as well.

15. R-19 insulation was used for the ceiling. For this particular project, the insulation was stuffed through the holes left by the removed recessed lighting. The trick is to make sure the insulation is distributed on the ceiling in the proper way -- the paper side facing up and the insulation facing down toward the room.
16. Once the insulation is in place, it's time to add another layer of temperature and humidity protection. Remember: The key is to keep the temperature and humidity inside the wine cellar at constant levels of 55 to 58 degrees, with 75 percent humidity. Note: Six-millimeter poly-plastic sheeting was used as the additional layer of protection.
17. Staple the 6-millimeter poly-plastic sheeting to the walls inside the cellar (figure I). Overlapping the sheeting is important to make sure there are no gaps in the vapor barrier.

Tip: Another common method to keeping high humidity in a wine cellar is to use moisture-resistant drywall, known as Greenboard (figure J), to cover the walls and ceiling. The heavy poly-plastic that Mosby decided to use can serve the same purpose.

18. With the vapor barrier in place, it's time to cut the 1/2" plywood sheeting that will be installed on top of the plastic vapor barrier.
19. The plywood for the ceiling is the first to be installed, and a hole in the centerpiece is drilled to accommodate the electrical wiring for the ceiling track lighting.
20. Once the ceiling is complete, plywood is cut for the side walls. The measurement is shortened by 3/8" to allow for the tile flooring that will be installed later.
21. To secure the plywood into place, 1-1/2" drywall screws on the newly framed wall, but longer 2" screws are used on the existing walls in order to drill through the added drywall to hit the studs.
22. Once the plywood pieces are all in place, it's time to mark and cut out the space (figure K) for the cooling unit.
23. Now the wine cellar is starting to take shape, and the interior is now ready for flooring.

Did you Know? -- Wine needs to line on its side to keep the cork moist. The cork will dry out, and as it does so it will shrink, which means there will be a passageway for oxygen to reach the wine -- and you want to avoid this at all cost because your wine will mature at a pace that's too rapid for its own good.

24. With the shell of the wine cellar complete (figure L), Mosby turned his attention to the flooring. After much consultation, the choices were carved down to two:
    • Wood flooring
    • Tile flooring
25. Mosby chose to go with ceramic 6" x 6" tile flooring. He felt the smaller tiles would better suit his size wine cellar.
26. Before laying out the tile, the bottom sill where the door will be hung was cut removed. Then the threshold line was marked where the first tiles would be laid. Be sure to mark the center line from front to back (figure M) so you can calculate the number of tiles needed.
27. The tiles are laid on a layer of thin-set mortar that will act as an adhesive and moisture barrier on the concrete floor. In this case, no additional barrier or sealant will be needed.
28. After spreading the thin-set mortar with a 3/8" tooth trowel (figure N), it's time to lay the tile.
29. Lay the tile first along the threshold and then the center lines, using 3/8" spacers (figure O) to keep the alignment of the tiles even and the grout lines uniform. This will result in wider than usual grout lines, but this is what Mosby preferred. "A touch of the Southwest," he said.
30. Since the floor-to-ceiling wine racks will hide all four corners of the floor, the center of the doorway to the middle of the room will be where the tile work must be as perfect as possible because this area will be the most visible.
31. Cut tiles will be placed on the edges of the cellar because they will be hidden by the wine racks.