Why Do Old Basements Have Concrete Shelves?

Before Refrigerators

• In the days preceding the invention of refrigerators and before people air-conditioned their homes, food was kept cool in iceboxes and cold cellars, or root cellars. The idea of the root cellar, sometimes built around the edges of a cold-water cistern, was to harness the earth’s natural cooling powers by storing food underground -- where the sun doesn’t shine. The practice has been traced as far back as the Iron Age, but the abundance of produce grown by American colonists forced them to perfect the idea as a means of keeping produce, meats and cheeses fresh as long as possible without pickling or salt curing.

Perfect Temperature

• In the basement, if warm air is sealed out and there are no windows allowing light in, the temperature will remain at about 45 degrees, helping prolong the freshness of your agricultural bounty. Concrete shelves were built in homes' basements to help pull the chill from the earth and to provide varying levels of temperature for different storage purposes.

Humidity Control

• Not only do vegetables, canned goods, smoked meats, ciders and cheeses require different levels of temperature, but also they need varying degrees of moisture. The closer to the ground and the cistern water, the moister the air. The higher shelves provided elevation for those items that needed to remain dry.

Gas Emissions

• Concrete shelves also helped separate those produce groups, such as apples and potatoes, that should not be stored side by side because of ethylene gas emissions. Keeping them separated ensured longer freshness.

No Bugs, No Rot

• Concrete likely was used rather than wood to build the basement shelves because wood rots in moist areas and is more susceptible to the destruction of termites, molds and wood boring worms. Concrete, as is evident by the fact the shelves still exist, lasts longer.