Backyard Wine Cellar: Wine Cellar Structural Engineering in Eugene, Oregon

Location: Near Hendricks Park, Eugene, Oregon
Client/Owner: Our client, the owner
Partners: Schaefer and Rear (builder)
Year: Designed 2013; completed 2014
Size/scale: Underground cellar for over 2,000 bottles; concrete walls retaining up to about 8½ feet of soil; steel roof beams spanning about 13 feet
JBE services: Design of the excavation, retaining walls and steel framing for the cellar; structural design of the cellar’s retaining walls, slab and steel roof framing; the doorway through the house’s foundation wall; new site retaining walls for a patio extension and a steel patio canopy; verification of the as-built doorway lintel for the City of Eugene
Sector: Residential

Parkside Drive wine cellar structural engineering project, Eugene, Oregon

The challenge

The owners of this classic 1960s home near Hendricks Park in Eugene wanted a wine cellar underground, beside the house. The chosen spot was a planting bed in the back patio, next to the pool. The cellar’s roof would become part of the patio, so it had to carry people and furniture as well as the soil around it. The way in was through the house’s own concrete foundation wall. At the same time, the owners wanted the patio extended to make room for an outdoor kitchen.

Project photos

What we did

We designed the cellar as a reinforced concrete box: 8-inch concrete walls retaining up to about 8½ feet of soil, and a concrete slab floor. The roof is steel beams spanning about 13 feet under a concrete-filled metal deck, designed for patio loads, so the patio simply continues over the top. Waterproofing was provided by others.

To connect the cellar to the house, an opening was cut through the old foundation wall. We designed a tube-steel jamb and head frame that lines the opening and carries the concrete above it. When the City of Eugene asked for an engineer to confirm the remaining concrete lintel once it was built, we inspected it and verified it.

We also designed new site retaining walls to extend the patio, and a steel canopy over the new outdoor space.

The result

The cellar was built in 2014 and holds over 2,000 bottles under a usable patio, with an outdoor kitchen alongside. It’s one of the more unusual jobs in our residential portfolio, and a good example of wine cellar structural engineering in Eugene, Oregon.