cellar effectiveness? what the material is best?

[Michaś P]

Hi, help plz

dirt, stone, brick? stone better than dirt?

[Professor Dragon]

1 hour ago, Michaś P said:

dirt, stone, brick? stone better than dirt?

Those blocks are all the same maximum rating for cellar effectiveness. Either is good.

See https://wiki.vintagestory.at/Room#Cellar

The more important question is cellar design, such as how far you are from an outside light source.

You can tell the effectiveness by placing a Storage Vessel and looking at longevity value on the tool tip. Then compare to a Storage Vessel outside.
If you bury yourself underground (no door, just under the soil) and look at the Storage Vessel, this will be the MAXIMUM that you can get.

Professor Dragon.

[williams_482]

That's not quite true. Stone base blocks are very slightly better than earth based blocks, although the difference is very marginal. You can see this if you construct a mostly earth cellar (which will usually give a 0.27x modifier for spoilage rate), then replace the earth blocks with stone. That should bump you all the way down to a... 0.26x modifier. 

So yes stone is better, but no it's not going to matter in any practical sense. Much more significant is how close the room is to sunlight and how many non-insulating blocks are present. 

[Professor Dragon]

24 minutes ago, williams_482 said:

That's not quite true. Stone base blocks are very slightly better than earth based blocks, although the difference is very marginal. You can see this if you construct a mostly earth cellar (which will usually give a 0.27x modifier for spoilage rate), then replace the earth blocks with stone. That should bump you all the way down to a... 0.26x modifier. 

So yes stone is better, but no it's not going to matter in any practical sense. Much more significant is how close the room is to sunlight and how many non-insulating blocks are present. 

I might have to test this. But the code makes it seem like they should all give the same value. (I could be reading it wrong though or not all of it.)

https://github.com/anegostudios/vsapi/blob/8b7ff79eb95bc6dfab47191751df988a2c332cfb/Common/Collectible/Block/Block.cs#L1975

From: public virtual int GetRetention(BlockPos pos, BlockFacing facing, EnumRetentionType type)

/// <summary>
        /// Return a positive integer if the block retains something, e.g. (for warm rooms or greenhouses) or a negative integer if something can pass through, e.g. cool for cellars
.
.
.
                if (mat == EnumBlockMaterial.Ore || mat == EnumBlockMaterial.Stone || mat == EnumBlockMaterial.Soil || mat == EnumBlockMaterial.Ceramic)
                {
                    return -1;

 

Professor Dragon.

 

 

Edited July 11 by Professor Dragon

[Vexxvididu]

On 7/11/2026 at 8:52 AM, williams_482 said:

That's not quite true. Stone base blocks are very slightly better than earth based blocks, although the difference is very marginal. You can see this if you construct a mostly earth cellar (which will usually give a 0.27x modifier for spoilage rate), then replace the earth blocks with stone. That should bump you all the way down to a... 0.26x modifier. 

So yes stone is better, but no it's not going to matter in any practical sense. Much more significant is how close the room is to sunlight and how many non-insulating blocks are present. 

Building on this, wooden doors in my testing definitely make a SLIGHT difference in spoilage rates. Better to use dirt to keep the natural light out.  But you can fairly argue that the difference doesn't matter tha tmuch.

[Professor Dragon]

6 hours ago, Vexxvididu said:

Building on this, wooden doors in my testing definitely make a SLIGHT difference in spoilage rates. Better to use dirt to keep the natural light out.  But you can fairly argue that the difference doesn't matter tha tmuch.

Correct.

I also just retested in game using dirt and stone, and confirmed there is no difference (on my world) as expected.

KEY POINTS OF CELLARS

1. Main Wiki page for Cellars, including all of the build rules, is here:
https://wiki.vintagestory.at/Room#Cellar

2. Specifically, the important value is the "cooling score", discussed on the same page here:
https://wiki.vintagestory.at/Room#Cooling_Score

3. Build with standard dirt or stone blocks and you will be fine.
Avoid wood blocks, hay bales, chiselled blocks, air gaps, sunlight, glass.

4. Early game cellar.
In your bunker, dig two blocks down.
Place your Storage Vessel, fill with food.
Put back one dirt block on top of it.
Voila! Instant cellar (and a free block).
Option: Build the same design into a dirt wall, and just knock the top block out to access it.

5. Doors are bad, but light is much, much worse.
Rather than using a solid trapdoor or solid door, the best door block is dirt (unfortunately).
Quick to break, and solid.
A compromise is hay bales. Not as effective, but quicker to break.
However, for attractiveness you may want to use wooden trapdoors or doors and take the cellar efficiency hit - especially in a cold climate and if the other rules are met.
Do not, however, let sunlight be anywhere near your cellar, especially the door.

6. Cellars obey room sizes.
Easy to remember maximum is 7 x 7 x 7 with solid blocks facing inwards.
This can be tweaked, but the room rules need to be respected.

7. Too much? Don't like it? Mods!
As always with Vintage Story, mods let you change the rules you don't like.
From valid cellar room sizes, to putting on ceramic doors with full insulating values.
Eg (Still works on current version according to mod thread): 
https://mods.vintagestory.at/cellardoor

8. It doesn't matter too much.
I've just completed 100+ hours on the new stable patch, and found that by the second game year, my farms were again throwing out way more food than a single player could ever possibly eat.
If you have one 14 x 14 greenhouse and/or or a few small fields, you will too.
Food is not the big killer in this game that it is made out to be.
Remember this: You're building your "perfect cellar" for pride and efficiency - not because you'll be wondering where your next meal is coming from.

Professor Dragon.

 

 

 

[wildforester]

This is a valid cellar

Besides being valid, it also has a perfect cellar score. It works because the chiseled blocks are counted as soil (the base material) and by chiseling them at a diagonal there is no direct view to the outside when constrained to an axis. Besides being useful for access, this can be used to transport items in and out of a cellar, you could even setup your quern in there. One thing of note, vertical placement of a cellar does not affect cellar score, it will always use the sea level temperature of your world when checking outside temperature.

[Professor Dragon]

3 hours ago, wildforester said:

This is a valid cellar

Besides being valid, it also has a perfect cellar score. It works because the chiseled blocks are counted as soil (the base material)

Very interesting! Could spruce it up decoratively also.

It does rely on Copper Age technology for the chisel.

[Demoncyborg]

11 hours ago, wildforester said:

One thing of note, vertical placement of a cellar does not affect cellar score, it will always use the sea level temperature of your world when checking outside temperature

woah, this is actually huge information! so if you're living somewhere up really high and cold, your cellar might actually come out with worse spoilage rates than outside a cellar? I think i've actually experienced this in winter before 

[wildforester]

5 hours ago, Demoncyborg said:

woah, this is actually huge information! so if you're living somewhere up really high and cold, your cellar might actually come out with worse spoilage rates than outside a cellar? I think i've actually experienced this in winter before 

Yup, mountain cellars sadly do not have any benefit.

[LadyWYT]

On 7/12/2026 at 6:19 PM, Professor Dragon said:

Remember this: You're building your "perfect cellar" for pride and efficiency - not because you'll be wondering where your next meal is coming from.

Unless, of course, you're a veteran Blackguard and forgot to make sure that the cellar, y'know, actually stays stocked. 

But yeah, it doesn't matter too much whether the cellar is built from stone or dirt. My usual method is to dig it under the kitchen or otherwise dig it into a hill outside, use stone for the walls and floor and dirt for the ceiling(if I don't use some sort of stone). A simple solid wooden door for the entry point, and oil lamps as needed so I can actually see. I also like to try to vary the textures among the walls, ceiling, and floor, so that the space looks more interesting visually. 

A cellar devoted exclusively to alcohol can bend the rules a little more though. Alcohol keeps for a long time, so pretty much any interior space will work for storage as long as it qualifies as a room(this can be ignored if it's really strong alcohol).

[Maelstrom]

On 7/12/2026 at 10:45 AM, Vexxvididu said:

Building on this, wooden doors in my testing definitely make a SLIGHT difference in spoilage rates. Better to use dirt to keep the natural light out.  But you can fairly argue that the difference doesn't matter tha tmuch.

I don't think the door lets light in as much as it is a wood based block.  I believe adding a wood object like a trunk or a ladder will have a similar effect.

But that could also be old cellar behavior from versions long past.

[Demoncyborg]

7 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

I don't think the door lets light in as much as it is a wood based block.  I believe adding a wood object like a trunk or a ladder will have a similar effect.

But that could also be old cellar behavior from versions long past.

i'm not personally sure if the 'wooden' impact on score counts on anything except solid building blocks, or else barrels which belong in a cellar would also have a negative effect too? I know the ladder in mine has none, but a chiseled wooden scaffold a friend made for a second floor did have a huge impact.(if you still want the wooden look, you can start with a stone block and replace the voxels with wood to trick the game.)