The Canadian Horticulturi^ 



Vol. XXXIII 



MAY, 1910 



No. 5 



The Construction of Cold Storage Warehouses' 



J. A. Ruddick, Dairy and Cold Storage Commissioner, Ottawa 



I AM in favor of making the cold stor- 

 age of fruit a special business, as a 

 rule. Large general cold stores 

 at important centers should have pro- 

 vision for handling apples and other 

 fruit, but in many cases it will be more 

 economical and more satisfactory all 

 round to have warehouses built and 

 equipped for the handling of fruit only. 

 Cold storage is required for fruit in lo- 

 calities where little or no other kind of 

 produce will be offered. Non-freezing 

 temperatures only are required and that 

 chiefly during the coolest part of the 

 summer and in the winter months. This 

 permits of lighter insulation and lower 

 refrigerating power than is necessary for 

 general storage where freezing tempera- 

 i j. tu res must be provided. 

 ^^BkThe period of fruit storage covers only 

 ^^Kpart of the year. A special fruit cold 

 ^^^Brage need be operated only when fruit 

 ^^Hin storage. 



^^H CONSTEUCTION. 



'^"^There are many different plans on 

 w hich such a building may be construct- 

 ed, and different materials may be used 

 for insulation. I shall not attempt to 

 describe all of them, but I shall endeavor 

 to give some idea of the kind of a ware- 

 house which would be suitable for a co- 

 operative fruit association, because it is 

 j chiefly in connection with these organ- 

 I izations that I expect to see cold storage 

 applied to the fruit trade in Ontario. 



If the warehouse is to be on a railway 

 siding, the ground floor .should be on a 

 level with the car floor, with a ba.sement 

 iicneath. and as many floors above the 

 ground floor as may be considered neces- 

 sary. My preference would be, except in 

 the case of very large warehouses, to 

 have only a ground floor and ba.sement 

 with an attic for the storage of boxes, 

 etc. Such a warehouse seventy-five by 

 forty-five feet with a one-story addition 

 for machine room and office, would be 

 sufficient to store between 7,000 and 8,- 

 000 barrels of apples, or the equivalent 

 of about 10,000 barrels if packed in 

 boxes. Fig. i is a diagrammatic longi- 

 tudinal section of such a warehouse. 



The ceilings need not be over eight 

 feet high to accommodate five tiers of 

 barrels, which is high enough for piling. 



The cheapest possible construction, 

 consistent with reasonable efficiency, is 

 the one which will be most popular. I 

 cannot say that I agree with the policy 

 which prompts the erection of more or 

 less temporary buildings in connection 

 with an industry so well established and 

 with so much promise for the future as 

 fruit growing, but as we are dealing with 

 a condition rather than a theory, I am 

 prepared to take things as I find them. 



For the basement of this building, 

 there is probably no cheaper or better ma- 

 terial than concrete. The upper storey 



Chaste and Beautiful 



I am greatly pleased with the 

 new dress of The Canadian Hor- 

 ticulturist. The cover design 

 is one of singular adaptability 

 and becoming beauty for a maga- 

 zine devoted to horticultural pur- 

 suits. Nothing could be more 

 chaste and beautiful. Congratu- 

 lations! — Hugill Barr, Forest, 

 Ont. 



can be built of wood more cheaply than 

 with other materials, because the struc- 

 tural parts can be combined with the in- 

 sulation material in the most economical 

 manner. Planer shavings make the best 

 and by far the cheapest insulation, for 

 wood construction. The empty air space, 

 miscalled a dead air space, is an obso- 

 lete form of insulation. Absolutely dead 

 air is, next to a vacuum, probably the 

 best insulator known, but experience has 

 taught us that air in wall spaces is not 

 "dead," and that it circulates within the 

 space and carries heat from one side to 

 the other. Hence the practice of filling 

 these spaces with some light non-con- 

 ducting material like shavings, which 

 confine the air on the same principle as 

 the air is confined in the fur of animals, 

 or in our clothing to prevent the passage 

 of heat. Sawdust is sometimes used for 

 filling spaces, but it should not be unless 

 it can be kiln dried, because it normally 



•Part of an addresR di^livored at the convention 

 of the Ontario Fruit Growers' Association last 

 November. It will be continued in next issue. 



lU 



contains a great deal of moisture. It is 

 always cut from green or water-soaked 

 timber and this moisture destroys its in- 

 sulating value and at the same time en- 

 courages the growth of moulds, which 

 soon give rise to mustiness. Dryness is 

 the first principle of successful insulation 

 and must never be overlooked. Think of 

 the difference between dry and wet cloth- 

 ing on a cold day. 



Considering cost and efficiency, I 

 would recommend the following com- 

 bination for the walls of a building of this 

 class. For the ba.sement, a ten-inch con- 

 crete wall, water-proofed on the outside 

 and finished on the inside with a one- 

 inch air space, one course of matched 

 lumber, a six-inch space filled with shav- 

 ings and two courses of matched lumber 

 with damp-proof paper between. For the 

 upper storey, two by four inch studs cov- 

 ered on .the outside with one course of 

 matched lumber, two ply of damp-proof 

 paper and either metallic or wood siding ; 

 a space of ten inches filled with shavings, 

 finished on the inside with two courses 

 of matched lumber with two ply of damp- 

 proof paper. This inside sheathing 

 would require an additional row of two 

 by four inch studs, which should be 

 placed zigzag with the outside row. The 

 ceilings will be sufficiently insulated with 

 the spaces between the joists filled with 

 shavings. 



A very important precaution in the con- 

 struction of the concrete wall is to give 

 it a coat of pitch or other waterproofing 

 on the outside, especially below the sur- 

 face of the ground. 



A section of the wall and ceiling of this 

 warehouse which we are trying to de- 

 scribe would have the following detail. 

 (.See Fig. 2, on next page). 



The basement floor is an important de- 

 tail of the construction and probably the 

 most difficult part to insulate, because we 

 have to contend with the moisture from 

 the earth. Cold storage engineers are 

 rot agreed as to the best combination of 

 materials for ground insulation. Wood 

 in any form is unsuitable, owing to the 

 tendency to absorb moisture, which de- 

 stroys its insulating value and promotes 

 decay. Shavings, then, are out of the 

 question. Impregnated sheet cork, laid 

 between two layers of concrete, or as- 

 phalt and concretej are being u.sed in 

 some of the more expensive plants. I 



