Help with lean-to greenhouse purchase

[Ray]

For my GH in PA, I build a shadecloth support frame out of PVC pipe. It was literally a rectangle supported by 4 vertical poles.

[Token]

there have been some good points raised about ventilation and insulation with a greenhouse.

Insulation is not too expensive but if you buy lots of it it does add up but whatever is spent on insulation will in theory be saved in heating in at least 2 years time.

So insulation pays for itself in the long run in saved heating.

Hopefully it has been made clear how expensive heating is. It will be as expensive or as cheap as the heat you are losing.

So the more insulation you have - the less heat you will lose but that is not the full story.

You then have to take ventilation into consideration. You can have outside air vents and an external extraction fan and I have seen people use both at the same time which is completely contradictory. Think how hard it is to heat a house with the Windows wide open.. If you heat and extract your air even if you direct it into your house as has been suggested you are heating and blowing all heat out at the same time. By the way blowing 80% humid air into a house is the best way to cause fungus and respiratory problems so I wouldn't advise it.

Ok so the thing to remember about ventilation is that you can have circulating and extracting. In a greenhouse you don't need an extraction fan as you can use the principle of hot air rising to create natural extraction by opening a vent in the roof and a vent in the floor - this will create a draft as hot air escapes out the top and plenty of extraction.

A circulating fan will not let any heat escape and is a good way to prevent stagnant conditions and heat build ups and can be used all year but mainly when it is hot - in cool conditions a fan can cause wind burn.

So in Summer time you open all vents and use circulating fans to prevent overheating.

In winter time you triple insulate everything and make sure all your vents remain shut. It is far cheaper to use a dehumidifier if you must to lower humidity if it rises too much than to start letting the air you have just heated escape out of a vent.

Even with all these measures the heating can add up.

The water barrel advice can only help as that is the reason lower growing orchids don't have the temperature extremes that mountain growing orchids have - the ocean stores the day time heat and releases it at night creating less temperature extremes.

[WaterWitchin]

Interesting comments, Token.

---------- Post added at 07:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:56 AM ----------

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

if you have a heavy swage (crimper) you can make stainless wire supports for the shade.

i have to do something similar for hurricane proofing and what i do is take the shade fully unfurled, measure top to bottom and cut a coated stainless steel cable length that size + 8". then sew it through the shade cloth every 3-4" and then crimp the ends with a loop at each side. you can then put small clips on the shade for attaching to the wire or loop it around a separate tie off line depending on if you want the shade open or closed. assuming you have a roller on the top and a pulley on the bottom you can easily roll them up with the cable in the cloth too and only anchor it on the occasions when you need it extra strong

also, relief flaps, i like the half circle down shape "U", are amazing for subduing the effects of wind on a sail. as long as the flaps aren't too big, the light will move with the sun so it should not burn anything

So even more like a Roman shade, which I've made a ton of. Have you tried using grommets instead of sewing? Pretty sure somewhere in the garage I have a big spool of airline cable... we used to make snares for trapping and for tie-downs for traps to sell at the store. And have ferrules, crimping tools, etc, IF I can find them in that big mess of unpacked boxes from the store.

I've seen that upside down U flap on several different types of signage around down. Excellent idea to try. Because I mean it gets WINDY here. A lot.

---------- Post added at 07:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:12 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Ray

For my GH in PA, I build a shadecloth support frame out of PVC pipe. It was literally a rectangle supported by 4 vertical poles.

I don't think PVC frame would work on this windy hilltop. Even if anchored. We had a metal swingset back in the kid days, with a slide at one end, and a little "fort." It blew out and toppled over during a storm, with the little screw in supports tethering it to the ground. We had to reinforce it with 2' long trailer tie downs into the ground to restabilize it. And it was one.heavy.swingset. Our wind gusts here are easily 60-70 mph in my area at times.

[DirtyCoconuts]

we know very little about snow down here but we are also wind experts happy to toss some extra ideas in the soup

[DirtyCoconuts]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

Interesting comments, Token.

---------- Post added at 07:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:56 AM ----------



So even more like a Roman shade, which I've made a ton of. Have you tried using grommets instead of sewing? Pretty sure somewhere in the garage I have a big spool of airline cable... we used to make snares for trapping and for tie-downs for traps to sell at the store. And have ferrules, crimping tools, etc, IF I can find them in that big mess of unpacked boxes from the store.

I've seen that upside down U flap on several different types of signage around down. Excellent idea to try. Because I mean it gets WINDY here. A lot..

yes, but i am better at splicing into a fid than i am at using a grommet punch LOL. i am willing to blame bad shopping but i always break those grommet punches after like 20 times using them....yes, they are usually from ebay or Harbor Freight lol

it is just so easy to splice SS cable and a small fid lasts forever...plus shade cloth has wide holes so it is forgiving for a brute like me who does not like straight lines in my projects

[Keysguy]

WW---- very belated but I finally found a couple pics of my old GH. Maybe it's not too late to be helpful.

[Dollythehun]

Wow, Keysguy! That is VERY nice! I couldn't have left that!

[DirtyCoconuts]

Seriously!! that's like heaven

[Keysguy]

that's like heaven

LOL...........wish I had one of it buried in snow.

[estación seca]

I was thinking I would leave that for the Keys in a heartbeat.