Considering converting garage into a greenhouse. Need tips.

[BikerDoc5968]

Paul, this has been a very interesting posting. Lots of suggestions for this and that. Bottom line you will do what best works for your budget and specific situation. I'm not sure there is a definite right or wrong way to do this project. Pictures, we all love pictures, of the exterior area to include the current garage would be helpful. No matter what you do, it appears as though this will be a big undertaking and a doable project once all the pieces come together.

[Paul Mc]

I will take some pictures and post them. You are absolutely right, it would help for you guys to see what I am talking about. I will also take pictures of the inside of the garage as it currently is.

[Paul Mc]

My apologies on taking so long to get these pictures posted. The inside pic's were also dark as there is not a lot of light inside so my apologies on that as well.

The more we look into this project, the more we are convincing ourselves not to do it. However, I thought I would still post these and see what you guys think in relation to the pictures. It's still an idea, but it's getting more and more distant from reality, lol...

Oh well, it was a great dream while it was floating!

[shadytrake]

Okay here is my 2 cents.

I think I read that you live in St. Louis which is 5 hrs north of me. We both live near the MS river and we get all 4 seasons (yours is probably a little colder in the winter).

Your garage looks well built and by the construction I would say in the late 50s or 60s? If the roof and rafters are still in good condition, then you have a monster sturdy construction. (Mine was built in 52 and if the roof had been taken care of, it would still be in excellent condition)

You will have a devil of a time taking down the wall and roof. They built things a lot better back then (seriously..the nails are probably over 3" long in a lot of places and they are a pain to remove carefully).

In my humble opinion, you have 3 good choices.

1. Insulate and run water like you would for a bathroom, install a lighting system, and create a wonderful large terrarium environment. Basically an indoor grow room.

2. Start with Option 1 and add professionally installed skylight windows and solar panels to offset your electrical costs. Add a tankless hot water heater.

3. Bulldoze the existing structure and install a professional (either DIY or installed) greenhouse.

I personally would not choose option 3 unless you are anchored to your house for life. Resale value of your property will be higher with the garage (even if converted). Option 1 and 2 could be converted back for resale or advertised as a functional workshop.

As for the electrical costs, as an example, I will give you ours from last season. We have a 9x11ish shadehouse which is covered with visqueen for the winter so it is not insulated at any real R value. Our utility bill averaged about $100 more for the months of December through March.

You can get T5s, T8s, and T12s at Home Depot and Lowes for pretty cheap and there are lots of heating options. If you are a good DIYer, you could do the conversion yourself.

Good luck and let us know what you decide to do. I would definitely get out of the basement. I personally hate a basement environment here in Memphis as it is damp and cold.

[BikerDoc5968]

The pictures don't show the relationship of the home to the patio/garage but I will assume the perspective is from the back of your home. I will also assume you want to preserve the patio. I also see some room to the door side of the garage. So if the logistics are proper, what about constructing a greenhouse, possibly attached to the back of your home, on the current patio and move the outdoor living area to the side of the greenhouse/garage. There are a number of DIY greenhouse kits that include various accessories like shelving, benches, heaters, etc. I put up a DIY kit about 3 years ago and I've go 2 left thumbs... did all by myself in a weekend. I personally think renovating the current garage to become a greenhouse growing area is a bit much and could be very costly in the long run. Another modification might be to remove the wall of the garage where the door is currently and that half of the roof. Then change the pitch of that side of the roof to elevate it to accommodate a lean-to greenhouse extending into the area adjacent to the garage.

[Paul Mc]

Thanks shadytrake, the first two are possibilities for sure.

Bikerdoc, the relationship is somewhat simple to explain. We have extensive specimen beds in the area behind the camera angle that are underneath a huge 80 year old pin oak. Around the pin oak is another specimen bed and between the pin oak and the house is another huge patio area. We have two patios, built mainly because our two dogs destroyed all the grass.

So, long story short, the only space there would be for a greenhouse would be the garage and the sun-area which is to the right of the garage in the pictures. However, the sun area is not very large and we have decided that we would rather not have a greenhouse built in that area as it would make the backyard look a bit crowded and too structure heavy.

[Paul Mc]

Could we insulate the garage and then construct a greenhouse on the inside (from a kit) and use grow lights? I'm concerned about the humidity getting out of the greenhouse and destroying the wood structure. Just another fanciful thought I suppose, still attempting to figure out a way to make it happen, lol... I think it's a losing battle though.

[shadytrake]

I thought I saw some specimen plants in your beds. Japanese Maples, Rhododendrons, Azaleas and such? I understand not wanting to dig up beds that have well established plantings.

My hubby is an avid collector of Japanese Maples and we have several really nice ones as specimen plantings in our yard.

To answer your question about building inside your building, you certainly could build a terrarium inside your garage. Check out the forum here. There have been several recent posts showing setups and they are really nice. That would probably be your least expensive route and you could still have a multi-functional building depending on how big you decide to go. It will be interesting to see what you decide.