# Greenhouse



## Potato42 (May 10, 2011)

My dad wanted a greenhouse, so we built one. He got the plans online I believe at the University of Tennessee website somewhere. It was put together with off the shelf hardware and lumber from home depot/lowes. The covering was ordered online and is specifically for greenhouses.

Much of the wood structure was cut and assembled in a single day. The "doors" were a little more of a challenge since we wanted a nice fit. Overall we spent a few days getting it up. So far it has withstood 50 MPH+ winds, as a tornado passed by not too far from here.












Temperature differential between inside and outside is about 9 degrees F on a bright and hot day like today when there is little wind. With a small breeze it's only about 5 degrees difference. On a cloudy day, the difference ends up being only about 1 or 2 degrees.


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## watercrawl (May 10, 2011)

Ahh, the infamous greenhouse. Looks nice n


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## rahimlee54 (May 10, 2011)

Looks cool, I would love to have a greenhouse about that size. I have heard bad things about the upkeep of them though, which has stopped me. Any thoughts on that?


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## Potato42 (May 10, 2011)

Well the greenhouse hasn't been up all that long, only about a month or so. Are you asking about upkeep of the structure or the plants within?

I was initially concerned about the ability of the structure to withstand the wind, but it seems to be doing alright. If it ends up needing a repair of the plastic It shouldn't be very hard. the vertical strips are 1/4" thick plywood and considering we used screws, they're easy to remove and replace. The plastic wasn't cheap, but it wasn't expensive either. After buying the roll we had enough left over to do the main section over again, so we're set for the future too. I guess we'll see what comes up.


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## Kentucky Jeff (May 11, 2011)

I'll chime in with a few thoughts. I worked in a commercial greenhouse after school in HS and some in College so maybe 5 years part time experience.

The first thing you will notice with a plastic covered greenhouse like that is the condensation can be pretty bad some days. You go inside and you feel like its raining. On our plastic covered greenhouses we solved that by adding a second layer of plastic and using a small blower fan to inflate the two pieces of plastic--kinda like a bubble. You leave the blower on all the time (think "Bouncy House") A very small blower will work for your setup, Our houses were 120 feet long and we used a smaller blower not much bigger than a hair dryer for ours. 

The second thing is you will need to install some form of fan to pull air through the house end to end. Otherwise it will become stifling in there in the Tennessee summer and your plants will die. We used a pair of big 48" box fans on either side of the door and had corresponding louvered vents on the other end. Obviously that's too much for your little house, A $10 box fan from Walmart will probably do the trick for you. But you WILL need something to push some air through the greenhouse on a hot day. 

Lastly, you might want to think about some artifical heat for the February/March months. It too cold to start seeds in an unheated greenhouse in Feb/Mar even in mild temps. You need to have a mid 60's to 70's temp range for optimal seed sprouting/growth.


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## Potato42 (May 12, 2011)

Thanks Jeff. The greenhouse film we got does well with condensation. It actually has an inside and an outside, so the material is slightly different somehow. It's worked very well. Since it's hot we usually leave both doors open in the day and with a light breeze it's not too bad. A fan could make a moderate improvement on some days but we're not there yet. Winter is still far off so we have time to figure out what to do before then.

Another project I'd really like to undertake is a wood gasifier, so that might be able to help heat the Ghouse.


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## rahimlee54 (May 12, 2011)

Thanks for the info guys, I am sure at some point I'll have one around that size just to tinker with.


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## Tristan (May 13, 2011)

I live in an apartment around the size of that greenhouse... Damn the lack of space in singapore. 

Almost 6 million people living on an island 30miles long and 15.5miles wide


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## 99Limited (May 15, 2011)

Tristan said:


> I live in an apartment around the size of that greenhouse... Damn the lack of space in singapore.
> 
> Almost 6 million people living on an island 30miles long and 15.5miles wide



Shoot my dog house is bigger than that. I just wish it was even bigger when I do something that gets me banished to it.


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