Greenhouse Progress

It's coming along. There are so many questions you have to settle when working on a project like this, that sometimes things just seem to stop, while we talk it over and research and come up with just the right options.

We finally figured out how to ventilate this greenhouse of ours. The problem is that we're going to try to use it in so many different ways. Spring and Fall, we want to use it to extend the growing season outside, start plants for the summer garden, and grow some late fall salads and things we won't be able to grow outside. During the colder months, we want to let the sun stream in, build up the heat in that space, store it in big water containers, and vent it into the house to heat it. During that time, it'll be too hot in the greenhouse for plants, so we'll have to suspend the growing part.

So whatever we do in the way of ventilation has to accomodate both uses for the space. We finally found a terrific 12" square exhaust fan that can be equipped with a temperature sensor switch, so when we're growing plants, we can vent the excess heat outdoors. When we are using it for heat storage, we can simply turn it off to let the heat build up. Then we found a nice solid core wooden door that Jim could shorten and fit in place. Since it's such a short opening, it had to be just the right kind of door.


Then for just pleasant fresh air, I found a tiny double glazed window with a screen at a garage sale that will simply open and close. We hope to put a small table and chairs in the greenhouse to enjoy a relaxing place in the sun, too. We sure do plan to get a lot of use out of this little space. The pictures show, the used bricks stacked up in front of the greenhouse, ready to pave the floor and store the heat from the sun when in place. Jim's putting the final touches on installing the tiny window, and you can see the door in place in the other end. The roof is covered, insulated and even reflective foil in place.



Next to come are the end walls, then the floor has to be dug up to add the river stone and bricks, then the polycarbonate for the clear front. Whew! How long do we have until Fall?