Greenhouse Plans

JerryL · September 20, 2012

As many of you know we had our CHOPTAG Taste Fest at Barbee’s (Susan) place this year. See has a wonderful greenhouse that the Amish folks built for her.

I keep thinking about building a greenhouse but haven’t got past the ‘looking for plans’ stage. I found plans for the style Susan has. I was wondering if anyone has used plans from this company and if so how good are they?

http://www.plansd.com/Greenhouse_Plans.html

Cole_Robbie · September 20, 2012

Are there roof vents on the part of the roof not visible in the pic?

I like that design and would like to build something similar to that to complement my poly high tunnel. I need a warm place to start seedlings in January or so when it's not worth heating the entire high tunnel. That design can handle insulation on every part that isn't clear, which is most of it, and that would really minimize heat loss, especially compared to a poly tunnel.

I have seen pictures of greenhouses in China that are the same shape, but longer and made of brick. They have an extra room for a wood stove on one end. But what really makes it work is that they roll a thick insulated blanket down over the clear part at night. Then they get up at dawn every morning and roll it back up. With that idea in mind, I want a retractable insulated roof like they have in baseball stadiums. Building a roof panel that slides over the clear part would not be so hard, but making everything sturdy enough to survive a storm is the part I'd be worried about.

Good luck with the project.

Barbee · September 22, 2012

My greenhouse does have a ridge cap, plus I have an exhaust fan on the opposite wall to cool it off in the summer. I am able to use a small heater on a thermostat in the winter when the seedlings are in there to keep things from freezing. My roof is that clear span stuff so it's like metal roof only made of clear plastic. I'll look for a picture tomorrow that shows the roof better.

Medbury Gardens · September 22, 2012

What a neat design,i like it.
What would help keep a lot more heat in would be if a second layer of a flexible clear plastic was attached to the underside of that clear roof,that would also cut down the small amount of heat loss that would be happening where ridge line is unless that was filled with a form filler.

Barbee · September 22, 2012

Found a pic showing the clear span stuff:

JerryL · September 23, 2012

Here are a couple I took at the Taste Fest.

Rockporter · September 23, 2012

The only change I would make to that awesome greenhouse would be to add some rain gutters and place rain barrels in succesion around it.

Cole_Robbie · September 23, 2012

Thank you for the pics. I agree it's very nice.

Do the white vents at the bottom of the clear roof stay open all the time, or do you open and close them from within?

Do you happen to know the angle of the roof? How does the roof angle compare to your latitude?

Barbee · September 24, 2012

The white vents do not close. On the opposite wall high up next to the ceiling is an exhaust fan with a thermostat. There are windows in each gable end so I can get pretty good air flow going. The pitch on the clear part of the roof is 10/12 and it faces the south.

Rockporter, yes, I do want some gutters installed. We have several barns that need gutters replaced so I was holding out to get them all done at once. I may have to rethink that LoL

Rockporter · September 24, 2012

Barbee, I have a question about the clear lucite panel you used on the roof.

Does it get too hot to stand inside your greenhouse with the sun coming through? Is it sort of like standing in front of a window with the suns strength multiplied through it?

We have a huge patio cover here at the new house and I want to setup my rain barrels on the outside edge but I wonder if I used the clear panels to allow light through if it would make sitting out on the patio too hot to sit under?

Otherwise I will be using the galvanized panels instead or I will do a checkerboard pattern with clear and galvanized pattern so I can still get some sunlight underneath it allowing for some growing of plants on the patio as well.

Cole_Robbie · September 24, 2012

The pitch on the clear part of the roof is 10/12.

Thanks. Your angle is 39.8 degrees and your geographic latitude should be 39.1-.2 or so in SW Ohio. Notice they are about the same.

I'm at 37 degrees latitude, so I would not need a very different angle, but people farther to the north of us would want a steeper angle on the room and those to the south would want a shallower one. The goal is to be perpendicular to the angle of the sunlight at the time you are using the greenhouse.

Barbee · September 24, 2012

Rock, yes it really does get hot in the greenhouse in the summer. I would definitely rethink using it for a patio cover by itself, or mix it up with something solid for shade. If I remember right, they had different tints on these panels at Lowe's so you might even check into that.

Cole, I stink at math and will just trust you on that one LoL
When I designed it... I just wanted a certain look and the 10/12 pitch was the look I was going for. I never even gave a thought to the latitude and angle. The guy that built it for me argued a little that the roof was so steep I would not have much head space on that side but all I wanted was a built in table to hold my seedlings. There are times I do have to do a bit of shuffling from front to back when the seedlings get a bit taller but I have really had good luck growing nice plants in this little greenhouse.

When I started thinking about building a greenhouse, I wasn't sure I would use one enough to justify the cost. The reason I went with this style was that it would be very easy to replace that clear roof with metal in the future if I found I didn't use it and then I would just have a storage building for my tools. Turns out, I love it so much that I have added storage cabinets, a potting bench, and open shelving on the opposite solid wall plus I have big hooks in there for all my garden tools. It is amazing how much stuff I have in there besides plants LoL

September 22, 2012	#3
Barbee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: SW Ohio Posts: 1,818	My greenhouse does have a ridge cap, plus I have an exhaust fan on the opposite wall to cool it off in the summer. I am able to use a small heater on a thermostat in the winter when the seedlings are in there to keep things from freezing. My roof is that clear span stuff so it's like metal roof only made of clear plastic. I'll look for a picture tomorrow that shows the roof better. __________________ *Barbee*

September 22, 2012	#4
Medbury Gardens Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Medbury, New Zealand Posts: 1,881	What a neat design,i like it. What would help keep a lot more heat in would be if a second layer of a flexible clear plastic was attached to the underside of that clear roof,that would also cut down the small amount of heat loss that would be happening where ridge line is unless that was filled with a form filler. __________________ Richard

September 23, 2012	#7
Rockporter Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Texas Coastal Bend Posts: 3,205	The only change I would make to that awesome greenhouse would be to add some rain gutters and place rain barrels in succesion around it. __________________ In the spring at the end of the day you should smell like dirt ~Margaret Atwood~

September 24, 2012	#9
Barbee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: SW Ohio Posts: 1,818	The white vents do not close. On the opposite wall high up next to the ceiling is an exhaust fan with a thermostat. There are windows in each gable end so I can get pretty good air flow going. The pitch on the clear part of the roof is 10/12 and it faces the south. Rockporter, yes, I do want some gutters installed. We have several barns that need gutters replaced so I was holding out to get them all done at once. I may have to rethink that LoL __________________ *Barbee*

September 24, 2012	#10
Rockporter Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Texas Coastal Bend Posts: 3,205	Barbee, I have a question about the clear lucite panel you used on the roof. Does it get too hot to stand inside your greenhouse with the sun coming through? Is it sort of like standing in front of a window with the suns strength multiplied through it? We have a huge patio cover here at the new house and I want to setup my rain barrels on the outside edge but I wonder if I used the clear panels to allow light through if it would make sitting out on the patio too hot to sit under? Otherwise I will be using the galvanized panels instead or I will do a checkerboard pattern with clear and galvanized pattern so I can still get some sunlight underneath it allowing for some growing of plants on the patio as well. __________________ In the spring at the end of the day you should smell like dirt ~Margaret Atwood~

September 20, 2012	#2
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Are there roof vents on the part of the roof not visible in the pic? I like that design and would like to build something similar to that to complement my poly high tunnel. I need a warm place to start seedlings in January or so when it's not worth heating the entire high tunnel. That design can handle insulation on every part that isn't clear, which is most of it, and that would really minimize heat loss, especially compared to a poly tunnel. I have seen pictures of greenhouses in China that are the same shape, but longer and made of brick. They have an extra room for a wood stove on one end. But what really makes it work is that they roll a thick insulated blanket down over the clear part at night. Then they get up at dawn every morning and roll it back up. With that idea in mind, I want a retractable insulated roof like they have in baseball stadiums. Building a roof panel that slides over the clear part would not be so hard, but making everything sturdy enough to survive a storm is the part I'd be worried about. Good luck with the project.