Courtyard into Greenhouse Help

[John3]

OK - I know this is not much of a drawing. I have two courtyards that are walled on one side and the house acts like the wall for the other three sides. The courtyard is earth floor. I would like some ideals for putting a clear roof (glass, plastic or something else) over it to turn it into a greenhouse (well to turn both of them into greenhouses). The sun shines a good eight plus hours in the courtyards. Don't worry about if your ideal might have to be attached to house roof or structure as if that is the way to got I'll have and engineer take a look. I have been thinking of converting them for sometime (two to three years) now. I don't know what kind of materials to use for the roof or how if possible to have free from the house structure. Help with this would be appreciated. I have googled courtyard into greenhouse, converting courtyard into a greenhouse and more variations but google not turning up anything (nor youtube) for converting an enclosed (walled) courtyard.

[janezee]

What is the blue area in the middle of the 2 courtyards? The house?

[Worth1]

I'm confused.

Worth

[John3]

janezee yes the blue area is the house. - the brick wall of the house extends from one end of the house to the other and same for the other side except it has an iron door for an entrance. The house would look like a capital I if the brick wall did not enclose the courtyards. The roof of the house covers three sides of the courtyard.

Worth not trying to confuse but the shape is hard for me think about how to put a top on it.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by John3

janezee yes the blue area is the house. - the brick wall of the house extends from one end of the house to the other and same for the other side except it has and iron door for an entrance. The house would look like a capital I if the brick wall did not enclose the courtyards. The roof of the house covers three sides of the courtyard.

Worth not trying to confuse but the shape is hard for me think about how to put a top on it.

So the area on top bottom and middle is existing house roof?
The area on the left and right is wall?
If this is true is the house a flat roof?
A sloped roof with slopes on all sides going towards the courtyard?
If so are they open rafters or closed in with a cornice like this.


Forgive me if I missed it but could you tell us what the dimensions of the 2 courtyards are?

I'm thinking.

Worth

[John3]

Originally Posted by Worth1

So the area on top bottom and middle is existing house roof?
The area on the left and right is wall?
If this is true is the house a flat roof?
A sloped roof with slopes on all sides going towards the courtyard?
If so are they open rafters or closed in with a cornice like this.


I'm thinking.

Worth

So the area on top bottom and middle is existing house roof? I'm not sure I understand this one Worth.

The area on the left and right is wall? Yes

If this is true is the house a flat roof? No - slopes

A sloped roof with slopes on all sides going towards the courtyard? Yes

If so are they open rafters or closed in with a cornice like this. Closed in

[Barbee]

Material wise, you could look at polycarbonate. I have it on my potting shed/greenhouse. Here is a photo of my shed to give you an idea what it's like. The 2nd photo shows the roof a little better I hope. I don't know what your existing roof is, but this stuff is sort of like sheet metal, only it's clear plastic. Maybe you could extend the roof line down somehow?

[John3]

Barbee thanks so much for the polycarbonate material ideal. It looks great. It reminds me of the old tin roofs - except you can see through it. Do you know how many years it is suppose to last (uv protected).
Also the shape of your greenhouse gave me an ideal of a possible way to put in the roof - thanks.

[Worth1]

I took the liberty to draw in what I think is the roof lines of the place.

One is for a hip roof and the other is for a gable end roof.

The black lines represent ridge lines and roof edges or wall edges.
If this is wrong I will delete one or both from the post.
Worth

[dustdevil]

With Worth's help, it'll end up looking like The Alamo

Try this link for some ideas:

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects.../sunspaces.htm

[John3]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I took the liberty to draw in what I think is the roof lines of the place.

One is for a hip roof and the other is for a gable end roof.

The black lines represent ridge lines and roof edges or wall edges.
If this is wrong I will delete one or both from the post.
Worth

Worth it looks like the Gable ver you drew.

[John3]

Originally Posted by dustdevil

With Worth's help, it'll end up looking like The Alamo

Try this link for some ideas:

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects.../sunspaces.htm

Thanks for the link dustdevil. I'll check it out.

The Alamo

[Worth1]

Lovely I took out the Hip roof and it came back as an attachment.

Any Idea on the size of the courtyards?

And do you have rain gutters?

I need this information to get an idea on how to attach to the roof line and what materials you would make them from.

Worth

[John3]

I edit the quote see if you can delete the image now.

Any Idea on the size of the courtyards? 20ft (or 24ft) by 30ft
And do you have rain gutters? Yes

BTW I have a satellite tv thing in the completely enclosed courtyard.

[Worth1]

Here is a simple idea that would cost little and be structurally sound yet pleasing to the eye.

The red lines depict the roof of the greenhouse tied into the existing roof.
The reason for this is you will need to have a slope and it doesn't need to be between the house roof.
If it was it would create a drainage nightmare and you would have to channel all of that water in a valley from the house.

If gutters stopped up you would have a lake on your roof.

The drawing below would in affect would give you two atriums

Here is the picture dont be afraid to shoot it down.

The red lines going to the wall are how it would be for the slope no way out of it for a shed design.
Attachment 23235