I am in the planning/early building stages of what I hope will be,a totally solar greenhouse. We live in North Central Ohio, and I am going to attempt to grow food year round without adding ANY external heat source for this greenhouse. Here is where I am at so far......
The shed was just built and completed with the idea of adding this lean-to greenhouse to this south facing wall. I even set the building on my lot a little off square so THAT wall is facing dead South. You can see the foundation for the greenhouse is set and I also have a concrete pad running the entire length of the South wall of the shed. The shed itself is a pole barn construction with 6 inches of insulation in all the walls, and an insulated ceiling, but NO heat source. The only thing in it is our Kubota and all the attachments for it, and it doesn't need to be warm.
As far as the construction, I have two 5ft wide sliding glass doors ordered, with plain old glass, none of that tint or no low-e. Those two doors will make up most of the East and West facing walls. The "new" South wall is going to be made up of 8, 34 inch wide, 76 inch tall, thermo-pane panels that are also ordinary clear glass. That wall is going to be leaned back at a 70 degree angle to maximize sun exposure to what will become the North wall of the greenhouse(the wall you see with siding on it). Now....for a heat "source" I acquired 3 pallets full(64 jugs per pallet) of clear,food grade, 5 gallon stack-able jugs with sealed lids and vents. I am going to fill them with a mixture of RV antifreeze and water. They will be stacked 5 high and the stacks will run the full length of the greenhouse,setting on that concrete pad. This will create a giant heat sink that should be warmed enough during the day, to release the heat back into the greenhouse during the night, keeping the soil temp and the plants at a survivable temperature.
This greenhouse is going to be 8ft wide and 24 ft long. The roof is going to be 2x4 rafters set 16 inches on center, with r.13 insulation, covered with 1 inch foil faced foam board on the inside, and rubber membrane for the roof itself. Should be a total of approximately r-20 or better. The remaining portions of the East and West walls will be r-19, and will also be covered with the same foil/foam board.
Now for the question that is stumping me. I plan on digging down beside the foundation and installing 2 inch thick foam board to be used as a frost break, to keep the frozen earth OUTSIDE from sucking the warmth out of the beds on the inside.
Would your place that foam board on the OUTSIDE of the foundation, or on the INSIDE of the foundation? Which do you think would be most effective in keeping heat IN the greenhouse? At this stage I can do it either way with out any difficulty, so don't let that interfere with your thoughts. I am only after the MOST efficient way to keep this thing warm during our cold Ohio winters.
Thanks in advance for your ideas!
The shed was just built and completed with the idea of adding this lean-to greenhouse to this south facing wall. I even set the building on my lot a little off square so THAT wall is facing dead South. You can see the foundation for the greenhouse is set and I also have a concrete pad running the entire length of the South wall of the shed. The shed itself is a pole barn construction with 6 inches of insulation in all the walls, and an insulated ceiling, but NO heat source. The only thing in it is our Kubota and all the attachments for it, and it doesn't need to be warm.
As far as the construction, I have two 5ft wide sliding glass doors ordered, with plain old glass, none of that tint or no low-e. Those two doors will make up most of the East and West facing walls. The "new" South wall is going to be made up of 8, 34 inch wide, 76 inch tall, thermo-pane panels that are also ordinary clear glass. That wall is going to be leaned back at a 70 degree angle to maximize sun exposure to what will become the North wall of the greenhouse(the wall you see with siding on it). Now....for a heat "source" I acquired 3 pallets full(64 jugs per pallet) of clear,food grade, 5 gallon stack-able jugs with sealed lids and vents. I am going to fill them with a mixture of RV antifreeze and water. They will be stacked 5 high and the stacks will run the full length of the greenhouse,setting on that concrete pad. This will create a giant heat sink that should be warmed enough during the day, to release the heat back into the greenhouse during the night, keeping the soil temp and the plants at a survivable temperature.
This greenhouse is going to be 8ft wide and 24 ft long. The roof is going to be 2x4 rafters set 16 inches on center, with r.13 insulation, covered with 1 inch foil faced foam board on the inside, and rubber membrane for the roof itself. Should be a total of approximately r-20 or better. The remaining portions of the East and West walls will be r-19, and will also be covered with the same foil/foam board.
Now for the question that is stumping me. I plan on digging down beside the foundation and installing 2 inch thick foam board to be used as a frost break, to keep the frozen earth OUTSIDE from sucking the warmth out of the beds on the inside.
Would your place that foam board on the OUTSIDE of the foundation, or on the INSIDE of the foundation? Which do you think would be most effective in keeping heat IN the greenhouse? At this stage I can do it either way with out any difficulty, so don't let that interfere with your thoughts. I am only after the MOST efficient way to keep this thing warm during our cold Ohio winters.
Thanks in advance for your ideas!
