My new glasshouse - finished at last

[kellyincville]

Sodium percarbonate is also great for slippery floors. I use it at work (where bleach is a big no no).


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[DavidCampen]

Physan or any of the similar quaternary benzyl alky ammonium compounds such as are sold for killing algae in pools and hot tubs does an excellent job of eliminating algae. For Physan, one part in 500 of water is sufficient.

 

[JeanLux]

Very cool David!!!! Great job building it up; you know what it is worth then , even with help of a kind neighbor!! I imagine your plants will develop even more beautifully now!!!! Jean

 

[eggshells]

The shadecloth frame is drilled into the glasshouse frame, so it is pretty sturdy. It actually was very windy yesterday and handled it fine. Funny thing with that shadecloth frame. I finished building the glasshouse and then started thinking about installing the shade cloth. I opened the box and it hit me. I really needed to screw in the shade cloth frame before I assembled the glasshouse. I had to screw in four sections on the top of the roof which is very high. So I had stand on the top of the ladder in the greenhouse through one of the windows and at full stretch holding a heavy drill make four screw holes. And I’m not great with heights. It would have been so much easier if I had preplanned.
Actually the whole building of the greenhouse was a bit like that. The instructions were terrible and it was very easy to put sections around the wrong way. I ended up having to spend a full day undoing all the mistakes we had made. I ended up with all these pieces that were left over that I had no idea what to do with. I assume they weren’t important. The company says a single person could put this greenhouse up in a couple of hours. Yeah, right.

Yes, they always say that to sell more products. Anyways, thanks for the idea. I saw something like that here but no shade cloth frame. Thanks!

 

[papheteer]

Congratulations!! It's a great looking Glasshouse. Very neat! I hope you have lots of fun in it! Your plants will grow EVEN better!

 

[Justin]

do you have a backup heater in case the electricity goes out?

 

[Heather]

Wow, congratulations! Just beautiful!

 

[orchid527]

Job well done!!! I really enjoy it when members take the time to document new construction and changes to existing growing areas. It is a great opportunity learn new tricks. Thanks.

Mike

 

[emydura]

do you have a backup heater in case the electricity goes out?

No, I don’t have any other source of energy Justin. I would have to get a generator or something. I have insulated the glasshouse to such an extent that even if the energy went off on the coldest night (around -5oC), I would expect the temperature inside the glasshouse to still be well above freezing. I think short term drops in temperature to 4 or 5oC wouldn’t do much damage. Power blackouts may be more of a problem in summer when it is really hot. If there are no fans going or the fogger cooling the glasshouse, it could overheat.

I’m waiting for the battery storage of solar created energy to become more affordable. When that happens, power blackouts won’t be a problem. People are implementing self-sustainable solar systems now but they currently are not cost effective.

 

[abax]

Bleach is cheap!

 

[SlipperFan]

Bleach is cheap!

And effective!

 

[SlipperKing]

I finally got my wish! Congratulations David for a job well done! If I'm not mistaken you built on top of your old GH slab, correct? Do you have space to re-build your old one?
I don't see any exhust vents or fans. Do you have plans for installing one or two later? In my neck of the woods they are a must for cooling, summer and winter. They will also help moderate the humidity issue that was mentioned. Did you mention this was twin-wall polycarbonate skin covering the frame?

 

[emydura]

I finally got my wish! Congratulations David for a job well done! If I'm not mistaken you built on top of your old GH slab, correct? Do you have space to re-build your old one?
I don't see any exhust vents or fans. Do you have plans for installing one or two later? In my neck of the woods they are a must for cooling, summer and winter. They will also help moderate the humidity issue that was mentioned. Did you mention this was twin-wall polycarbonate skin covering the frame?

Thanks Rick. Yes, I built the new slab over the top of the old one. There isn't enough room to put the old glasshouse on the new slab. I have room in the rest of the yard although there is no slab or such. Although I don't think I would go to that much trouble. There is also a bit of a slope so I would need to flatten out the base, which just makes it a bit complicated. I have a spot I might put it. I would just use it for cool growing orchids.


Yes, it is twin-walled 10mm polycarbonate. Amazingly strong stuff. It seems unbreakable. It is a pity they don't seal the ends. I'm not sure if they do for other polycarbonate panels. Moisture and insects get in the 10mm gaps. So effectively I have three layers. - the twin walled polycarbonate, the large gap (4 cm or so) between the polycarbonate sheets and the bubble wrap and then the bubble gaps in the bubble wrap itself. It is not air tight but still it is very well insulated, especially when you also consider the polystyrene sheets under the floor. I'm pretty happy with the humidity levels now Rick. They seem appropriate for the temperature. When the glasshouse gets to about 25oC the relative humidity drops to the point that it turns on the fogger.


I have one large vent with an automatic opener attached (see photo below). It is only set to the minimum opening level at the moment, which is fine for winter. The maximum temps I'm getting on a nice sunny day is 28oC. In summer I may need to open the window to the maximum. I might also need to setup another automatic vent on another window (I have 4 windows, although 3 are unusable at the moment as they are covered by bubble wrap). I'll suck it and see.

I'm sure everyone is aware of these automatic vent openers, but if you aren't they contain wax which when it expands because of heat pushes open the window. When the temperature cools, the wax contracts and hence closes the window. So it requires no electricity. Works like a charm.

 

[Stone]

I had those wax openers on my old g/h. They worked for about 5 years from memory. When they stopped I just left them because they were too high to reach. But I found the evap cooler removed enough of the warm air anyway.

 

[emydura]

I had those wax openers on my old g/h. They worked for about 5 years from memory. When they stopped I just left them because they were too high to reach. But I found the evap cooler removed enough of the warm air anyway.

The one on my old glasshouse was still going well after 12 years. I'm not sure what could go wrong with them as they are a pretty simple design. But I'll keep a closer eye.

 

[Ozpaph]

they probably leak the wax, then fail.

 

[monocotman]

I've used these vents in every greenhouse I've had.
Bayliss sell these in the UK and they tend to fail after a few years.
However they sell replacement tubes of wax and they're pretty easy to fix.
David

 

[emydura]

do you have a backup heater in case the electricity goes out?

We had a blackout last night between 4 AM and 6.30 AM. It was a cold frosty winter night. Pools of water were frozen solid. But the lowest the temperature in my glasshouse went down to was 9.6oC. A bit cool for the multi Paphs but nothing that would do any damage. Nights can get colder than last night, but not significantly so. At its coldest it is clear my glasshouse would be well above freezing, maybe around 6oC or 7oC, which wouldn't pose any short term problems in the case of a disaster (which is rare anyway). It is good to know all the insulation I have done is working well. It has paid off already. I can sleep easily now.

 

[NYEric]

Bad and good news.

 

[SlipperFan]

Being able to sleep at peace is good!