I have looked and looked at all kinds of greenhouses and have decided to build a new solar greenhouse this summer! It will be a A frame construction using 2by 4s all painted white with the sun side extending on a 60 degree angle 10 to 12 feet or more high off the back wall! The back insulated wall will be at a 60 to 80 degree angle and have the heat storage material burried 2 feet lower than the main floor and setting on insulation!! The rest of the back wall will have a shiny surface! 7 feet from the floor a speration of upper and lower floor will will be made to secure a double layer of plastic to allow light from the top of the back wall to be reflected back into the main area!
Should I base the angle of the wall facing the sun at a right angle when the sun is at 11 oclock in feb or what do you recomend for Pa?.
2 by 4 s are easy and cheaper to work with compared to metal since I have used both!. I took a 100 foot greenhouse appart and it was nice but lacked what I want for solar!. I think I can put a 10 by 20 up for a few hundred dollars quick! I will post more as I progress and maybe have some pictures once I figure how to post them! I basically think that most greenhouses waste too much space for the small gardener like me!
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DoubleDogFarm
- Super Green Thumb
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- Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 11:43 pm
-
DoubleDogFarm
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 6113
- Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 11:43 pm
I would have to deal with ground water. 
After designing a number of greenhouse, the incident angle the sun's rays and glazing is minimal when compared to the surface area available. You're banking on radiative heating here. Very few of the photons are going to be reflected skyward with clear glazing whether glass, polycarbonate, or film.
Hope this helps!
Hope this helps!
What do you think of the a frame greenhouse with the wall facing the sun at 60 degrees and the back insulated wall at 75 degree and the total hight at the center about 9 feet? Will the bigger area facing the sun make it work better than a regular round greenhouse where part of the light pass straight through? By better I mean hold more heat in the winter because of the back insulated wall and the bounce off light onto the plants!! Thanks for the post it does help!
I finally finished my greenhouse this past week! It took me about 3 - 8 hour days. I had lots of extra things to do like leveling the ground. I decided to add it to the side of my original solar greenhouse. It worked great!
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I decided to make it 12 by 16 A frame. I used 2 by4 by 10's and made the 4 frames 8 by 10 and leaned them together so I had a 12 foot span in between. I t was harder than I thought because I set the frames on a 2 foot by 16 foot frame. The poblem was I worked by myself and the frames were heavy to raise up on top of the two foot border!
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I also had 3 - 3 by 4 double pane wind windows that I put on the sun side wall!. I put flake board on the back side and angled it the whole way to the ground to give me a storage are under the 2 foot border!.
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I got 3 foam boardscoated on one side with alum and cut them between the 2 by 4's against the flake board to reflect the in coming sun! You could feel the heat coming off the aluminum.
foil. I put a wire reinforcement under the 4 mill plastic. I only used one layer for this time of the year!
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I placed a 2 by 4 across the flake board a foot above the 2 foot border that ran the 16 foot length then I angled a 4 foot flake board to the ground meeting a land scape timber. The flake board went over the 2 by 4 a inch above it. The 2 by 4 was slightly angled from level so it would drain into a barrel! I did not use the gutter but may if this does not work.. I figued the gutter would collect too much
snow!
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The 2 by 4 over the flake board lso gave me step to climb the angled wall. I have a few things to do inside and will take some pitures and try to get them on here! It was fun and the days were too short! I was proud of my new solar greenhouse! Now to fill it up next weekend!
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I decided to make it 12 by 16 A frame. I used 2 by4 by 10's and made the 4 frames 8 by 10 and leaned them together so I had a 12 foot span in between. I t was harder than I thought because I set the frames on a 2 foot by 16 foot frame. The poblem was I worked by myself and the frames were heavy to raise up on top of the two foot border!
+++
I also had 3 - 3 by 4 double pane wind windows that I put on the sun side wall!. I put flake board on the back side and angled it the whole way to the ground to give me a storage are under the 2 foot border!.
+++
I got 3 foam boardscoated on one side with alum and cut them between the 2 by 4's against the flake board to reflect the in coming sun! You could feel the heat coming off the aluminum.
foil. I put a wire reinforcement under the 4 mill plastic. I only used one layer for this time of the year!
+++
I placed a 2 by 4 across the flake board a foot above the 2 foot border that ran the 16 foot length then I angled a 4 foot flake board to the ground meeting a land scape timber. The flake board went over the 2 by 4 a inch above it. The 2 by 4 was slightly angled from level so it would drain into a barrel! I did not use the gutter but may if this does not work.. I figued the gutter would collect too much
snow!
+++
The 2 by 4 over the flake board lso gave me step to climb the angled wall. I have a few things to do inside and will take some pitures and try to get them on here! It was fun and the days were too short! I was proud of my new solar greenhouse! Now to fill it up next weekend!
My angled two by 4 water collector on the north flake board wall is working great. I filled up two 50 gallon barrels in a few hours! The nice thing about it is also a step to climb the angled wall and it only sticks out 1 and 1/2 inches and will allow the snow to insulate the roof in the winter! I really like the A frame design lots of room with tables on the angled walls! Even with single plastic it was 110 till I opened one of the windows!