To give you an idea of how much you are losing through the roof of your greenhouse, a conventional uninsulated house has the roof losing 15% of the heat to the outdoors. I live in a Craftsman house that is uninsulated. I plan to insulate the attic to at least R-19. That should help with my winter heating bills. Insulating the walls of a stick built 102-year-old house is just not practical. Except for that my house which is made from oak with oak beams is mighty sturdy.
Yeah I guess that comes with the territory of a greenhouse. It's not designed for tropical plants and therefore has zero insulation features. Good luck with yours.
Hi Geoff, that was a real help thank you. I have the top half of my large greenhouse and the whole roof done in polycarbonate. Around the bottom up to the height of the staging I have thermal insulation board which does a good job. There is a cut out of it done and placed separately for the louvre vents to slot in for the winter. The doors and roof are all 10mm polycarbonate. I have a divider with door between the two ends but no insulation on that. I am very interested in how you made. Your ‘door’ between the ends of your, That looks like bubble wrap that has been taped in some way or have I got that wrong. Those clicking magnets and tape come with the mesh doors you can put on the conservatory door. What I want to do is put it on the inside of the main double sliding doors so that I dont have to worry about droughts because the sliding doors let in draft. Mine wasn’t cheap but that is its one downside. Many thanks for taking the trouble to do this. I now need to watch the first half as well.
Glad it was helpful Lynn. This video shows you how I constructed the partition: th-cam.com/video/xFHPoucC64I/w-d-xo.html There is a second part too - linked in the description of the video. The walls are basically a wooden frame. They are then simply covered with taped down bubble wrap (double-sided, clear tape) - which I'm going to add to this year. The actual door I purchased is also linked to in the description (to Amazon). I hope that helps! 😀
Thank you but there appears to be two of them this one with the link finishes before you start to make. I can only find videos in your list back for 10 months, it won’t let me go any further back. Are you able to put a link for the second half please. Thanks.
Hi Geoff, Almost got my greenhouse finished but can’t get the glass in because of the wind at the moment. Anyway I have been researching using a compost heap to heat the greenhouse. I’m going to try some experiments once the greenhouse is finished. Seemingly the centre of the heap can reach 60c , plenty of heat if it can be transferred I to the greenhouse. Lots of stuff on utube about it.
Glad you're on the final lap now Gordon! The compost thing sounds interesting. Wouldn't suit me though as it would take up far too much precious plant space, and is hardly controllable. I've had heaps for 25 years and never got any heat from one - so I expect you'll need a specific proportion of each material to encourage that kind of heat. But if it works for you then go for it - could save loads of cash! Let me know how you get on...😃
Ideally, yes. I agree that ventilation is really important to plants. However, when the temperatures outside are below 5°C, and I'm heating the greenhouse to 18°C, imagine the costs if I opened a window! If anyone can afford to do that then good luck to them. But for me, I'm keeping every gap where heat could escape thoroughly blocked up in an attempt to keep as much heat as possible inside. Do I get issues through lack of ventilation? Yes - but I see no alternative, unless money was no object.
just to pick you up on a point you made about you are still paying for the greenhouse, is it a finance plan through Rhino themselves, not trying to pry but I think many a budding gardener would love such a well made greenhouse but can't make that kind of financial outlay in one go.
I’m not quite sure what point you’re making. As I said in the video, I’m still paying for it. I don’t deny I’m lucky to be able to afford the loan payments as I’m actually one of those budding gardeners who can’t afford to make that kind of financial outlay in one go that you’re referring to.
I was actually asking if you were still paying to a finance agreement through Rhino themselves, they don't advertise as a finance broker but I'm sure plenty of customers would take them up on the offer of financing a greenhouse .
Ah I follow you now. I wasn’t offered finance from them and as far as I know they don’t offer it. They’re probably missing out on another income stream there. I took a personal loan out for mine.
To be honest, a personal loan can be much cheaper than any third party finance deal. I got mine at something like 2% APR which is more than a good deal. Worth considering if you’re thinking about it.
You can watch Part 1 of this video here: th-cam.com/video/VxrGf2ya5IM/w-d-xo.html
😀
Great tips for those with a greenhouse and for those of us still looking!
Thanks Trish. It took me months to choose one. You wouldn’t think it was so hard...🤷♂️
omagaaah !!! you're so funny, thank you for this video I super enjoyed it.
Glad you enjoyed it Kim. 😬
To give you an idea of how much you are losing through the roof of your greenhouse, a conventional uninsulated house has the roof losing 15% of the heat to the outdoors. I live in a Craftsman house that is uninsulated. I plan to insulate the attic to at least R-19. That should help with my winter heating bills. Insulating the walls of a stick built 102-year-old house is just not practical. Except for that my house which is made from oak with oak beams is mighty sturdy.
Yeah I guess that comes with the territory of a greenhouse. It's not designed for tropical plants and therefore has zero insulation features. Good luck with yours.
Hi Geoff, that was a real help thank you. I have the top half of my large greenhouse and the whole roof done in polycarbonate. Around the bottom up to the height of the staging I have thermal insulation board which does a good job. There is a cut out of it done and placed separately for the louvre vents to slot in for the winter. The doors and roof are all 10mm polycarbonate. I have a divider with door between the two ends but no insulation on that. I am very interested in how you made. Your ‘door’ between the ends of your, That looks like bubble wrap that has been taped in some way or have I got that wrong. Those clicking magnets and tape come with the mesh doors you can put on the conservatory door. What I want to do is put it on the inside of the main double sliding doors so that I dont have to worry about droughts because the sliding doors let in draft. Mine wasn’t cheap but that is its one downside. Many thanks for taking the trouble to do this. I now need to watch the first half as well.
Glad it was helpful Lynn. This video shows you how I constructed the partition: th-cam.com/video/xFHPoucC64I/w-d-xo.html There is a second part too - linked in the description of the video. The walls are basically a wooden frame. They are then simply covered with taped down bubble wrap (double-sided, clear tape) - which I'm going to add to this year. The actual door I purchased is also linked to in the description (to Amazon). I hope that helps! 😀
Thank you but there appears to be two of them this one with the link finishes before you start to make. I can only find videos in your list back for 10 months, it won’t let me go any further back. Are you able to put a link for the second half please. Thanks.
Sure - here's Part 2: th-cam.com/video/DI4U3K2Sj-g/w-d-xo.html. 😀
Hi Geoff, Almost got my greenhouse finished but can’t get the glass in because of the wind at the moment. Anyway I have been researching using a compost heap to heat the greenhouse. I’m going to try some experiments once the greenhouse is finished. Seemingly the centre of the heap can reach 60c , plenty of heat if it can be transferred I to the greenhouse. Lots of stuff on utube about it.
Glad you're on the final lap now Gordon! The compost thing sounds interesting. Wouldn't suit me though as it would take up far too much precious plant space, and is hardly controllable. I've had heaps for 25 years and never got any heat from one - so I expect you'll need a specific proportion of each material to encourage that kind of heat. But if it works for you then go for it - could save loads of cash! Let me know how you get on...😃
Is it Halloween already? The ghost of Geoff is your host for this greenhouse update.
I need a new makeup guy.
What about proper ventilation in winter? Shouldn’t there be some fresh air coming in even for winter?
Ideally, yes. I agree that ventilation is really important to plants. However, when the temperatures outside are below 5°C, and I'm heating the greenhouse to 18°C, imagine the costs if I opened a window! If anyone can afford to do that then good luck to them. But for me, I'm keeping every gap where heat could escape thoroughly blocked up in an attempt to keep as much heat as possible inside. Do I get issues through lack of ventilation? Yes - but I see no alternative, unless money was no object.
just to pick you up on a point you made about you are still paying for the greenhouse, is it a finance plan through Rhino themselves, not trying to pry but I think many a budding
gardener would love such a well made greenhouse but can't make that kind of financial outlay in one go.
I’m not quite sure what point you’re making. As I said in the video, I’m still paying for it. I don’t deny I’m lucky to be able to afford the loan payments as I’m actually one of those budding gardeners who can’t afford to make that kind of financial outlay in one go that you’re referring to.
I was actually asking if you were still paying to a finance agreement through Rhino themselves, they don't advertise as a finance broker but I'm sure plenty of customers would take them up on the offer of financing a greenhouse .
Ah I follow you now. I wasn’t offered finance from them and as far as I know they don’t offer it. They’re probably missing out on another income stream there. I took a personal loan out for mine.
Thanks for the quick reply, as you say I think they are missing out on a lot of business if they don't.
Cheers
Paul.
To be honest, a personal loan can be much cheaper than any third party finance deal. I got mine at something like 2% APR which is more than a good deal. Worth considering if you’re thinking about it.