Quote:
Originally Posted by dounoharm
hi darby, hows the plan coming?....I built my last couple greenhouses with cedar and polycarbonate....both lean-to designs I just made as I went, lol....I grabbed all the space I was allowed on our lots!
my bf is understanding what I used to say all the time, no matter how big it is, IT IS NEVER BIG ENOUGH! lol....
I had a couple in florida too, with double plastic, and that was always a mess....one with that corrugated stuff...the polycarb is definitely the way to go!
cedar wood is good to work with, for me anyway...it smells nice, and is easy to cut...I like screwing things together as it is more secure...
if you bide your time and wait for sales, the polycarb isn't that expensive....
good luck and let us see photos of your job!
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Hi, thanks for checking in--well, the plan's coming very slowly, between various projects/life/etc. But now I'm trying to make some progress.
I've also been trying to figure out if a small greenhouse or an indoor orchidarium makes more sense, though I'm still leaning towards a greenhouse. This is all complicated by the fact that the only space I have to build on is on a 6" thick concrete slab (that can't be easily/cheaply removed without a jackhammer) and so I won't be able to bury water/power lines and have to bring in water via hose from a distant spigot. I'm not sure if that qualifies as a 'problem' or not.
I'm interested in your cedar/polycarb greenhouse, do you happen to have any build pictures by any chance? I assumed a kit would be cheaper to build in the end...but I have built a shed that's still standing and I'm not afraid to try going DIY. I can screw things together with the best of them...
---------- Post added at 06:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:02 PM ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roberta
I cool my little GH (was a kit, put it up about 10 years ago) with an Aquafog 700 fogger on a thermostat. (I live in Costa Mesa) It works beautifully - temperature rarely goes much above 85-90 deg F. (Our relatively low humidity makes it quite efficient) I also use a direct-vent gas heater (costs more than an electric one but costs A LOT less to operate) I did that after fighting to maintain temperature in the great freeze of 2006-2007, where I found that the most efficient 1500W 110v heater could not keep up when temps dropped to the low 30's F. Fans are the cheapies from Home Depot that are Vornado copies (cost about 1/3 as much) They last 2-3 years, the expensive ones don't last much longer. So go cheap.
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Thanks for your note--does the Aquafog qualify as an evaporative cooler? I wasn't clear on that based on briefly looking at its description online. My impression from doing research on the forum here is that I'll need a combination of evaporative cooling and a fogging system. Do you use the Aquafog mainly for temperature control, or does it also help raise the humidity?
Heating, I haven't given it as much thought as I probably should. Since it usually doesn't freeze here I tend to be a bit complacent--but during the big 2006/07 freeze I happened to be out of town and overnight went from a collection of 40 orchids growing outdoors down to, I think, 4.
The upside of that was that I learned which ones are the hardiest.