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Greenhouses & Garden Structures

greenhouse with shed-style roof

6 years ago

Hi, I'd like to build a greenhouse to use over the winter with a shed-style sloping roof (similar to the attached photo). The tallest wall would be facing south and it would be all glass as well as the west facing wall. the north and east walls would be insulated (there are trees in the east side blocking the sun anyway). I also wanted to have an insulated metal roof. i haven't been able to find many photos of greenhouses with this design so I was wondering if this design doesn't let in enough sun or something like that. anything facing the sun is all glass so it seems ok to me but i thought I'd get some advice around this. Thanks in advance.

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Comments (3)

Tranquil Garden
6 years ago
It may work. Keep in mind that the winter sun is quite low so you will get lots of sun hitting the greenhouse at the right angle. In summer when it is hot and the sun is high in the sky, you really don’t need the light from above for heat but you may find your plants get legging searching for the light.

You could also adapt the design and use a polycarbonate roof to allow some light in from above. And then insulate it in winter with removable rigid styrofoam insulation.

My greenhouse faces west, so it only gets the sun starting at around noon in summer and by 6pm the sun has set behind a forest about a kilometer away, so at most I will get 6 hours of direct sunlight. It is enough to get temps up to over 30C on the hottest summer days, even with the door and roof vents open.

Here’s a photo. Let me know if you have any questions about the construction:

Notice that it has knee walls which are insulated - I have everything in pots on benches at the front wall and right side and tomatoes in tubs on the floor at the back of the greenhouse (against the house wall).

The greenhouse stays at around 6C or 7C as the min temp when the outside temp is around freezing. I’m in Victoria, BC so we rarely get below freezing. I still have pepper and eggplant plants that I hope will continue into the spring once it warms up again. I also overwinter all of my potted flowers such as geraniums, fuschia and dahlias.

I’ve posted a few posts on my blog at tranquilgarden.ca - just do a search for greenhouse. I hope to post more and eventually also write an ebook about greenhouse construction. Also check out my book review on The Year-Round Solar Greenhouse - the book is great and I highly recommend it. It doesn’t go into detailed construction info but does give lots of info on how to store solar energy and have a passively heated greenhouse.
hsechter
Original Author
6 years ago
Thanks, I appreciate the advice. Sounds like the clear roof is meant to capture sun in the summer when the sun is high. This greenhouse is meant for the winter months and will be converted to a studio space in the summer. But I do like your idea of temporary foam board insulation.
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Sorry all I have been on the road and just getting a chance to reply but I am in the very top corner of SC so no worry of hurricanes here. As far as placement of the house I will not be in a neighborhood and off the road just a bit so I wanted to leave house placement up to whichever direction would be most efficient for the solar panels so I don’t have to worry much about curb appeal. There is a lot of cleared pasture land for sale here relatively flat that is sold off in tracts of 3-10 acre parcels with two lots in particular I am looking at. I originally was looking at a 1.5 story house plan that did have a smaller footprint but also would be more time consuming to frame as it had a long shed dormer with a row of windows to let in light on the second floor. I figure the long straight walls and simple roof of a plan like this would offset the cost of having a larger footprint due to how quickly it could be framed up, especially using SIPs.
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Tranquil Garden
6 years ago
Then a solid roof will likely be better. You can still use the insulation on the bottom perhaps if you have floor to ceiling windows.

You might want to consider lighting for winter, depending on what you want to grow. LED grow lights don’t need much energy and you could even consider solar panels on the roof to charge batteries.

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