Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Greenhouse Shrink Wrap Construction




Many have asked for pictures of how this is constructed and what the material looks like and how it performs. We are currently taking down the greenhouse for the summer. Will attempt to capture as detailed pictures as possible.




This picture to the left defines how clear this material is.

This greenhouse has morphed from many years of trial and error. The frame is steal, your basic carport frame from a big box store. The skin of this little jewel has been the issue. Finally in the fall of '08 another member of Plumeria Pals casually mentioned shrink wrap. This sparked my curiosity. After many hours of reading and asking questions I took the leap and ordered a roll.

Skeptic, Oh yes after as many skins as we have tried the true test would have to be surviving a winter in N. Texas. We have temperature spikes ranging from 80+ to 20. The skin's and attachment means find this stressful. For some reason the past 2 years we are have these winds. Have taped a million miles of plastic in freezing rain to hold previous version together.

The winter of '09 was a season of happiness. Not once was there a repair in need of mending. This by all that follow me locally was a success in every aspect. No more worry of an area of tape coming apart and frigid air entering the house and doing damage. Through the use of digital thermometers our temperature this year was stable.

I am editing this as time allows so bear with me.



Around the entire house we have use insulation board. This is the east wall which allows the most sun of all the walls. This is a pony wall that is 2' of insuation. The west wall will have the board turned end to end there is a 4' wall on it. The N. & S. walls have full coverage. The south really is not necessary I have just found that this really stabilizes the GH is our winter winds.
This is an example of with the heat gun I went around the support post. The gun is so easy to operate. I used a piece of 2x4 made into a small "T" That I could press from one side and heat from the other to secure the top seam lap over. To attach the side walls I simply pulled the plastic up and on to the roof about 6' and started melting.












































This is a splice seam that I did on the driveway prior to lofting the cover.