building a green house.

Kuroc · Post by **Kuroc** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 5:07 pm

Here a crude drawing of the green house I want to build.

I want 3 feet of the greenhouse underground. With cinder blocks as the wall. And 4 foot above ground. I want the water barrels to be at least 4 foot high so the staging will be above the ground.

The greenhouse is going to be 8 by 10 foot.

So what do you guys think of my idea so far?

Post by **daiv** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 8:27 pm

I think it is Gunnar whose greenhouse is partially underground. You should check his out. I guess, just make sure you have a really good drain in the bottom of it!

peterb · Post by **peterb** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 8:49 pm

Hi- The temperature modifying effects of that much underground space will be interesting to hear about.

I think it looks good. Passive solar might mean you don't need to provide any added heat in the winter.

peterb

Kuroc · Post by **Kuroc** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 11:52 pm

Well I decided to only dig a 2 foot pit because the barrels are only 3 foot tall. What would your suggest that I put the cinder blocks together with to keep out water? Between the barrels I'm going to fill with some sort of crushed rock or would it be best to fill that back in with dirt?

Also I may install a pump to drain out excess water.

Post by **daiv** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 3:53 am

Well the blocks you would want to use morter on, but without a floor drain, you are likely to end up with a bath tub at some point, I'd think.

tvaughan · Post by **tvaughan** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 11:12 am

Why do you want it partially underground? The humidity for cactus in the winter especially could be a problem.

gunhat · Post by **gunhat** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 1:05 pm

Yes, I too have my greenhouse partly under ground, about 2 feet. This way I can have all the glass above the plants. The space will be much larger, which is good for the greenhouse climate - the temperature will not vary to rapidly. And of course, it looks much nicer from outside.

Picures taken (and posted) a year ago:

Post by **daiv** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:11 pm

Yep, I remembered correctly. How do you prevent flooding Gunnar? That is the only drawback I could see with that design.

gunhat · Post by **gunhat** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:48 pm

I already had a draining system in my garden, below the floor of my greenhouse. Then I placed draining pipes around that house, in contact with the original system. And of course there is drainage from inside my greenhouse as well.

But the floor is wet some days in autumn /winter, because it can be raining every day for weeks in this part of Norway during that time of the year.