L
lothianjavert
Guest
I had no idea where to put this.... I almost put in under "problems" after hearing the lovely stream of things coming out of my husband's mouth as he works on putting in the boiler.... :rollhappy: 
We've been growing for 5 years now. Our first was a home depot NOID dendrobium. Followed by a few phals from their half-dead clearance shelf. Then we found The Little Greenhouse (OMG, an orchid vendor less than 30 minutes away! ) That REALLY got us going. They helped us with our initial light room, and told us about the local orchid society. We joined, and learned a good bit about growing and light room setups from a couple of other light growers. However, our dream was always to have a greenhouse. Living in a townhouse, that was not possible. We expanded the light room again and again. Added RO. And dreamed.
This summer, we purchased a house on about an acre (we moved to the middle of Nowhere to do it)-- so that we could finally build that greenhouse!
After much effort, the structure is finished. Electric is run, plumbing is complete. Shelving is almost finished. Now we are working on the heat.
Here's the greenhouse today (after our lovely ice storm)
My husband (on the left) and father in law working on the boiler for the Greenhouse. The boiler is in our basement. The greenhouse is only about 20 feet away from the house, so we ran insulated lines underground.
About the construction: It's a pit greenhouse, dug in 3ft. The floor is 3ft of dark granite gravel, with about 200 feet of corrugated piping running through it and a blower fan to circulate air from the greenhouse through the gravel floor. (basically the 3 feet of gravel acts as a heat sink. we hope it will save on heating in the winter, as well as the fact that the entire greenhouse is sunk in to the ground 3ft.) The construction is of pressure treated lumber and twinwall polycarbonate. The inside is also lined with poly plastic for a bit of extra insulation. Dimensions are 15' wide, 20 feet long, 15' tall (floor to peak)
We've been growing for 5 years now. Our first was a home depot NOID dendrobium. Followed by a few phals from their half-dead clearance shelf. Then we found The Little Greenhouse (OMG, an orchid vendor less than 30 minutes away!
) That REALLY got us going. They helped us with our initial light room, and told us about the local orchid society. We joined, and learned a good bit about growing and light room setups from a couple of other light growers. However, our dream was always to have a greenhouse. Living in a townhouse, that was not possible. We expanded the light room again and again. Added RO. And dreamed.This summer, we purchased a house on about an acre (we moved to the middle of Nowhere to do it)-- so that we could finally build that greenhouse!
After much effort, the structure is finished. Electric is run, plumbing is complete. Shelving is almost finished. Now we are working on the heat.
Here's the greenhouse today (after our lovely ice storm)
My husband (on the left) and father in law working on the boiler for the Greenhouse. The boiler is in our basement. The greenhouse is only about 20 feet away from the house, so we ran insulated lines underground.
About the construction: It's a pit greenhouse, dug in 3ft. The floor is 3ft of dark granite gravel, with about 200 feet of corrugated piping running through it and a blower fan to circulate air from the greenhouse through the gravel floor. (basically the 3 feet of gravel acts as a heat sink. we hope it will save on heating in the winter, as well as the fact that the entire greenhouse is sunk in to the ground 3ft.) The construction is of pressure treated lumber and twinwall polycarbonate. The inside is also lined with poly plastic for a bit of extra insulation. Dimensions are 15' wide, 20 feet long, 15' tall (floor to peak)
