Mike Haasl

I don't currently have a temp logger. Probably makes sense to do some tracking...  I have a techy buddy who's helping on some projects and might geek out on making that happen.  My greenhouse is fairly different from others (insulation wise) so I doubt much could be drawn from a comparison

To the best of my observation, it's doing just fine. The shallow frost protected foundation design keeps the frost from getting under the foundation so it can be shallow. It's also very sandy and well draining here. In my area, with snow on the ground, the ground rarely freezes more than a few inches deep. Except where snow's been removed or packed down. The ground on the inside of the greenhouse doesn't freeze so the warmth of the earth is rising up and helping heat the greenhouse a little bit.

It's a "shallow frost protected footing" if I have the words right.  Cinder blocks a foot or two high, sitting on around a 8" by 24" shallow footing with the bottom around 2' deep relative to grade.  Then R20 closed cell styrofoam outside of that vertically for 2' and then sloping away for another 2' to give 4' of frost protection.  Which is what I think you're suggesting so...  Yay!

Thanks Kevin! I think the bubble wrap "Reflectix" between the poly layers has some real potential if it can be extended and retracted uneventfully. I suspect if that worked and was programmed well, and the vent doors at the bottom were fewer in number and sealed better, it would at least stay above 20F in my zone 4b climate. And I think "tropical" would be possible down south by Chicago...  Or in somewhere sunnier like WY

alas I did not save any seeds.  I think mine just benefited from a good location

According to my memory of the metal roof installation guide for Menards brand metal roofing, you put the screws through both the ridges and the flats depending on where you are on the sheet.  You put it through the ridges everywhere except:
  - The top and bottom of the panel (I believe this is so that the sheet doesn't get squished out wider at the ends and then not stay parallel. It's very easy to overtighten those screws and make the panel wider)
  - The edge that is overlapping the previous panel ( Putting them through the flat here helps hold down the neighboring panel. Going through both ridges is a bit tricky and probably can cause other mischief)

I used the standing seam (hidden fastener) roofing on my last project and loved it so if you have a few extra bucks, definitely go that way.

Hi Stephen, here are some thoughts....

1. Is there a person door very near by?  Opening that to get a human through might be a bit much.
2. A consideration might be to make the leaves different widths.  One narrow one for humans and a wide one for cars.  Open them both for bigger equipment.
3. It's very hard to make a gate that fits tight to the ground (no lintel) that can swing without interfering with the ground (or snow/ice).  Unless it's opening downhill.  Hopefully that's the plan here.
4. A nice feature of the main lab gate is that you can lift or push down on it as needed.  The rebar pivot you show would prevent that.  I'm not sure how the main gate pivot works but putting this gate on a sphere shaped pivot might allow for some up and down movement on the gate as it opens to work around terrain or snow.
5. Make sure you think about how to get thru the gate after a snow storm. Keeping the counterweight above snow may be a terrific idea.
6. Consider a tight junk pole down low for chickens and a loose one up higher so that you can see through the gate a bit. Residents might want to see an approaching vehicle sooner and visitors might like to see in a bit to make sure they're at the right place.
7. It might bump/slide/scrape across the ground easier if the lower cross brace was the bottom most part of the door. If random junkpoles are snagging on rocks, they could break be annoying.
8. A long counterbalance (like on the front gate) might be easier to fine tune than the style shown.  If there's room for it to swing...
9. You may want the counterbalance to be adjustable so if you change things, it can change with them.
10. Be sure to pin the tenons on the cross braces too so that they don't pull out of the vertical logs.
  10a. "Drawbore" clarification:  I believe a draw bore is when the pin holes deliberately don't align and as you pound the pin it, it draws the tenon tighter into the mortise.  Otherwise I think it's just a pinned tenon or something like that.  
11. If you want to bump up your joinery work, I think rectangular tenons in rectangular mortises would be much stronger and keep the door from twisting.  Basically take the top end of your 7" support posts and turn them into 2" by 7" rectangles (8.5" long per your drawing).  Chisel a rectangle in the gate bar for it to slide up into and pin it.  It will require more precision with the chisel work but the door won't twist nearly as much if you get it right.  Same for the horizontals (1.5" by 4.5" tenons however long you think is good)

I just met a guy with a beefy triple axle trailer frame he'd sell me cheap if we can get the tires inflated.  That would probably be better and closer than a farm wagon anyway.

The pontoon boat idea sounds neat.  I couldn't keep it on the water cuz it does freeze solid here in the winter.  The trailers for them seem pretty wimpy so once a home is built on it, I don't know if it could actually be moved?

Found one that goes with a map from above. Here they are together:

Oops, I'm behind on my submissions.  More to come but here's a pile: