posted 2 years ago
I've been watching this post because I have a similar interest.
I have an east facing un-insulated sun-room, the roof is aluminum over wood, trusses North to S. and the ceiling has been enclosed. Full window surround from N, E, to S.. East wall is the long wall 24'. windows are 16" up from the floor.
At first I thought I could do the same. Then after observation( A full cycle of the seasons- 1 yr) it's actually Full shade to partial-light w/ very short <2hrs dispersed direct sunlight in the mornings(trees). In the dead of Winter I get full sun through the S windows for <6hrs in an area of about 24" at floor lvl. When I started seeds it was maybe 16" and shrunk from there. No DSunlight ever from the N. Other than morning mottled DSunlight I don't get enough for most plants in general. It's not ideal for sprouting seeds on the S wall either.
Do to my Geo-location and all the above.
I would have to remove the roof, sheeting, ceiling and replace with polyC(or cheaper). After high noon the DSunlight would slowly turn to shadow and shrink toward the East wall till maybe 4pm, which would be good actually.Except for the fireplace shadow.
Even though I refer to it as the "Sun Room" it's actually a Shade Room(Enclosed Patio). would take major conversion/construction to change. I could get an estimate for the construction and then price some prefabbed greenhouses and keep the covered patio. They have some really nice one's anywhere from a few $K to 10-15k , but I know It's way out of my budget and I don't want to try to do it myself even though I could. It's just not practical in my opinion.
My definition of a "Greenhouse" is a Shelter that requires No Artificial Light and the temp and humidity can be controlled.
Hopefully the OPs' roof can provide enough Sunlight if at all.
My Solution
I bought cheap shop lights, hung a few, built an adjustable stand for 2 others. I'll show some pictures one day. <$65
I also bought a cheapy "greenhouse" 15x7, the little green one's come in white too. By then it was too hot to go through the trouble and put the cover on. So I also bought a 50% shade cloth 14x20 something to cover, <$160
I found a pic of CheapGH, In the upper right you can see the Shade Room. The beauty of the GH is it's so easy to move, The ugly is one mistake in crinkling the cheapy pipes or bend and it's toast. It's hard for me to recommend it for any longevity. I think it will be real iffy with the cover in high wind.
I didn't even stake it at all. The shade cloth is what holds it in place. Survived 40+ gusts so far, I think because it can still wiggle and flex and the shade cloth has just the right tension. The paracord leads at the corners have dbl. slip-knots for give. The lines that run through the eyelets are independent of the corner leads also with dbl. slips. After assessing the greenhouse and my options this is what I chose.
The initial plan was to build a 2x6 base for it, and pipestrap it. But, I want to be able to move it easily as I convert the front yard into whatever it ends up besides grass.
20230509_ChpyGrn2.jpg
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