From memory Kirstin Dirkson’s YouTube channel has a video tour of this greenhouse, if anyone wanted to do some googling…
MeeksTheSqueaks
it’s been done
jckipps
I was leafing through some old Mother Earth News magazines from the 1980’s. An article in one told about exactly that.
The family had moved onto their Arkansas homesteading property too late to build a house before winter. They erected a hoophouse(dirt floor, plastic film roof), and ended up living in that for a full year.
They had a woodstove inside, with a stovepipe out one end of the hoophouse. It typically dropped to near freezing by morning, but quickly warmed up and was pleasant enough inside. During the summer, they basically vacated the hoophouse during the warm parts of the day, and didn’t come back inside until sundown.
If I was doing this intentionally, I’d make a few tweaks to the hoophouse design. Get the ground sloped correctly to keep the floor dry. You don’t want rainwater migrating inside and soaking the carpet that you have laid across the dirt. Fasten window screen material to the inside of the hoops, so that the roll-up sides can be used for summertime temp moderation without mosquitoes coming in. Add two rollups of shade cloth to the top of the structure, both anchored at the peak, and extending down each side. You’ll likely need to do a little bit of extra framing to make this possible, but it would greatly enhance the summertime livability of the structure.
More realistically though, just fasten the hoophouse to the side of your existing but cramped house. Add a deck out into the hoophouse for increased living space, and use box fans in the windows and doors to move the warm hoophouse air through the house during wintertime days. The non-deck portions of the hoophouse will still be used as your kitchen garden.
chrispybobispy
I would figure moisture and ventilation would be an Issue.
7 Comments
Sounds hot
Yes.
From memory Kirstin Dirkson’s YouTube channel has a video tour of this greenhouse, if anyone wanted to do some googling…
it’s been done
I was leafing through some old Mother Earth News magazines from the 1980’s. An article in one told about exactly that.
The family had moved onto their Arkansas homesteading property too late to build a house before winter. They erected a hoophouse(dirt floor, plastic film roof), and ended up living in that for a full year.
They had a woodstove inside, with a stovepipe out one end of the hoophouse. It typically dropped to near freezing by morning, but quickly warmed up and was pleasant enough inside. During the summer, they basically vacated the hoophouse during the warm parts of the day, and didn’t come back inside until sundown.
If I was doing this intentionally, I’d make a few tweaks to the hoophouse design. Get the ground sloped correctly to keep the floor dry. You don’t want rainwater migrating inside and soaking the carpet that you have laid across the dirt. Fasten window screen material to the inside of the hoops, so that the roll-up sides can be used for summertime temp moderation without mosquitoes coming in. Add two rollups of shade cloth to the top of the structure, both anchored at the peak, and extending down each side. You’ll likely need to do a little bit of extra framing to make this possible, but it would greatly enhance the summertime livability of the structure.
More realistically though, just fasten the hoophouse to the side of your existing but cramped house. Add a deck out into the hoophouse for increased living space, and use box fans in the windows and doors to move the warm hoophouse air through the house during wintertime days. The non-deck portions of the hoophouse will still be used as your kitchen garden.
I would figure moisture and ventilation would be an Issue.
All the time