Hello all,
We recently purchase a home in Portland, OR that has a 25 foot by 10 foot greenhouse attached to it (see photo). We love it in the fall and winter as a sunroom and pseudo-outdoor space that stays pretty warm and dry but in the summer it gets blazing hot and will even heat up the rooms next to it. It has a vent in the roof that has a fan and I keep the window and door open throughout the day but it still stays very hot. It has a minisplit head in it but I am very reticent to use it because it feels like a waste of money to try and condition pseudo-outdoor space.
I have thought about a window film in the past but I think we wouldn't like the impact of it in the winter. I have recently learned about shade cloths and am seriously considering getting one. Does anyone have any recommendations on the opacity percentage? We do not plan on growing much in there at this time. Are there any other things I could do to help keep this area cooler in the summer?
Thank you all so much.
by AstronautOnFire
6 Comments
I used 50% aluminum white shade cloth in my green house in the summer.
Pro tip. Use wiggle wire and u channel to secure it. Makes putting it up and down very easy. And it looks clean.
I like to get it from bootstrapfarmer. Good pricing and shipping is free.
I’m in Portland as well. With my GH, ventilation is my first line of defense…. a wall maounted fan sucking the air out runs all day, vents and door allow air in….. but still, if it is 95 out, you get 95.
I set up a misting systems as well. This works wonders since the air evaporating the mist cools below outside temps
shade cloth, more fans up at the top
Plants! The more vegetation you have, i.e. more evapotranspiration – the cooler your greenhouse will be. My greenhouse is hard to keep cool when the plants are small so I use open buckets of water along with my ventilation system. Nice plants are larger, I don’t need the buckets of water.
Permanently opaque the roof panels closest to the house. They’ll only allow direct light in during the summer and it will only heat the walls of the house.
Winter, spring and fall the sun is lower and will come primarily through the front panels.
Shade cloth in the summer is 100% a good plan.
Can you remove some panels? I would take out 5 panels in the roof close to the house then some near the ground so you get natural convection air flow.