Foam panel in GH

I have access to some foam panels 2 inches thick. Would it be a good idea to put it on the north wall of my GH for the winter ?

Rentman,

Don't see why not. A lot of time I use what I have at the time & usually it works out pretty good.
Maybe some plastic over that to help seal the air spaces between panels.
A lot is said about the West wall being insulated also.
I'm using a bubble wrap, at least I'm going to try it this first winter w/ a GH.
That foam insulation would be great down in the ground next to the foundation also to help out w/ the cold.

Good luck and have fun doing it.

KW

I'm heading into my first winter too, and I put foam insulation on the north wall of my Harbor Freight greenhouse. I read that very little light enters the gh from the north anyway, and I'm hoping it will help with some of my winter electric bills. I used 3/4" polyisocyanurate foil-faced foam insulation, but I really wanted 1" thick. If I'd had access to 2" thick foam panels, I would have used them!

Many folks seem to insulate the north wall and the low part of the north roof as well, but I'm going to see how bad it is with just doing the wall for the first winter. I may add some large bubblewrap to the north roof. (There's a lot to sort out the first season with a gh, yikes.)

Here's a pic of the north wall after insulation, and before we finished building the benches:

I bought actual bubble insulation to use in the ceiling of my green house. Then about 3 years ago added bubble wrap over it for more insulation. For the walls I used just bubble wrap. Put that in about 2 years ago. Was cleaning the other day and touched the wall and my finger went thru and the wrap disintegrated in that spot.

I also leave it up year round so am sure the sun did a job on it or it might of lasted a bit longer.

Tomorrow I will start tearing it out and then I will see how the actual bubble insulation has held up. It has been in for 5 years. Life expectency is 4-5 years.

I was starting to think of using something else for the walls then putting on a layer of bubble wrap.

My main light source is the ceiling and 4 large windows and the door.

vea522. In another thread here someone was using clear solar pool cover. Its not really cheap, but it is on sale most places now so its as cheap as it gets. Not sure if you would want it on the north wall since its solar--i.e. it stores the suns heat and releases it at night.

I have used a clear solar pool cover, it can work well, but we had too much wind to keep it on the outside. I cut it up and used it inside in sections last year.

Insulating the north wall is a good idea. That 2" will give you at least R-6 which is way more than a layer of bubble wrap (R-2 at best, perhaps more likely R-1.5). A reflective coating is a good idea if available.

Pics from last year, north wall of my GH:

Inside

My guess would be that it is not readily available up here. Not to many people have pools up here. UNless they are the cheap above ground ones. But it is a good idea. I'm still looking at options. Or should I say thinking about.LOL

Just order online, that is what I did.

SB

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/774489/

This is tropicman's idea. He used layers of clear solar pool cover against hog panel, with an outer layer of 6 mil plastic. I have to finish off the ends of my green house for the winter. When I searched for pool cover I found that there are end-of-season sales on it. Still a bit pricy though, but I think it would be a lasting material if it is not on the outside.

I do like stressbaby's pink greenhouse though.

Me too, you don't see many greenhouses with a nice color scheme. ;-)
Sheri

oldmudhouse. Do you perchance have that name because you live in a mud house? (Adobe) I saw one of these being built once near San Diego california. I am amazed that they don't wash away in a rain.

We don't live in a traditional adobe with the wonderful thick walls, but we do have a fired adobe brick exterior on our wood-framed house. Which, in fact, is trying to return to the earth, as you mentioned, after nearly 50 years of exposure to the weather. This is distressing because we are still trying to live in it. :-)

Most traditional adobe houses have a plaster or stucco exterior on the outside of the soft adobe bricks, and that layer is the "sacrificial layer" that protects the bricks underneath. In the old adobes the outer plaster layer needs to be repaired or replaced occasionally, and that works pretty well in dry climates. But, the bricks on our house are odd ducks called Adobe quemado, or "burnt adobe." They were fired to a high temp, and were "supposed" to be able to withstand the weather without being covered up. Apparently this works for a while, but not forever. They don't use this technique anymore, and the pic of the garden wall below shows why. Soon we'll have to pay nice men lots of money to repair and stucco over the whole thing. I'd much rather work on the greenhouse. :-(

Apologies to Rentman for going off topic, but that's why I picked the funny name.
Sheri

My apologies also. Adobe obviously would not be a good choice for the kneewall of a greenhouse.

Lol, that's an interesting thought. It actually might work, in a fairly dry greenhouse, as long as you kept up the maintenance on it. Real adobe walls are supposed to have good insulating qualities. Hmmm...maybe for the next greenhouse... :-)