What type of "Greenhouse" for Central Florida

After going thru one of the coldest winters we've had here in Central Florida we've starting talking about getting some sort of "Greenhouse".
Or should we do "shadehouse" that we can add panels to in the winter.
There's alot of greenhouses on sale right now where they are including irrigation systems, louver windows, fans etc.
experiences or suggestions?

Its probably up to your choice. My greenhouse is always covered, but I have a friend who has one of similar size (2000 sq ft) and hers is just screening over a wooden frame, and they wrap it in poly film every winter. The disadvantage to that is you have to leave the poly on til you are certain all danger of cold is past, but in summer, the ventilation can't be beat.

Personally I wouldn;t want to have to put stuff on and take it off every season. I don;t have time for that, LOL. But if you do its probably a nice thing to have as you and I both know how hot it gets in summer.

Well, I'm leaning toward the greenhouse but hate to spend the money, but after today's chilling wind and spending most of the day protecting young seedlings and particularly vines I realized it would have been less than stressful had I and the greenhouse.

I find mine invaluable

This is the custom one we did in the fall. The top half of the side walls drop open completely every 8 feet, for the entire length of both sides. With the sides up and sealed, it will hit 115 on an 85 degree day. With the windows down, the inside temp is equal to the outside.

It takes about 3 minutes to open or close all windows. For our cool nights this winter, we used 4, twenty lb propane tanks, with portable heaters attached to them. On medium, the tanks would keep the house at 59 degrees on a 30 degree night, and were good for about 20 hours.

Chris

The guy that built it, worked with my design, and had some good input of his own, even though this was the 1st greenhouse he'd built. I know he'd love to do another, and would probably travel to Orlando to do one, given that things are slow for him right now.

This one is 20 x 40 with 5 irrigation zones, pre-wired for fans and vents, and I believe about 8 grounded outlets,

Chris

What a beauty, wish I had a bigger yard, I'd invite him up.

Chris,
What did you use for the roof ? Couldn't tell from the pic if it was screen w/ panels over it on the sides.
I don't need anything that large...(haha..well, I "shouldn't" need anything that large)...
I was also thinking I might be able to squeeze it in near some trees to keep the hot afternoon sun off. Their deciduous so would get more sun in winter.
I grow alot of salvia's and vines so meeting their requirements is first then other things that work with them.
We went down to 19 degrees here several nights this last winter and while I know that's pretty rare, I'd like to be able to handle that in the future if we go this route.

The roof is just 4 mil plastic, rolled out and attached with wiggle wire. The whole greenhouse is covered with the 4 mil plastic, rated for 4 years.

The nice part about it being custom built is that you can adjust the size to suit your needs. At the next phase, we'll most likely add on, and increase it to 40 x 60, and add another 20 x 40.
Chris