Post by wy21lmb on Jul 20, 2021 19:19:01 GMT -7
I am looking for ideas on how to protect a greenhouse from hail and other SEVERE weather damage. Something for TEOTWAWKI, that would maybe serve for generations without major environmental damage.
Somewhere I had once seen a drawing titled something like ‘Maine berm greenhouse,’ but after a couple decades of searching I have not been able to find it again. The greenhouse cross section shown in the drawing had a soil growing bench around or slightly lower than ground level, a trench about thigh or waste deep for standing and reaching back across the growing bench, then a deeper cold sink trench below that with a grating over it for a walkway. The structure itself was a back wall of masonry (thermal mass) on the north, then a roof sloped at an angle that let sunlight in to the top of the back wall on the winter solstice for maximum winter solar heat gain and sunlight, and the south glazing wall was vertical and the glazing was mostly protected from hail by sufficient overhang. All the excavated dirt was bermed on the outside of the north wall and the roof was insulated.
I realize such a greenhouse design would not be as efficient at gathering sunlight as traditional ones with completely exposed glazing, so it may need to be much longer and not as wide as normal greenhouses to compensate, but once our current electric civilization goes away, maybe for hundreds of generations, something like this would be invaluable.
So, do any of you have any info on such a greenhouse design? Do any of you have any other suggestions for a SEVERE weather resistant greenhouse? Do any of you have a useful idea on where to find such a design? I have looked around on greenhouse, gardening and even several survival forums, with no luck. Innumerable Google searches have been no help to me.
Somewhere I had once seen a drawing titled something like ‘Maine berm greenhouse,’ but after a couple decades of searching I have not been able to find it again. The greenhouse cross section shown in the drawing had a soil growing bench around or slightly lower than ground level, a trench about thigh or waste deep for standing and reaching back across the growing bench, then a deeper cold sink trench below that with a grating over it for a walkway. The structure itself was a back wall of masonry (thermal mass) on the north, then a roof sloped at an angle that let sunlight in to the top of the back wall on the winter solstice for maximum winter solar heat gain and sunlight, and the south glazing wall was vertical and the glazing was mostly protected from hail by sufficient overhang. All the excavated dirt was bermed on the outside of the north wall and the roof was insulated.
I realize such a greenhouse design would not be as efficient at gathering sunlight as traditional ones with completely exposed glazing, so it may need to be much longer and not as wide as normal greenhouses to compensate, but once our current electric civilization goes away, maybe for hundreds of generations, something like this would be invaluable.
So, do any of you have any info on such a greenhouse design? Do any of you have any other suggestions for a SEVERE weather resistant greenhouse? Do any of you have a useful idea on where to find such a design? I have looked around on greenhouse, gardening and even several survival forums, with no luck. Innumerable Google searches have been no help to me.