[Strawbale] Michele's planned attached greenhouse

[Michele O'Malley]

Kathy,
Thanks for the heads up on the humidity. I've given some thought recently to having the entire south wall NOT made of strawbale, at least most of it. I'm thinking a couple windows, a slider, and at least 1 Trembley wall (maybe 2), and a greenhouse off the south kitchen wall with some other wall system there and a door leading out to it. The rest of the house would be SB.

Michele O





> From: Raftercat5 at aol.com
> Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2007 18:33:49 -0500
> To: strawbale at listserv.repp.org
> Subject: Re: [Strawbale] Michele's planned attached greenhouse
> 
> I think I am on the right track. The house is planned to be strawbale.  South 
> facing windows, concrete floor, Trembley wall, woodstove with cob or stone  
> surround for thermal storage short term, maybe a greenhouse attached to the 
> main  living space. I can't do wind due to HMA covenants. The Annualized  Ground  
> solar system that Don Stephens talks about might heat the basement. I hope to 
>  only need minimal back-up (and I think the building code may require 
> back-up). I  will check out the systems you mentioned.  Thanks for the input.  
> 
> Michele O
> 
> 
> Michele:  That sounds wonderful, but think of this:  a greenhouse  gets very 
> humid because the plants will need water.  The humidity will  probably go 
> through the coating on your strawbale wall (whether it be lime  plaster, muds, 
> etc.) and into your strawbales.  The only thing I can think  of to alleviate this 
> potential problem is to cover your wall between the  greenhouse and the house 
> wall with a waterproof material.  Of course, if  you make the whole wall out 
> of sliding glass doors and windows, with no  strawbales there, it would give 
> you LOTS of solar heat for free (that is, if  it's facing south).  I hope 
> others here will be able to advise you  better.  This is just MHO.  We're also 
> building an SB house and I'd  LOVE to have a greenhouse, but I think it should be 
> free-standing, not attached  to the SB wall.  Best of luck on your house!
> - Kathy
> 
> 
> 
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