Update on the green house

[wildbill hickup]

Just a quick update on the green house. Here's a couple of pix.

Framing's all done and some of the glass is in. Panels on the roof are just sky lites for now but they will eventuallt be hot water collectors. Siding and north roof next.

Wildbill

[jimjjnn]

It's looking great. Anxious to see it finished and operating with some performance data.

[MountainMan]

Bill,

Well done on doing a passive solar project.  I would like to see a lot more of that here.

I just wanted to give you a heads up though.  I think I've detected a construction problem you will need to think about.  I'm concerned about how you are going to finish the south side of the roof.  The skylights are too close together to get the flashing in between them.  You will probably have to do a lot of tin snipping to work the flashing kit in there, and that could cause some leaks.

Also, I think you are going to need to pull the skylights and put firring strips underneath them to raise them up to the proper height above the rafters.  The reason is that when  you put your OSB or plywood on the remainder of the roof, the flashing kits won't fit on the skylights correctly because of the difference in height between the area where the skylights are and the rest of that side of the roof.  Skylights will leak if given even half a chance.

Just thought I would give you a heads up on that so you can look it over and start thinking of remedies if necessary.

best,

jp

[willib]

Yeah it looks great! I think you'll be amazed at the heat you get from the sun.

[wildbill hickup]

JP,

I am deffinatly no builder that's for sure. This is the biggest project of that kind I have undertaken without someone telling me what to do step-by-step. Believe me I'm surprised it's square and plum. I realize I have a crowding problem with the skylites but due to the shortage of funds for more lumber I had to use the roof rafters as supports for the sides of the windows. As far as the flashing goes I plan to lay it flat across frames (and bend down to just touch glass) and overlap at top all will be sealed when put in place with silicon. Skylites are raised 3/4" above rafters (hard to see in photo) so they will sit flush with 3/4" plywood for the remainder of the roof surface. 3/4" pieces will be cut to bring the seams flush in between windows. Roof will actually come out over the frame at the top (those are wooden frames by the way), and lap the pieces between the windows. The bottom is the only part that will be hard to seal and it's kind of hard to explain my idea for that. It will be a custom bent piece that actually contacts the glass bent down at a 15 degree angle this will be sealed when put in place with silicon. It's really kind of hard to explain my idea but I think it will work. The roof will be a raise seam flat metal roof. I may have to put up with some leaks this winter but it's just a dirt floor. Fortunatly I have a friend in the business (raised seam roofing) and I have access to sheet metal bending machines so between the two of us we can do some pretty nifty custom bending I've seen him do some pretty weird roofs. Also the windows are set in their pockets with silicon. Hopefully it's all going to seal-up OK, I'm gonna hate taking it apart next spring.

Thanx for the heads, up all fingers and toes are double crossed, hopefully it won't leak.

WIldbill