Building a Greenhouse - Question on Roof Angle

[Country Momma]

I am in the process of designing a small greenhouse. It is going to be a lean-to style 8'x16' with the 16' facing the South. I live in central Ohio. Does anyone know what the best angle for the roof would be for my situation?

 

[k0xxx]

Here is some great information on greenhouses . Look at the part of the page that discusses Solar Greenhouse Design and it gives you angles for different areas.

 

[patandchickens]

Depends a lot on what you want to use the greenhouse for. If it will be for use around the winter solstice your requirements are different than if it will mainly be for starting seedlings in late winter, etc.

Pat

 

[Country Momma]

Depends a lot on what you want to use the greenhouse for. If it will be for use around the winter solstice your requirements are different than if it will mainly be for starting seedlings in late winter, etc.

Pat

We will be using it to start garden plants in the late Winter/early Spring mostly, but we may try to grow a few veggies in the Fall/early Winter (brocolli, lettuce, spinach). Starting plants is going to be it's primary function.

 

[patandchickens]

In that case the angle is not really crucial, you can pretty much do whatever is most convenient. (Not too flat, obviously, if snow is an issue)

When angle really matters is when you are trying to suck down every last little bit of scarce brief low-angle December-and-January sunbeams for whatever heat can be gleaned from them.

Pat

 

[Icu4dzs]

Roof angles depend on a lot of things; weight of them and weight on top of them (like snow mentioned by PaC) is a great concern. What the materials the roof is made of certainly counts. Obviously, aluminum and glass or lexan would weigh less than wood and glass or lexan but if your issue is angle, then you have to consider the weather.

A 45 degree angle is a 12 on 12 roof, i.e. 12 foot rise for 12 foot run. If you can afford to make this, the snow will come off faster and not build up on it to cause collapse.

The more shallow the angle, the more snow it will hold. (this is bad).

K0xxx gave you some good "gouge" (as we called it in the Navy) on this so look that over carefully. The more obtuse the angle, the better the waterproofing has to be because the water will well up in/on each pane of material beit plexiglass, lexan or glass.

I've been toying with a design of schedule 80 PVC pipe and plexiglass or lexan in an effort to find a strong, water resistant material to do the same job. The problem is still the flexibility of the pipe, though.

Good luck. Have fun building it and even more fun using it!
//BT//
Trim sends