Very clever, Sheri! Nicely done! The only downside, and you mentioned this, is that Aluminet isn't a good insect barrier. But otherwise it sounds like a nice solution to your ventilation problem.

Thanks stressbaby. I've learned so much from reading many of your posts!

I don't know if I'm not worried about insects because they aren't much of a problem here, or if I'm just too new to understand what a problem they'll be in my greenhouse. I would not mind a few bees getting in to pollinate cactus blooms, but we'll see who else moves in.

These screens have really helped my confidence about being able to have an effect. It's easy for a newbie to feel like the structure is a run-away train, with no way to control temps. Putting holes in the wall isn't rocket science, but it's made me feel much better about my chances of avoiding the expense and complexity of a swamp cooler. I have another chunk of Aluminet that I'm going to try to install in a dumbed-down version of how you've suspended yours inside the roof of your greenhouse. My exhaust fan arrived yesterday. On we go...

GOOD job girl I like it. That is going to really provide a lot of ventilation..
LOOKS GOOD

WOW that really looks nice!! That's really gonna help too!!! Thanks for posting this!!

Gardenerwantabe, thanks for encouraging me to give this a try. I'm really happy I did.

Thanks also Pat, it has really helped. We finished up assembling some benches today and it was wonderful to have a breeze in there. (Keeps both of us in a better mood.) :-)

Last spring a house wren raised her brood in a geranium plant. The nest was under the leaves and on the soil in the pot. She didn't even move when I watered the plant. They did no harm to anything.

Wrens would be welcome (lizards too.) Thrashers are the only birds I've caught damaging plants, flipping over pots, and pulling out plant ID tags. So, because Thrashers have no manners, no birds are allowed. :-(

SHERI'
I encouraged you to try it because it sounded like it would work.
I thought you had a good idea.
It would be nice if you could put the screen on the inside then you could put the panel in without removing the screen.
Another option is what I did..
I bought 3 windows for a camper at a salvage place.
They were new and I got the 3 of them for 20 bucks complete with screens.
All the wife has to do is raise the window and open the door and a nice cross draft flows through the GH.
Below is a link to a photo so you can see the kind of windows I'm talking about.

Yes, I was disappointed I couldn't fit the panel back on top of the screen too. That would save me from needing to store screens elsewhere during the winter. Imqtpi had a recent post here about attaching some regular screen fabric to one of the openings by simply taping it to the greenhouse frame, and that method would allow you to fit the panel on top in cold weather, since there's no bulky screen frame in the way.

Your window idea is nice because you can have the good cross ventilation and still be protected from rain when necessary. And, it's a year round solution, instead of seasonally putting in screens.

Maybe I can work up my courage to try adding openable windows in the future. We installed the exhaust fan today, so I had to cut the polycarbonate panel for the opening. It was not nearly as terrifying as I thought it would be (in fact it was easy.)

I have cut holes in ours 5 times now. I use a utility knife just lay out with a black marker where you want to cut.
Use the old saying measure twice and only cut once.
I could have made things like the windows look a lot nicer if I wanted to spend the time and money but I figure it is just a GH and as long as things work good I don't need to make it pretty.
I'm not really into this I just do it for the wife and I'm lucky that she don't care how I do it as long as it works so that leaves me with more time to spend working on my show car.
I'm in the process of painting on it now.

Yup, black marker, utility knife, metal straightedge. No problem, what a relief. I won't worry next time. I would worry, however, if I had to figure out how to paint a show car.

I think your greenhouse windows look fine. They sure look better than 140°!

Regarding looks, I've had a hard time putting all this reflective stuff on the greenhouse (aluminet shade cloth, foil-faced insulation, aluminum tape etc.) I prefer natural materials, not stuff that looks like it fell off the space shuttle. Now add a big noisy fan and thermostats with fat black cables hanging everywhere. So not charming.

Then I realized my pleasure in an aesthetically flawless greenhouse would be greatly reduced if all my plants froze or baked to death. ;-)

SHERI WROTE Then I realized my pleasure in an aesthetically flawless greenhouse would be greatly reduced if all my plants froze or baked to death. ;-)
Yep you got it right.

What gave me motivation to paint my car was the
$12,000.00 that they wanted to paint it the way I wanted
If it was my daily driver it would be much easier but with this car I got to make it perfect and that is a lot of extra work.

12 GRAND?!!!?? Man you could have a gold plated GH for that. What make and model is it? A 1951 VW? LOL

1eyedJack and the Dawg

ole_dawg
To some one that don't know what is involved to create a show car finish 12K would seem like a lot but the really nice Show cars have paint jobs that cost WAAaaaayyy more than 12K
That is why we don't like for people to allow their kids to hang on the side of the car.. People walking dogs on a chain and they don't pay attention to them and they will wrap the chain around the car and damage the finish. I had a woman run a stroller down my door it cost me $1800,00 to have it repainted. If it was just a daily driver you could patch it but that will leave a ring and show cars must be perfect if you want to win so the door had to be stripped and redone.
Building and maintaining a first class Show Car is a very expensive hobby

You did a great job on the screen panels! They look really clean & neat.

Each summer I replace a couple of the poly roof panels with hardware cloth (wire cloth) panels. The hardware cloth is stiff enough to use as a panel. Then I put shade cloth over the whole roof. We still get cooked-on-the-vine tomatoes on really hot days. I've always wondered if the screed frames & material would work in place of the poly. I might even try making some shade cloth panels. It would look much less ragged than shade cloth pulled over the top.

Carolyna, thank you. I don't know why I didn't consider hardware cloth, and that is an excellent idea for good ventilation in a rigid material!

You have me thinking that this might be a good material for replacing some of the panels with diagonal tops on the end walls. The DIY screen frames won't work there since the corners are only available in 90°. The hardware cloth would be rigid enough to stand on its own. In fact, if shade is needed in addition to ventilation, I wonder why a layer of Aluminet couldn't be attached to the hardware cloth...maybe just hand-tacked at the edges using something like nylon thread. Hmmmmmm...interesting...

I thought about replacing some roof panels with shade cloth panels, since that seems like a smart place to release hot air. But two things are stopping me. First, I'm not sure I'd like summer rain to fall right in through the roof (I'm already kind of annoyed when the rain blows in sideways in through my new south screens.)

And second, I'm a wimp. Once we got the roof panels in and secured with clips and screws, I climbed down the ladder and said I'd never take them down. I try to avoid tall ladders unless there's no choice.

But, I do like the idea of finding a way to do the roof shade cloth that doesn't involve any loose fabric edges. Our wind here is worse than wicked, so I've been thinking my roof shade cloth will have to go inside.

I'm not sure how standard shade cloth will work in these frames (not sure how much thicker it is than Aluminet, since Aluminet is all I have tried so far.) I was really pleased with how strong but soft the Aluminet is...very pliable and easy to smoosh around.

In the winter, do you leave the hardware cloth panels in place in your roof, and just put the poly panels over the hardware cloth?

And, does rain through your rooftop hardware cloth panels cause much trouble?

Thanks so much for your comments!
Sheri

Update on January 1 (Happy New Year folks!) in response to a question by Baileybear in another thread...

I wanted to add a photo of how we added a drape of Aluminet shade cloth to the interior roof. I think the Aluminet is probably more effective on the outside of the greenhouse, but I knew the wind would be a constant battle here, so we're trying it inside first.

First we attached a 10' steel tube to the inside of the roof peak. (We had a piece of stainless tubing sitting around, but EMT would work fine.) My husband formed three hook shapes by doubling a length of plumbers strap (that flat metal strapping with holes) and bending it into a hook shape. Then he removed the nut from one of the bolts at the peak, slipped the hook in place, and replaced the nut. You can see the hook in the center of this photo, holding the bare rod.

{{gwi:303365}}

I laid the Aluminet cloth out flat in the yard, then folded it in half, and slid the rod into the fold. I secured the Aluminet to the central rod with wire twisty ties about every foot. (Classy, huh.) Then we carried the whole thing into the GH and hung it on the three roof hooks. (You have to make little holes in the Aluminet to poke the hooks through.) After securing the sides, it looks like this:

{{gwi:303367}}

On each side, we wrapped the Aluminet around another 10' piece of EMT tubing. If I decide to keep this set up, I'll put a hem in the shadecloth to slip the tubes in. Since this was a "temporary" experiment, we just rolled the edge of the Aluminet around the rod until it was taut, and secured it with more twisty ties and baling wire. The rod was then anchored to the top of the greenhouse wall with baling wire, looped around the bolts on our three central EMT ceiling braces, because they were handy. (The EMT ceiling braces are the three horizontals you see in the lower part of the above photo.)

I just cut a small slit in the Aluminet so I could stick my hand through to operate the roof vents. The Aluminet does not unravel when you do this (it's cool stuff.)

So far I like it. If I want less shade, I can unfasten the rod on the south side and slide it all the way across the greenhouse to the north side, riding along the tops of our three central EMT braces. That way the south side of the roof is fully exposed to sun, and the north side of the roof has two thicknesses of shadecloth in place. Although, I haven't done it very often...I'm learning that sunny days even in December can heat up the GH so fast that I just leave the roof shadecloth in place...but that may be a quirk of our desert climate, and I'm still experimenting.

One more update...because of the cold nights, I have all of my poly panels back in place on the south side. But, I figured out I can put the screens back in place OVER the poly panels by holding them in with clips installed backwards. Looks silly, but it provides just enough snugness to keep my screens in place.

{{gwi:303368}}

I've also made a triangular piece of Aluminet to go over the inside west gable, over my doors. I just cut it to size, hemmed it by hand, and it's attached with velcro to the aluminum frame. Our west sun is brutal even in late afternoon, especially in summer. I can take a photo if it would help anyone.

If any of this is unclear, let me know. That's where I am so far in my learning curve!
Sheri

Sheri,

Great job putting together your aluminet shade cloth screen panels. What an excellent idea. Sheri, I agree that you might be killing two birds with one stone, obtaining ventilation and protection from the sun. You did such a neat job putting everything together...it looks so professional. Good Job!

Tj

Thanks TJ. I am looking forward to seeing how it all works during the long hot summer...the real test. :-)