Am I asking too much from a small structure?

[mikeschn]

Hey guys,

Here's a question for you. Legally I am allowed to put a 10x12' shed in the backyard without a permit. I'd like to play with tiny house construction, sorta like the love shack seen elsewhere on this forum. But I'd also like to be convertible, that is, to be able to change my love shack into a green house (and or even possibly a storage shed).

So am I asking too much from a small structure?

Mike...

[glenn-k]

You are only limited by your imagination or lack thereof.  Let's see what you can do.

[jraabe]

Build it with inexpensive tempered sliding glass door panels (as used in the Sunroom/Skylight plans) and you could use if for many purposes by covering or uncovering the glass walls and skylights.

You could do the Little House skid foundation and move it around if needed.

[mikeschn]

Thanks John,

That's definitely a good starting point.  It strikes me as being very much a solar greenhouse shed, or whatever you call them structures. I was wondering if it could be made to look less like a greenhouse, and still retain enough of the greenhouse functionality.

So maybe someone here with a background in greenhouses can tell me, is one vertical wall enough to grow a wall full of plants? Or is the glass roof necessary. Should the solar storage be against the glass wall, or further in, against an inner wall?  

I'll be modeling something for you guys soon, once I get my arms around this...

Mike...

[glenn-k]

Solar storage can be against the back wall.  More glass equals more light and heat.  Sometimes ventilation is also necessary in the case of too much heat.  Maybe a cheap thermostat controlled vent and fan of some sort.

I read an article where water in black plastic troughs was used under the plants about a foot for heat storage.  This was necessary to prevent plant diseases of some sort caused by moisture being too high.  I tried 6 mill once but it eventually leaked - so something heavier is in order.  

Vertical culvert columns painted black and sealed on the bottom have been used as well as black plastic buckets - milk jugs and on a small scale Wall-O-Water.

I studied up a little on this for hydroponics - not an authority by a long shot.  Had good success with NFT though.

[mikeschn]

Okay here's my first pass... bed on the north side of the shed, windows on the south side. Brick wall for energy storage. Brick wall is about 7' long. on the roof there are several skylights. If the windows have blinds or shades, then the structure can be either/or.



I might have to try a version with the bed up in a loft, like the loveshack.

Mike...

[Amanda_931]

I've always kind of wanted a trombe wall.  Preferably with a little sitting space in it.

But given the amount of space available, would you be better off being able to a) use daylight in your main space and b) have your floor as thermal mass?---and more than that, would you want to?

(there are also some no-storage solar hot air collectors that can be built onto a wall or on the roof or on the ground in front of the place.)  Home made and even a few storeboughten.

[mikeschn]

Amanda,

Got a URL I can check out?

Using the floor as storage mass has potential!

Mike...

(there are also some no-storage solar hot air collectors that can be built onto a wall or on the roof or on the ground in front of the place.)  Home made and even a few storeboughten.

[Amanda_931]

Nice thick earthen--or concrete--floor, preferably with insulation under and outside of the foundation, enough windows on the south (equator-ward!) side and maybe east to give you sun on a certain amount of the floor in the winter--I'll have to look that up, but not right now.  Ditto for a solar collector that can go on the outside of the house--there's a nice article in Home Power from a bunch of years ago.

May think otherwise during the summer, but right now I wish we had insulated the barn room foundation properly.  The builder--not me--"forgot" to.  But we did get it drained pretty well.