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Swedish Couple Builds Greenhouse Around Home

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Re: Swedish Couple Builds Greenhouse Around Home

#141

Post by fyfy18 »

btbuildem wrote: post #65
DoreenMichele wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would it be humid? Heat doesn't cause humidity. Deserts can be hot and dry. (Edited are to can be for the pedantic people.)

I think standard household activity would generate a lot of humidity. Usually dwellings vent outside, but here the outside is in a larger "inside". I'm guessing the greenhouse has its own air regulation set up.

In my part of Northern Europe, in the winter the issue is keeping the inside humid enough. During winter when the air temperature is -10c or less there is basically no water in the air.

We have a MHRV system, but it doesn't account for humidity, so will happily replace all the air inside with dry air from outside (I'm trying to automate it with HASS). Our bathroom fan has a humidity sensor, so doesn't run so much in the winter, but even so the humidity often gets down to 25% rh inside.

Re: Swedish Couple Builds Greenhouse Around Home

#143

Post by chupasaurus »

ptaipale wrote: post #138
chupasaurus wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At least in Finland, newish office houses typically don't even have windows that can be opened. That's because the costs for heating of the building during winter are way cheaper than a better thermal isolation of windows and a good ventilation system combined.

I think you express it the wrong way round. The windows cannot be opened, because that way they can be made better for thermal isolation, which is obviously a major design criteria in cold climate.

It's more like you got lost in the comparison spiral. Formal interpretation of my phrase: cost of heating with unlocked windows > (permalocked windows + ventilation system).

I live 55°N in Russia so I know that from practice, but we don't lock the windows throughout the summer because the cooling would cost around the same as heating in winter, just one or two opened windows in the night for convection and curtains in the daylight are enough to keep the temperature.

Re: Swedish Couple Builds Greenhouse Around Home

#145

Post by freyr »

vinni2 wrote: post #60
yesbabyyes wrote: post #49

Cool, I've visited this house! It's located just a few kilometers from where I grew up. Small correction to the article though: it's quite feasible to grow tomatoes and cucumber without a greenhouse in summer in Sweden.

Depends on which part of Sweden isn’t it?

Doesn’t it. It does depend or it doesn’t depend.

Re: Swedish Couple Builds Greenhouse Around Home

#146

Post by tigershark »

telotortium wrote: post #12
jhloa2 wrote: post #6

I wonder if this has a negative effect on the amount of fresh air that they get

No reason a ventilation fan can't be installed - that's standard on modern air-conditioned and insulated houses (a "whole-house fan") precisely in order to rotate the air.

Then they will lose all the advantages of the green house if they get cold air from outside...

Re: Swedish Couple Builds Greenhouse Around Home

#147

Post by Too »

gavia1 wrote: post #20

I wonder how they control humidity inside the home and prevent mildew/mould? The air in the greenhouse would be very humid all year round I would have thought?

The walls of a normal modern insulated house are already completely air tight, first layer behind the walls seen from the inside is a plastic sheet to prevent humidity from indoor human activities to get into the insulation. After building a new house they literally try to inflate it like a balloon and measure the pressure to ensure there is no leakage.

Controlling humidity and air freshness is done through vents, usually combined with a heat exchange to not let out all the warm air you just heated up.

Condensation accumulating larger drops might be a bigger issue with glass though, but only if it's already humid on the inside.

Re: Swedish Couple Builds Greenhouse Around Home

#148

Post by rags2riches »

war1025 wrote: post #132
gavia1 wrote: post #20

I wonder how they control humidity inside the home and prevent mildew/mould? The air in the greenhouse would be very humid all year round I would have thought?

I am a little confused about this fear people have of mold and mildew in their houses. Up until very recently people's houses weren't far off from the outside environment. Generally in the summer the best they did was keep the rain out and provide some shade. Houses weren't uninhabitable mold pits back then, why would they be now?

It is actually easy to ruin a home by trapping moisture using modern materials carelessly. It happened to many centuries old buildings in the twentieth century after being renovated and modernized to save on heating. Traditional techniques allowed more circulation of air that avoided mold.

Re: Swedish Couple Builds Greenhouse Around Home

#150

Post by walrus01 »

aasasd wrote: post #127
mayormcmatt wrote: post #26

This reminds me of an apartment complex I saw last year, also in Sweden (north of Stockholm, in Norrtälje). Hard to see inside, but it's practically tropical, with palm trees and flowering plants, and all doors of resident's apartments let out into the garden. https://goo.gl/maps/C7QAYeFm4bc9X28r9

There's an entire year-round indoor beach with bungalows and a small forest near Berlin: https://www.tropical-islands.de/en/ Better photos e.g. here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2236995/The-worlds-... I'm sure it needs plenty of energy, but I'd also bet the glass dome plays its role. Found it online when was again thinking about how to live through the northern winter.

The building sure wasn't designed for that, however, it was supposed to be a hangar for the cargolifter airship. Went bankrupt with a lot of other things around the dotcom 1.0 failure era.
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