Its an interesting project. I wonder how they keep earthworm or other insects out of home.
I would imagine they try to encourage earthworms as well as many types of insect.
But probably not inside the house
Swedish Couple Builds Greenhouse Around Home
161–170 of 232 posts
Re: Swedish Couple Builds Greenhouse Around Home
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Yes, this is possibly true, depending on the details of their lifestyle. On the other hand, the article talks about their use of composting toilets, recycling water, etc. So they may well not be engaging in the same high levels of water consumption as typical modern families in developed countries. So I remain unconvinced that a warmer environment automatically and without exception translates to high humidity and mo…
I think you've been here long enough to know that a phrase like "automatically and without exception" is likely a poor interpretation of what the parent poster meant with "standard household activity".
I was born and raised in Florida. In Miami I lived in a 1950s house designed w/o A/C and with effectively no insulation. In Tallahassee I lived in a 1970s house designed for A/C. But we didn't have money, so we didn't run the A/C unless it was nasty hot.
The differences were remarkable. For the same temperature and humidity, the Miami house was much more comfortable. The vernacular architecture of high ceilings, open crawlspace, and massive amounts of windows meant there was still cooling with any sort of breeze.
With the Tallahassee home, the building was designed to insulate, to keep the A/C power bills low. The windows were small, there wasn't much cross-breeze even with all the windows open.
A/C systems include dehumidifiers, and the building has a vapor barrier to prevent the high outside humidity from coming in.
But w/o the A/C's dehumidifier, standard household activity like breathing, cooking, and showering raise the inside humidity more than the outside, with a slow rate of equilibriation.
We finally kicked on the A/C when, among other things, yes, mold started to form.
Of course 'lifestyle choices impact details like heat and humidity'. So does architecture, as I just pointed out. But btbuildem said 'standard' and 'usually'.
Re: Swedish Couple Builds Greenhouse Around Home
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't recommend Kirsten Dirksen's channel enough to people interested in architecture, energy efficiency, tiny homes, 'green' construction, etc. Literally hundreds of hours of high-quality content - I'm really curious how she is able to find all of these interesting people who are doing such cool things. Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDsElQQt_gCZ9LgnW-7v-cQ Some other favorites: Baubotanik shapes living…
Completely agree. One of my favorite Kirsten Dirksen videos is about Russ Finch using geothermal energy to grow citrus in a greenhouse located near Alliance, NE. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD_3_gsgsnk
Second that. That was such a great watch!
Re: Swedish Couple Builds Greenhouse Around Home
#164I 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?
Well exactly because of that. If your house has plenty of air circulation (that's what "people's houses weren't far off from the outside environment" means) then things might get damp, but they will also dry out naturally too. Now you get a huge plastic bag and wrap it around a building. It will keep out rain yes, but also trap in moisture internally and the damp parts will get mouldy. Obviously nobody will do something as silly as that, but with modern materials it become much easier to accidentaly approximate the plastic-bag-wrap experience.
Re: Swedish Couple Builds Greenhouse Around Home
#165This house was the subject of a Kirsten Dirksen video in 2015: https://youtube.com/watch?v=30ghnDOFbNQ
I can't recommend Kirsten Dirksen's channel enough to people interested in architecture, energy efficiency, tiny homes, 'green' construction, etc. Literally hundreds of hours of high-quality content - I'm really curious how she is able to find all of these interesting people who are doing such cool things. Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDsElQQt_gCZ9LgnW-7v-cQ Some other favorites: Baubotanik shapes living…
> I'm really curious how she is able to find all of these interesting people who are doing such cool things.
Her popularity in the area probably means that people inform her of relevant things. I believe that's true for a lot of youtubers.
Re: Swedish Couple Builds Greenhouse Around Home
#166This 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
Those complexes are retirement homes. It's a very cool concept - they build a horseshoe-shaped apartment building and then glass over the central courtyard to create a huge indoor park for the residents. The apartments all face the indoor area, of course, which maintains a temperate/mid-terranean climate all year round. To the people living there it's like being on a permanent vacation in Spain. https://bovieran.se
Re: Swedish Couple Builds Greenhouse Around Home
#167"In Stockholm, Sweden, where winter lasts 9 months out of the year",
according to what crazy-ass definition?
3.5 months is a common length of winter for Stockholm, according to the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute.
Re: Swedish Couple Builds Greenhouse Around Home
#168"In Stockholm, Sweden, where winter lasts 9 months out of the year", according to what crazy-ass definition? 3.5 months is a common length of winter for Stockholm, according to the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute.
The (crazy-ass, yes) definition is in the article: the period the house needs heating.
Re: Swedish Couple Builds Greenhouse Around Home
#169To me, that construction would seem like a hell over the six months that is actually quite warm at these latitudes. I basically already keep my windows open from spring to late autumn without a glass dome like that, and it still gets hot inside during the summer months because the air outside is hot and only cools down during night. Now, add a greenhouse around the house and you'd never get fresh air blowing directly indoors. Yeah, you can seal the house and add air conditioning and heat pumps but hey there goes any natural ventilation, and now you have that carefully controlled technology that needs to be kept running or you'll risk mould should one part of the hvac puzzle go defunct.
Re: Swedish Couple Builds Greenhouse Around Home
#170To me, that construction would seem like a hell over the six months that is actually quite warm at these latitudes. I basically already keep my windows open from spring to late autumn without a glass dome like that, and it still gets hot inside during the summer months because the air outside is hot and only cools down during night. Now, add a greenhouse around the house and you'd never get fresh air blowing directly…
The openable panes of the greenhouse are probably way larger, and you can easily open the top panes to create a large updraft throughout the greenhouse.
Greenhouses don't stay unused in the summer, and heating up to unlivable temperatures would also kill the plantations. Therefore "permanent" greenhouses (as opposed to the plastic tarps on struts you build up and take down at appropriate times) can be down-regulated to an extent (to not too high above ambient temperature).