Air flow into greenhouse

Evening All, I'm currently building a greenhouse. I have fabricated and installed the aluminium frame myself so had no guidelines to follow, Ive yet to fit the glass but im down to designing a door and I'm worried a gap between the door and frame and also a 50mm gap along the sill level will allow too much air in.
Basically would a holey greenhouse work as efficiently as a near air tight as can be?
Is it something I need to reduce?

 

Hello Paddy, and a warm welcome to Gardeners Corner forum.

Could you give us more details eg; measurements etc. From the photo, the glass area seems to be on the large size. Also there doesn't appear to be much slope to the roof.

Forgive me please but, the design appears more of an office than a greenhouse. Why do you want to make it air tight?

 

Make sure you incorporaate louvers somewhere along the side and then opposite and not directly above, a roof vent. Louvers draw cool, vent exhausts. I also use overhead DC fans to "mix" the air.

Welcome to the forum!

 

You need to add your zone to your profile so replies can be targetted/useful to your area.

Leaky lets in loads of bugs and nasty things. Tight with options to ventilate is wiser.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome

I've put together a few photos to try explain a little better.

The red circles in the Louvres are what I intend to be vents to regulate temperature. As they are solid back I've since thought to incorporate maybe an automatic opening vent.

The green arrows mark where the 40mm gap runs along

 

It's more a case of if I dont seal these off do I run the risk of cold air and pests getting in

Or do I loose out on fresh air being circulated and the possibility of bees moving in and out

 

So I'm to make a door to house a single peice of glass hinged at the brick side swinging out, there will be a gap around the perimeter of about 10mm maybe more along the brick edge.

The red arrows are areas to be finished

 

Why are you making the door so much small than the opening? Can you use wider framing to make a tighter fit?

Yes, mine have automatic vents but my louvers at the sides are manual as I usually only open them once in early summer and then close them in the fall because I want to retain some of the heat when the days are shorter.

 

Hi,

Interesting project

Often thought about a longer leanto greenhosue though they are costly.

Wondered what are the profiles from / normally used for ? and what about the glass, are they one piece double glazed ? they are going to be expensive and heavy unless you have a "source" for them ?

 

It was a sample screen off a job in Manchester that I have repurposed, its took some chopping and changing!
When we install them they would be water and air tight, so with me making it up as I go along I've changed how the system works and it will now only be single glazed.

 

Good one! Even if you can't get louvers for one spot along the side, a tilting window panel (hinging inward at the bottom) would be great for drawing air up to then be exhausted by your roof vent.

Profile. Click on your own name at the top right and you'll see preferences/settings. Then you can add general info about your zone and other fun bits.

You'll see on mine that I am in zone 5. And you can google growing zones which will bring up a map with the data.

Whatever you do, leave an access opening so if you want to add electric or water works, you can feed lines into your house. Mine are at the base

Looking forward to updates!

 

Right, so if I nip down Deansgate one dark night I could rip off a few sections for my own longer greenhouse !

 

Your screen door, if it's the kind we have here - where you can slide the glass to reveal a bug screened opening would be a good replacement for the louvers. Just make sure your vent is near the back away from the door and air will flow through