I haven't been writing a lot this year because this has been such an odd and slow growing season. Cold weather ran late. Dogs made it into the garden and destroyed plants. Grasshopper and squash bugs were bad this year. Only now getting a couple of pumpkins on the vines. Not even sure those will gain enough size to be useable for Thanksgiving before the first freeze.
Had a few potatoes, green beans, couple of watermelon, a few small cantaloupe.
There were an amazing amount of flowers this year. The bumblebees were really happy and numerous!
Past couple of weeks, I've been working on upgrading the solarium. Installing formal greenhouse film. It's 6 mil, five layers, including light diffraction, UV protection and anti-fog additives. Supposed to last for up to four years. This time I installed it with insulating foam underneath and 1x2's with silicone caulking on one side to prevent slippage.
I extended the solarium a few more feet. Sank three more upright posts with concrete. Total length is about 30 ft. Reaches to the top of the roof and extends about 16 ft out. So, ground space is about 480 sq ft. I'm moving the picnic table into one end and have the electric dog fence setting boundaries, so the dogs have access to the other end but plants and such will be safe.
On that note, I should be finishing the whole thing this week. Then I can move the potted tomatoes into the solarium and keep some of them going most or all of the winter. Plus it will give me a better place to get seedlings started before spring.
From prior incarnations, I know it will also help keep the house warmer in the winter. It serves the purpose of trapping solar heat and insulating the west wall of the house at night. I'm also adding an improvised heat pump, made with back PVC, ducting and a small fan with a thermocouple connection. The thermocouple will turn the fan on at a certain temperature and off below that temperature.
I am also going to build in what is called a rocket stove mass heater. That's going to take a lot of concrete and masonry work (hence the "mass" part of the name). That's on top of lots of concrete work I have been doing in front of the house, setting a concrete porch and ramp. For that, It will have an estimated weight of 2700 lbs when combining concrete and cinder blocks. In all, it's probably more than that. For the rocket stove, I have to build a concrete base, then cinder block frame, fire brick combustion chamber, stove pipe, sand between the cinder block and pipe for expansion, concrete filling for the cinder block, stucco for the outside and mortar and tile for the top seating area.
In the spring, I'll have more work ahead of me for the solarium. Have to convert several sections of the top to vents. However, before doing that, I want to try converting the heat pump from a recycling system to a vent system. If the theory works out, pumping the heated air out will allow cooler air to flow in and help cool the house. In any case, I am also going to try adding a sump and recycling pump to cause a swamp cooler effect in addition to a solar chimney effect. The water pump will be solar powered.
I installed insulation in the ceiling. That was a big job but should really help with controlling the indoor temperature in all seasons. I may have messed up on that one. I'm pretty sure the big living room already had insulation in the ceiling but I don't remember. So, have to drill a test hole to confirm. I know the walls are insulated, so it would make sense that the ceiling is. But making sense doesn't mean anything in Albuquerque. Better to check and confirm.
So, hoping for a cold winter to kill off lots of insects. Hoping the solarium lets me start things early next year. And that I can control the weeds better next year. Made some good progress this year in bringing some of them under control.
Had a few potatoes, green beans, couple of watermelon, a few small cantaloupe.
There were an amazing amount of flowers this year. The bumblebees were really happy and numerous!
Past couple of weeks, I've been working on upgrading the solarium. Installing formal greenhouse film. It's 6 mil, five layers, including light diffraction, UV protection and anti-fog additives. Supposed to last for up to four years. This time I installed it with insulating foam underneath and 1x2's with silicone caulking on one side to prevent slippage.
I extended the solarium a few more feet. Sank three more upright posts with concrete. Total length is about 30 ft. Reaches to the top of the roof and extends about 16 ft out. So, ground space is about 480 sq ft. I'm moving the picnic table into one end and have the electric dog fence setting boundaries, so the dogs have access to the other end but plants and such will be safe.
On that note, I should be finishing the whole thing this week. Then I can move the potted tomatoes into the solarium and keep some of them going most or all of the winter. Plus it will give me a better place to get seedlings started before spring.
From prior incarnations, I know it will also help keep the house warmer in the winter. It serves the purpose of trapping solar heat and insulating the west wall of the house at night. I'm also adding an improvised heat pump, made with back PVC, ducting and a small fan with a thermocouple connection. The thermocouple will turn the fan on at a certain temperature and off below that temperature.
I am also going to build in what is called a rocket stove mass heater. That's going to take a lot of concrete and masonry work (hence the "mass" part of the name). That's on top of lots of concrete work I have been doing in front of the house, setting a concrete porch and ramp. For that, It will have an estimated weight of 2700 lbs when combining concrete and cinder blocks. In all, it's probably more than that. For the rocket stove, I have to build a concrete base, then cinder block frame, fire brick combustion chamber, stove pipe, sand between the cinder block and pipe for expansion, concrete filling for the cinder block, stucco for the outside and mortar and tile for the top seating area.
In the spring, I'll have more work ahead of me for the solarium. Have to convert several sections of the top to vents. However, before doing that, I want to try converting the heat pump from a recycling system to a vent system. If the theory works out, pumping the heated air out will allow cooler air to flow in and help cool the house. In any case, I am also going to try adding a sump and recycling pump to cause a swamp cooler effect in addition to a solar chimney effect. The water pump will be solar powered.
I installed insulation in the ceiling. That was a big job but should really help with controlling the indoor temperature in all seasons. I may have messed up on that one. I'm pretty sure the big living room already had insulation in the ceiling but I don't remember. So, have to drill a test hole to confirm. I know the walls are insulated, so it would make sense that the ceiling is. But making sense doesn't mean anything in Albuquerque. Better to check and confirm.
So, hoping for a cold winter to kill off lots of insects. Hoping the solarium lets me start things early next year. And that I can control the weeds better next year. Made some good progress this year in bringing some of them under control.
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