A wall nearby is certainly a benefit.

I like Tim's (wxman) big "windows" on the south side.
Wish I had made my two Waggie igloo windows larger.

While I was constructing it--and it had just plastic over the whole thing--the remote thermometer read 95 F .... yessireebob, that's some solar gain, huh?

When I was finished insulating, the windows were about 1foot by 1foot and now, on a sunny day as nice as construction day, the remote reads 75F or so.

Next year the windows will be larger but maybe triple-plastic protected...hope no neighbourhood cat decides to claw its way inside to warm up on some cold snowy winter night. 😐

Wheelman, if your "shrink wrap" is the same stuff I'm thinking of ... like pallet wrap for retail store deliveries, it's really really strong if it's stretched tight.
Maybe put a 40-pound rock on the end of it so it doesn't start to unravel.

Scott, hope your mild Fall continues.

Barb

So Barb? you just had yours wrapped in plastic/bubble wrap as well and your inside temps got up that high on cold days?

just had yours wrapped in plastic/bubble wrap as well and your inside temps got up that high

It wasn't cold when I had that first wrap of plastic sealed, but there was no vent.
weather was still nice and mild.
10C (50F) outdoors.

Think of glass (or plastic-wrapped) big greenhouses.
Commercial growers have automatic openers set to thermostats and electric fans to prevent overheating/overhumidity (which leads to fungus) from the otherwise sealed/closed space.

Barb

That was my concern too Barb, so may start out with a lighter wrap and watch my temps. It would be easy to add more if I needed.

It's a trade-off, though, Scott.

You don't want to be out there in a winter windstorm to add a more substantial second layer when it's 10F...

Barb

Insulated and closed up one box today. I haven't put final plastic wrap on it yet as highs will get to 36 through Tuesday yet. I'm going to do the second one Monday after work. I'm curious how different temps will be between the two for a couple days. Went real nice with my new impact driver! The insulation panels are honeycomb cardboard that I get from one of my grocery store customer of mine.

I like that honeycomb cardboard, have never seen cardboard that thick before.
If it stays completely dry, would likely be as good as expensive styrofoam.

Re temps between the two...you've obviously got a remote theremometer in each?

Barb

yes, each has a temp sensor. I am a bit confused so far, obviously it's warm today, and there's only a 1 degree difference between the two this afternoon between the open one and the closed one.... We'll see how things change once the lights start coming on again.

I don't know if you have a Save-a-lot nearby but that's who I get them from. I think big produce boxes have them in them, like melons and pumpkins. I'm only using it on the "non-door" sides and the tops, I'm hoping 1.5 inch of solid core wood is enough insulation for the other two sides.

there's only a 1 degree difference between the two this afternoon

once the cold hits you'll see heated temps kick in properly...on a warm pre-winter day, the shade inside keeps the temps down without the Christmas lights on.

Haven't seen a Save-a-lot but will keep a lookout for big produce bins at the farm lots.
As long as you plug with insulation where the structure meets the ground, it'll keep temps fine.

Then do like the rest of us and pray it won't be -40 below this winter during a power outage. 😯 😆 😆 😆

Barb

Got a generator on standby.... May have to decide between that or the fridge though. Lol

I guess we'll find out how good the wood insulates now.....
should work fine as long as it's basically air tight 🙂

I still need to throw plastic over it and shrink wrap it tight. I only had a little bit of daylight and no rain to do what I did.

WHEW! I don't know if I want anymore palms after what I went through finalizing my two boxes.... 😀

Palm number two is insulated and enclosed and both are now covered in plastic and shrink wrapped as best I could (palm #1's box is tight against my handrail so fitting a shrink wrap roll through is not an option so just the top half gets that).

If I get some bigger palms next year I am going to have to seriously think hard about an easier way to go into winter with them.

I'll post a couple pics once I get a chance to snap some in daylight. They aren't real pretty, but I've always been a form follows function type anyways.

HOLY COW! Just looked at my temps before I went to bed and one of them clearly just had the lights on, it hit 51 degrees in there.... Wow! I feel lame for saying this but this is going to be fun to watch this winter.... LOL

I think it is cool to watch your protection in action....working 😉

I have my T.ferns (as well as,on the other side of the house),Washys,
Butia and the Takil all,on Thermocubes.

so far they have been running(at their most extreme),33F to 60F 😀

I have about 8-9 temp sensors.............what,it helps the winter go by! 😉 :evil3: :computer: :sad11: :wav: