8 Greenhouse Floor Options

[@SimpleTek]

What kind of floor do you have or plan to have in your greenhouse floor?

[@waynelynch9557]

I dug down 30" around the base of my green house and placed 2" inch rigid insulation in the ground i started it at the top of my 12 inch base . Also coverd the inside of the base with the 6" strip that was left over . My floor is a 18" of sand covered by 4" of wood chips.

[@stevepicchi8986]

Great tips! I personally don’t like using sand under concrete or pavers. Sand will shift and even settle uneven when it goes through the wet dry cycles, due to its expansion/contraction properties. I like to use granite dust or chips. That packs down very nicely and does not migrate under loads with wet/dry cycles.

[@SimpleTek]

Thanks for sharing! I haven't had a problem yet though

[@populistparty2010]

Good ideas. I really like the idea of radiant heat flooring that is finished with patio pavers instead of concrete slabs...as you said, much easier to access the tubes for maintenance or re-designing.

[@SimpleTek]

Thank you! It’s what I’m doing. I got the idea from bigaloe brook farm’s greenhouse

[@resilientfarmsanddesignstu1702]

Where we live, the ground does freeze but permafrost is not an issue. Before we built our garden, we dug some irrigation ponds and regraded parts of the property to create access roads, level pads for future structures and level areas around the house that were subsequently hardscaped. When we did this we cut sod which was stacked to create retaining walls for an orchard. We still had plenty of topsoil left over, so I excavated the area where my garden was going to be and them replaced the excavated soil with the topsoil. Thus the topsoil in our garden beds is was 3-4 ft deep rather than 3-4 in deep to start with. From that point on we have used cover cropping and no till methods on the beds. I then shoveled the soil out between the rows to create the raised beds. In the trench I threw some drain pipe and covered that with a thick layer of wood chips, derived from the homestead and other local sources. I get most of it now from our pollard trees and winter pruning. That has worked well for us.

[@SimpleTek]

That's awesome!

[@resilientfarmsanddesignstu1702]

@@SimpleTek It’s important to have a master plan before you start doing things. The better your plan, the lower your long term cost and the sooner you can improve the quantity and quality of your production. Since it was mandatory that I have adequate water, I knew that digging ponds and ditches to convey it had to be a priority. Doing so would generate plenty of sod and dirt that could be used elsewhere. The excavation of the vegetable garden (which is only 1/4 acre) was an afterthought. I had the machine for the rest of the afternoon so I was looking around for something else to dig. I’m glad that I dug out the garden, because deep roots translate into healthy drought- and pest-resistant plants. Unfortunately, I had neither the forethought nor the money to install piped irrigation or geothermal heating. All of our irrigation is via siphons, drainage ditches and drip irrigation. In the later case, I use a simple fertigation system in which I siphon water from our duck pond filter it (through sand and Biochar to remove the sediment and charge the biochar) and then store the filtered water in buried tanks (to keep the water cool). The tanks gravity feed the drip lines in our garden. The drip lines are a life saver as water is scarce and we experience high temps, evaporative losses and drought in the Summer. We plan to install a new geothermal heat pump for the house soon. We also want to install a water well. If we can save up enough money to do both at the same time that would be great.

[@computerpro2315]

1:55 lmao "what you're going to be walking on as you're going forward"

[@SimpleTek]

hehe

[@susanwilson7789]

I like your idea of using commercial ground insulation, sand, heating tubes and topped with cement pavers. my question is how does the insulaton hold up to water from the green house? also what heating tube do you recomend

[@SimpleTek]

I put a sheet of plastic over the insulation before the sand so no water from the greenhouse touches the insulation

[@robinramsden2316]

Turn up the volume, please. Interesting ideas

[@SimpleTek]

Thank you! Noted

[@bootangy]

what should i cover my concrete base with ? or do i need to?

[@SimpleTek]

@@bootangy you don’t need to

[@bootangy]

@@SimpleTek ty

[@jamessorensen7277]

Great ideas!

[@SimpleTek]

Glad you like them!

[@bunnybabybevytv6434]

Marvelous video

[@SimpleTek]

Thank you

[@ItsAlwaysSummer]

Great video! Thank you!

[@SimpleTek]

Glad you liked it!

[@joshuagerlach6943]

I’m setting a 15’ circle x 48”deep pool into the ground with a drain,plumming, sand bags , Pavers under the legs , Pool cover . A 7’x15’ green house with the back hanging over the pool about 5 feet , homemade boiler from a propane tank, driveshaft,brake disk,copper tubing &shells of old dryers. Crushed gravel floor with a spiral of pex..

[@SimpleTek]

That’s awesome

[@regenerativecannabis]

Great channel

[@SimpleTek]

Thank you sooo much for the kind words!

[@jaimel4740]

What do you think about using mulch as a flooring

[@SimpleTek]

gets wet and soggy

[@ralphnyquist7873]

Im researchn things to do for building a greenhouse. You talk alot about heatn a lot. But when i went to college i remember our greenhouse was always hot. Even in the winter. Whats the best way to generate cool air when its 100 outside

[@SimpleTek]

lots of different options.

[@melindarobb4529]

Would cedar wood chips good to use for greenhouse floor?

[@SimpleTek]

Not for me, they get soggy

[@LS-cg3le]

Question, I am thinking to use gravel on green house floor, my only concern is will animals tunneling into my green house if floor is not solid ? Should I pour concrete on the floor instead ?

[@SimpleTek]

why not just secure the edges?

[@BrunoBGarcia79]

you can also put the insulation buried vertically that way the soil will become partly thermal battery

[@SimpleTek]

good idea!

[@pramixox]

Hi just wondering, what do you think of putting a weedmat and bark nuggets as a base foundation? Itl keep the floor warm? Thanks

[@SimpleTek]

why?

[@infidel6347]

Which is better for less water consumption ? and would that water introduce pest or problem to the plants ?

[@SimpleTek]

this depends on if you're growing in the ground or in pots or raised beds

[@infidel6347]

@@SimpleTek it's on the ground

[@SimpleTek]

@@infidel6347 ground growing uses the most water by far. I suggest hydroponic or wicking pots if you want to conserve water

[@infidel6347]

@@SimpleTek so does are my only two options ? Can't I have a solid floor like plastic to contain the water I don't want to spend a lot on my first greenhouse

[@infidel6347]

@@SimpleTek tnx I'll look in to them

[@Plantdog]

What about a natural floor that has a compost heat exchange tubing system in it? I don’t see anyone talk about that. Ideas?

[@SimpleTek]

I like it!

[@Plantdog]

@@SimpleTek thanks but have you heard of people doing this? Per pipe right in the growing bed maybe 6” down? Was think of an in line radiator first to suck off some of the heat. Then running in the plant beds. Really was hoping others could comment on the good or bad of it! Anyways love the channel ( I live in northern BC) cheers

[@214carlisle]

ever thought of just using roof snow melting lines? bury them 10 inches into the ground and turn on as the cold days approach, extends the season and keep the ground above 10 c

[@SimpleTek]

they are actually quite energy intensive - as they are electrically heated.

[@bglee3507]

If you insulate the bottom floor where is the water going to go

[@SimpleTek]

you spill water?

[@bglee3507]

Ok I have another question if I put rocks down and I put double insulated bubble rap with reflective on both side down on the greenhouse floor do you think that it will heat up my greenhouse too much jw because where I'm at it always like 100 degrees outside.

[@bglee3507]

So good or no good

[@SimpleTek]

@@bglee3507 lots more variables needed

[@justinjoshua1648]

Yes

[@SimpleTek]

;)

[@Mrjboomseedco]

I was thinking dig down lay straw then pink foam board then plywood over that and put weather stripping around under shape of hard plastic greenhouse then screw it together to seal the bottom

[@SimpleTek]

ok

[@jerrybillett3558]

Pea gravel is best your welcome!

[@resilientfarmsanddesignstu1702]

I like your floor idea but I would make sure that you slope the floor or an impermeable layer under the floor away from your greenhouse to drain water. Since you stand in the center of the greenhouse, the sand will tend to compact in the area or shift away from the center. Either way it creates a depression that will accumulate water. That could cause mold or other problems. A simple solution is to bury a weep tile drain pipe under the floor to drain and convey accumulated water away from the greenhouse.

[@Mrjboomseedco]

How do I keep my greenhouse hot and humid in -30f temps with snow and gunnera manicata, bananas, kiwi, and other fruit and tropical plants?

[@SimpleTek]

watch more of my videos

[@jessilynn1723]

I loved the information but I noticed you paused alot during this video. I hope all is good health wise

[@SimpleTek]

I’m trying not to read a script!

[@wanfuse]

Please remake video with higher volume!!!!!

[@SimpleTek]

waiting on a cord from amazon to hook up my new blue yeti mic

[@johnholmquist1407]

No offense but you came across much better without your image speaking. Background voice over much better.

[@SimpleTek]

thank you for the input

[@SimpleTek]

I'll be honest, i'm doing a challange, 30 videos in 30 days, one a day. the amount of work is enormous to do this, i'm 8 days in. the last 8 videos are made in a way that's 3-4 times faster than my old format. after the 30 days i'm going to goto 2 a week where i can put more time in per video. This experimant is allowing me to figure out how to make videos faster, which topics get the most views and interaction and the stats are starting to tell me a ton of information that would otherwise take me many many months to figure out. SO please bear with my ugly mug for another 3 weeks, believe it or not the voice over option you like takes a lot more time to do (weird but it's cause the voice over reads a scripted story and live with my pic is winged from my memory - I'm terrible at remembering lines)

[@rantasia360]

I realize you're putting a lot of time into these videos, but I prefer to get information from people who 'actually' have experience in all this, not just Google things to get information and photos. Much of your information is quite misleading...

[@SimpleTek]

so go there.